- Frak have been around since the '80s, but recent releases on Digitalis and Sex Tags Mania have pulled them into the spotlight. For all the talk of outsider sounds, most artists operating on the outskirts of club music are still pretty tame compared to the Swedish trio, whose live shows are the stuff of legend (they've been known to wear tin-foil headgear while operating their vast arsenal of hardware). On record, Frak's take on acid techno is as demented as it is onstage, and their latest EP for Norwegian label Kontra-Musik is no exception.
Over four tracks of raw, polychromatic techno, Frak move from dubby atmospheres to explosive mania. The no-nonsense beat of "Raw Space" is a backdrop for all manner of baroque analogue noodlings, while "Kom Deluxe" is sparser, with a terse bassline, oozing acid riffs and big splashy snares. Strange as they are, "Raw Space" and "Kom Deluxe" are subdued compared to what follows. "Fragmentus" bubbles with frenzied synth whoops and squiggles, and "Acid Color"'s high-octane percussion and three-note loop lock you in the tight grip of a deranged groove.
TracklistA1 Raw Space
A2 Kom Deluxe
B1 Fragmentus
B2 Acid Color