Considering their recent spate of techno releases, it's easy to forget what Turbo used to sound like. Scottish duo Clouds are here to bridge the gap between old and new with their first proper wax release on the Montreal label. Their "Gang 49" on this year's excellent New Jack Techno compilation was like Gesaffelstein stumbling around Tresor, and Consciousness continues in that manic direction, coating prickly electricity in barbed wire.
The title track is a snaking field of distortion bounded by frantically panning drums; think Turbo's most aggressive electro and run everything into the red until it's a quivering mass of overdriven frequencies. Randomer steps in for an even more hedonistic remix, twisting the thickset static into his own trademark piledriving thrash techno, while Blawan associate Sunil Sharpe turns the titular vocal sample into something rather rude-sounding and minimizes its serrated swell into searing acid lines. Flipside "Common Bounce" is built from the same filthy and jagged cloth, with a meek drum pattern that's quickly overtaken by a corrosive bassline. "Sonic Swamp" is the most interesting production here, taking a broken piston breakbeat and couching it in a techno wireframe, recalling the barely controlled chaos of "Consciousness" in slightly more flattering light.
Buy Clouds - Consciousness at
  
Tracklist: Clouds - Consciousness
 A1 Consciousness
A2 Sonic Swamp
B1 Consciousness (Sunil Sharpe Remix)
B2 Consciousness (Randomer Remix)
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