Crystal Beams

Mighty Force have had a very good 2023, the Exeter label putting out several high quality electronic releases, albums from Boxheater Jackson, Fluffy Inside, Shrieky, KAMS and M-Paths and EPs from AP Organism and Davd Harrow plus some compilations. The latest release is a three track EP from Yorkshire Machines titled Firing Up. Yorkshire Machines are a duo with a history, Mark Franklin and Stuart Brown, with back pages taking in Warp, 90s clubbing and bleep techno and goth. 

Crystal Beams arrives slowly, long synth chords and some dramatic tension before the bassline is released, more tension builds, ghostly voices rattle about and then the acid kicks in. Dark and intense and very good.

Track two is the magnificently named Existential Dread O' Clock, a voice intoning about time, matter and motion and then slow motion clanking drums, heavy duty rhythms and the sound of steel mills, acid basslines, and lots of lovely bleeps. 

The third track is LS3 03 opens with a Yorkshire voice, Sean Bean,  talking about shopping centres and investments (sampled I think from the televised version of David Peace's Red Riding series from a few years ago I think) followed by the bleepiest of bleep techno, a wild, trippy and speaker busting six minutes, the Roland 303 being put through its paces. Crowd noises, echo, snares, kick drums, rumbling bass, acid squiggles, the lot- and finally, 'this is the north!'

Firing Up is available at the Mighty Force Bandcamp site.