- Steve Braiden's Off Out label made an excellent start in January with Braiden's own Apex Of The Sun's Way / Solar Poise. This second release, from a new London artist called Slewis (real name not given), is a further reason to keep tabs on the fledgling label. Though this is his first solo release (under this name at least), Slewis has apparently been playing in experimental bands in the city for years. That's not hard to believe on listening to "Group V," which despite its pounding kick-drum spine has a noise-rock-like structure and texture. Crunching machine roars and a synth line that sounds like a looping bass guitar form an ominous foreground as drums ping and crash around the track's outer edges.
"Despot" is similarly menacing but conjures its mood through more synthetic sounds. Muscular, interweaving basslines give it an EBM feel that contrasts with "Group V"'s bump and clatter. The dense kicks and terse-but-spacey key stabs remind me of Andrew Weatherall and David Hedger's mid-'90s work as Lords Of Afford, an association that should be reason enough to keep an eye on Slewis.
TracklistA1 Group V
B1 Despot