Insideamind

Toronto’s self-described scratch band, InsideAmind explore the outer boundaries of human sanity and isolation on their debut EP, Fragmental, a disc that radiates the mood of drug-induced paranoia from someone locked in the shadows of an abandoned world. Using turntables as their primary instruments, members DJ Steptone and Professor Fingers create sparse soundscapes spotted with errant tones, scratched in percussive snippets and sporadic, atmospheric drones separating spare moments of actual rhythmic segments. As a result, the record plays out much more like a tense and disorientating film score than your typical DJ record. The disconcerting laughter riding in and out of "Laughing Life” plays well against the backdrop of a broken string arpeggio, diced up break beat and slow building rumble, and each cut into the track with expert poise. Other songs are divided up into mini-movements, like the tripped-out "April to August,” which begins with a plodding dub rhythm that slowly dissolves into a buzzing sonic morass before returning to a much cleaner and more positive break beat by song’s end. The meandering, unhurried pace and intense reliance on the silence between sounds here may make this particular set more suited to an intense reading session but the potential here for a more varied production is great and it’ll be interesting to see what the duo does with a full release.