Artist.....: Labour Division
Title......: Forward Stragegy Group
Year.......: 2012
Genre......: Techno
Label......: Perc Trax
Catnum.....: TPTLP004
Size.......: 150,0 MB
Playtime...: 65:27 min
Tracklist:
01. Indent 04:18
02. Mandate 08:00
03. Elegant Mistakes 06:30
04. Industry & Empire 06:54
05. Labour Division 05:18
06. Fading Centres 06:43
07. Nihil Novi 03:33
08. Metal Image 06:59
09. TTH 08:11
10. Cultivar 09:01
Notes:
http://www.beatport.com/release/labour-division/906629
Labour Division is the the debut album by Forward Strategy Group,
following a string of releases on Perc Trax, their own eponymous
label, Stroboscopic Artefacts and Dynamic Reflection. Since their
early days releasing on net labels to their current position amongst
Europes most respected techno outfits the Leeds/Edinburgh duo of Al
Matthews (Smear) and Patrick Walker have always done things their own
way. Drawing on their vast knowledge of electronic musics history
Patrick and Al produce music where notable reference points are fused
with new ideas to create their own distinctive sound. Labour Division
finds the Forward Strategy Group at their most melodic but also their
most brutally uncompromising. Throughout the album the tracks shift
between a range of atmospheres and timbres which in turn guide the
listener though a number of different listening states, holding their
attention and encouraging active listening rather than the passive,
barely-there engagement often induced by less adventurous electronic
albums. The first five tracks aim to grab the listeners attention
from the very first bar, whilst the tracks making up the second half
of the album go deeper the listener, introducing more immersive
sounds that hint at influences far beyond the realms of dancefloor
techno. Album opening Ident surprises from its opening moments, being
more melodic than you have ever heard the Forward Strategy Group
before. The track harks back to the synth workouts of the 1980s but
coated in a layer of industrial grime that sets out an aesthetic that
runs through the rest of the album. Mandate and Elegant Mistakes both
revolve around the kind of semi-broken rhythms which have been a
characteristic of both the Forward Strategy Groups output and that of
the Perc Trax label of late. The former track builds up layers of
delayed stabs and whilst the latter has echoes of classic UK hardcore
as the distinction between drum sounds and processed human voices
begins to blur. From then on the duo serve up a blend of metallic
percussion and reverberant stabs, effortlessly switching from
widescreen soundscapes to razor sharp exercises in minimalism. Metal
Image and Industry & Empire trade on their depth whilst Cultivar
rounds off the album hinting at post-punk guitar textures without you
ever being sure if your ears are hearing live instrumentation or not.
As you reach the end of the album it is clear that this is one of the
rare occasions when a collaboration is exactly that, a meeting and
melding of the history and skills of two individuals to create a
cohesive album that is the key moment for the Forward Strategy Group
so far and opens up endless possibilities for their work after the
album.