- Droning techno from a specialist of the style.
- Rrose's approach to techno prioritises intensity over functionality. As one RA user put it, "an hour of Rrose is like two or three of most others, it's that intense…" Rrose's techno is neither terrifyingly heavy, nor is it hazy and delicate. It's a sound built on sustained, foreboding tension without release. Even Rrose's beatless tracks have a precision and drive that stops them fading into the background.
This skill for intense, beatless techno music is demonstrated on Beware Of Shells. Three of its five tracks avoid the conventional four-on-the-floor rhythm. The experimental title track is propelled by noisy, pulsating drones that seem to move slowly in and out of time with each other. "Pecking Order" is the highlight. Eerie, high-end ambience combines with a swampy bass noise that comes in every few seconds. There's an incredible amount of space in the composition, both in terms of the frequencies used and the length of time between events. It's the kind of music that makes time slow to a crawl, so eight minutes feels like forever.
The other tracks stick to the same aesthetic, but with more functional beats. "Incisors," like the title track, is all about a gradually mutating electronic noise, this time layered over a simple kick-hat drum pattern. "Sister – Remix" will probably get the most club play. It's classic Rrose—ominous, psychedelic, droning—but it's not without a danceable groove, particularly when the sleek sub-bassline arrives.
TracklistA1 Beware Of Shells
A2 Incisors
A3 The Swelling
B1 Sister (Remix)
B2 Pecking Order