- As a new scene has formed around the exhumed remains of post-punk and no wave, it seems to have exerted a strong pull on veterans better known for their techno. Regis, Silent Servant and Shifted have all entered this zone, though none of them with the verve of Oliver Ho. Having navigated techno seas for well over a decade, Ho's Raudive project ventured into murkier waters a few years ago. Then he launched his Broken English Club project, which has wallowed in aestheticised misery for key scene labels Cititrax and Jealous God. Ho has now launched his own imprint, Death & Leisure, and its inaugural 7-inch is a razor-sharp introduction to his current sound.
"Myths Of Steel And Concrete" is one of the decaying techno hybrids Ho does so well. The kicks are rotted and relentless, and the synths squeal and yammer erratically, needling at the eardrums from several directions. It's all shrouded in echo as if we're hearing a solitary worker in an abandoned factory, drilling away until the building collapses around her. On the B-side, "Our History In Bones" strips the beat away to focus on Ho's voice. He's spent a while perfecting a Suicide-style deadpan and it's in fine form here. His apparent boredom makes the synths' pained yowling all the more distressing. Ho has described his new label as a place where "absurdist melodrama meets vile electronics," and while this debut doesn't offer anything new, it certainly delivers on that promise.
TracklistA Myths Of Steel And Concrete
B Our History In Bones