- ARIISK is a purveyor of stripped-back, cybernetic electronics, moving through minimal synth, industrial, EBM and cold wave sounds to form a dystopian, human-meets-machine aesthetic. (The visual design is worth a look as well.) The LA-based artist has been at it for years, but has just recently gotten busy with physical releases. After a contribution to last year's humongous Nation box set and a tape for LA's Nostilevo, ARIISK's first vinyl release arrives on SCRAPES, a Chicago label run by Alex Barnett (AKA Champagne Mirrors, half of Blackest Ever Black's Barnett + Coloccia).
Fatal Errors comprises six greyscale productions of varying tempos and a lean, concentrated quality. Each one employs little more than a spidery synth line or two, a bare-bones percussive framework and (on most of them) voices pushed through a distinctive hollow reverb. "Invasion" is an arpeggiated call to arms, replete with dispassionate vocals and clever key changes. "Radio Tmrrw Ppl," sounding like a skeletal electro cut, amps up the gloom with woozy minor-key pads, setting up "Point Klk"'s minute-long drum outburst. On the flip, "Lost Life" and the title cut are standouts. The former is a 90 BPM mini-epic that's heavy on breathless intonations and rapid-fire synth squelches. The urgent 16th-note rush of the latter would work perfectly in a film noir soundtrack—listen to it and you can almost see a cinematic zoom onto a car racing down some fateful highway. "She Speaks Your Mind," with yet more sinuous synths, metallic vocals and fragmented drums, closes another strong effort from this intriguing artist.
TracklistA1 Invasion
A2 Radio Tmrrw Ppl
A3 Point Klk
B1 Lost Life
B2 Fatal Errors
B3 She Speaks Your Mind