The Call Of Unknown Genre

Another release I've been playing catch up with- Unknown Genre, a collaboration between Hardway Bros and Emperor Machine for Berlin's Other Goodness record label. There are two tracks, both clocking in at over eight minutes, combining Sean Johnston and Andrew Meecham's love for propulsive, dancefloor facing, robotic, analogue synths. The first is Elevator Ride, a fast paced piece of ommpty bumpty business, hypnotic techno rhythms and sci fi synths. 

It's paired with Cthulhu Macala, which opens with 'a-ha a-ha' chanting and some big drums, a slower, grinding tempo and rhythm with all manner of wigged out sounds and a huge, distorted bassline. The vocals keep flitting back in ominously, summoned from somewhere down below. As anyone who was into role playing games and the surrounding culture for any period of time in the 1980s will know Cthulhu is a cosmic God, an anthropoid octopus being, created by H.P. Lovecraft, the old one of great power,  worshipped by cultists, who slumbers awaiting the time to return. 

Cthulhu first appeared in the 1928 short story The Call of Cthulhu, published in a pulp magazine called Weird Tales. I recall reading some Lovecraft borrowed from the local library circa 1984 and not being able to make head or tail of it. 

The EP is completed with a remix of Elevator Ride by Halifax group The Orielles. Elevator Ride (The Orielles Ambient Mix) is a bit of a revelation. They cut the running time in half and the tempo too, slowing things right down and finding inspiration in early 90s ambient techno. This remix wouldn't sound out of place on Warp's Artifical Intelligence compilation or on the Belgian R&S label, a seriously impressive remix from three youngsters not long out of their teens and better known for their ACR/ ESG style punk- funk grooves.