Not to be confused with Finland's Clouds, these Clouds are Perth, Scotland's Calum Macleod and Liam Robertson, representatives of Turbo's "New Jack Techno" turn. "Those Cracks In Your Face, Do They Hurt?" has a definite Blawan-like quality to it, right down to the ominously pitched-down spoken word snippet that circles like a shark in the track's roiled waters. It's plenty tough too, with kick drums like rubber bullets and great, cascading sheets of crumpling metal, building to a piercing climax with what sounds like church bells being fed into a woodchipper.
A remix from Perc Trax artist Truss makes it sound even meaner, with low, syncopated kicks booming beneath a vocal sample that's been chopped up and pitched even further down; the high-end is a riot of dissonant, staccato bell tones, like a chorus of warring cicadas. Finally, on "Krafterah," Clouds trot out a jumpy fusion of 2-step and acid techno, once again suffused in grainy textures and flayed metal; the percussion feels like waterlogged wood, crumbling and sluggish, but the tightly-wound acid line brings everything sharply into focus.
