- "Blacknecks," reads the press release for this EP, "is the new, anonymous side project of two prominent UK garage producers & remixers, known for remixing a string of top 40 singles, as well as having their own minor hit in the late naughties." If this is true, then one can only imagine the kind of trauma these producers must have endured to produce VETO. The four tracks on the duo's self-released debut EP are blunt, noisy and tremendously unpleasant on the ear, making them a neat fit for UK techno's recent turn towards the abrasive.
In fact, in places they're a little too blunt. "A2," with its angry but impotent kick drum and tinny dub chords, has more in common with the punkish stiffness of the cassette scene than the strictures of dance floor techno. "B2" is similarly lacking in punch, its stop-start broken beat pattern proving a tad monotonous over five minutes. But in the best traditions of the form, VETO's finer moments harbour a subtle but compelling funk beneath their pummeling facade. "A1" is a raucous pissing match of tortured noise-textures that spiral off into psychedelic squalls in the breakdown. Even better is "B1," a lumbering reinterpretation of early Downwards-style loop-techno. The whole thing is distorted into a single molten texture that's exquisitely painful. If Blacknecks would like to give up their day job, they're welcome to.
Tracklist A1 Untitled 1
A2 Untitled 2
B1 Untitled 3
B2 Untitled 4