What’s the absolute worst thing you can hear coming from a telephone? A rush of static? “Sir, I’m sorry to inform you…?” A telemarketer? Tokyo’s DUB-Russell imagine the most terrifying noise that could slip out of the receiver would be Satan’s personal waiting music. The duo’s Grasp Echoes album reminds me of the noises a phone would make…if a phones existed in hell. Opener “Metallurgy” goes a long way to establishing this feeling, one of the first sonic elements to creep through being a deep buzz reminiscent of a ringing cell phone. Yet this isn’t just “Marimba” – DUB-Russell soak the track in chiming bells and a thick David Lynch fog. The following slab of fuzzy terror, “Tracklaying,” evokes a more twisted Boards Of Canada circa the already pretty demonic Geogaddi. “14-Layered” skirts closer to Aphex Twin breakbeat mayhem, letting vocal samples get pounded by the clinking wave. Grasp Echoes is unrelenting…only album closer “Ciao, A Presto” offers a little breathing room and even that one has shadows sneaking all over the walls…a brief descent into rattling ambient that manages to unnerve with each song. Oh, and it’s also free, over at the group’s Bandcamp. Just put the phone away before hitting play. Listen below.
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