A Closer Listen
This month marks the five-year anniversary of Portland, OR’s Errorgrid Records, and to celebrate the occasion, they have teamed up with Heterodox Records to produce Tension/Release 2, a sequel to 2021’s Gridworks 1: Tension/Release. Some of the artists are the same while others are new, but the imprint’s raw industrial timbre remains.
The theme is “the coexistence of polar opposites and the symbiotic balance of extremes,” exemplified by ten alternating “tension” and “release” tracks. The intention is to create a sense of balance that might be imitated by the larger society, should they ever get their act together. Industrial music has always played with such extremes, never shy about the ugliness of humanity but enamored with its potential.
Production Unit Xero‘s “Pattern Recognition” is a classic instrumental dance piece, ready to take club floors by storm, a soulless exterior harboring a beating human heart. The contrast between programmed beats and wandering synth personifies this tension. Nundale (Errorgrid founder Olivier Bernard Egli) chases this with “Resin,” a robotic IDM-influenced piece that speaks to a cybernetic future.
Anna Sitko‘s “RemL” is slow and loping, like a wolf looking for a meal. In contrast, Family Trust‘s “Overnight Drift” quickens the pace and amplifies the warmth. Mid-composition, the beats nearly vanish, revealing an organ-like synth line, which trades places before returning in an even more resolute fashion. The track not only balances “RemL,” but holds an ongoing internal dialogue.
A blast of harshness arrives in “Extinction Burst,” as might be expected from the title. Vyger‘s stomping, distorted piece recalls the COP International roster. Little light can be gleaned, but then again, we’re all dead. The title of Eric Schappli‘s “Werewind” suggests that things won’t get much brighter, but the solo opening and closing synth melodies do seem like rays of light. “Hot Car Death Billboard” seems like a natural follow-up to “Extinction Burst,” even more abrasive and bleak, like listening through broken speakers. This is Trigger Option‘s warning; soon the whole world may sound like this. The breakdown is a literal blast of steam, a nightmare factory of the damned.
How can one rebound from this? Sombre Lux doesn’t even try. Instead, the artist gives in to the dystopian timbre, demonstrating that contrast can exist between two shades of darkness as well as between darkness and light. “Burn” extends the distortion, adding steadily-encroaching beats and mechanical handclaps. Golden Donna‘s “Gloves” switches to the techno-industrial arena, adding tension through density and volume, leaving Hemadaxis to pick up the pieces. “Anonychia” is sweet and slow, not at all a club piece, more suited to ballet. Finally the beauty of the world is heard beneath the technological rumble. But is it all too late? Has the world achieved balance through extermination? Or have we stumbled to a higher path?
Happy anniversary to Errorgrid Records, whose “darker sounds of a present future” seem less and less like science fiction and more like the daily news. (Richard Allen)
Sun May 18 00:01:35 GMT 2025