Listen: Basic House ‘Government’ LP:
https://soundcloud.com/basichouse/sets/government-1
The UK label Opal Tapes is a prolific source of dark and experimental strains of electronic music and its’ founder, Stephen Bishop, also creates intriguingly left-of-field music under the moniker Basic House. Today we preview his Government LP, a stark new offering due out September 8th. Across its’ 6-tracks, Bishop distils various permutations of electronic music down to their pure source and the result is an eerie and striking ambience full of sonic drama. Matching a bristling use of negative space with clearly defined event horizons, Bishop’s music continues to explore what a post-techno world sounds like when it comes unmoored from its’ defining structure–a regulated beat.
Government‘s opening track, “Headstalking” still makes use of gunshot-like drum hits and other violent rhythmic outbursts but they are triggered seemingly at whim rather than looped to create a groove. Coupled with sheets of scrapping sound, mumbled voices from the ether, and factory room reverberations, techno’s sci-fi ambience is all that is left here and it casts a ghostly pallor over a crumbling urban nightmare. “AAOA” continues in this vein following a thrill seekers sense for drift to frightening percussive events that register like punches to the body, while the following track, “Government“, is the first track in the collection to contain a ghost of techno’s 4/4 rhythm, slowly phasing with acidic resonance. “Encase (Junked Edit)” is less confrontational than the previous tracks and it contains deep bass throbs for a sublimated dub-feel while shadows of a synth line stammer at the threshold of coherence. “C-Skin (Rupt Edit)” continues the dub vibe paring down compositional elements to drum and bass while leaving a lasting impact with each detonating kick. This slowed and smokey stupor leads right into Government‘s closer, a haunted recasting of Berlin’s saccharine cut “Take My Breath Away“, but coupled with Bishop’s catatonic vocal reading and this track’s dirge-like atmosphere, Berlin becomes something alien and unfathomable here.
