Conforce

Conforce (the ever evolving Dutch entity of many monikers) has taken an unchartered step away from the club-friendly sound of his previous material to produce Kinetic Image, a furtive waltz with ten different tracks for partners. The tracks themselves are all six- or seven-minute, eerie excursions down some of techno's darkest ravines. Each one opens like the crude awakenings of a super-computer that's been gathering dust for centuries — everything creaks and sputters into life ominously. Surprisingly, this is all accompanied by acid bass lines, which by no means make the songs funky but do give them just enough wobble to stop them from being pitch-black. Even at its most lively ("Spatiotemporal" and "Temporary Reversals"), Kinetic Image is still foreboding, with uncompromising, futuristic shards of glitch cutting into the songs constantly. This is the work of someone who's decided to disregard any expectations one might have of his music. Instead, Conforce has produced an album with no one else in mind and it's a move that's paid off.