Frak - Upset About Lance

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  • After nearly 25 years of making music in relative anonymity, the Swedish trio Frak have steadily made gains in bringing their uncompromising techno sound to a wider audience. But, as their latest release for TSAR demonstrates, this doesn't mean it's become any friendlier. Their sound these days is certainly set at a steadier pace than mid-'90s bangers such as "Alice In Acidland," but the hard-nosed menace they've spent the last three decades crafting is screwed firmly in place on Upset About Lance. "Lightpeople," the lead track on the A-side, is rendered glacial not only by its metronomic 108 BPM crawl, but also by its icy surfaces and monolithic scale. From its basic oscillating bassline to its cold siren, every element is big, brutish and a little primordial. "This Is Lance" is cut from the same cloth. It lurches forward with knotted bleeps and static-coated drums beating out a rhythm that seems to encourage hard labour rather than dancing. While I can't imagine many DJs playing these slow and forbidding tracks, there is plenty to enjoy in their hypnotic analogue passages. "Twinhead" uses the same materials, but it's considerably groovier than its A-side counterparts. Its strobing acid stabs are twinned with large, flat synth notes and not a lot else, in keeping with Frak's spartan set-up. Lastly, "Drumcometrue" sets itself into motion with a call-and-respond-style sequence of acid lines and bleeps, which—within the terms of this EP—makes it the record's de facto party track.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Lightpeople A2 This Is Lance B1 Twinhead B2 Drumcometrue
RA