SCORN

Antony Burnham (courtesy of Metamorphic Journeyman website)

Imaginaria Award is a 5 track ep available on cd and vinyl from Hymen by Scorn, presented as a precursor to the following album Greetings From Birmingham. Subtle at first imaginaria award starts with out of the picture, tapping beats and suggested swells - the whole swirling. Before kicking in with solid beats and deep bass vibes - a mass forming in your ears. The Scorn vibe established he plays with hesitant melody on the surface while keeping the beats constant and allowing the bass to come in and out. Edges shift through the sound and it doesn't take much volume for this to challenge speakers. Strings are discordant, contributing to the edge and backing up the threat. Whine drones while clattered layers of percussion are dropped in - the sound suggesting the track title worried. This steps up to a more rapid piece - offering a more streamlined and harder sound. Beats have force, and echo with a pattering lash. While bass is a thick wall that sits undaunted by the lines of other sounds that thread its immensity. Groaning electronics come into the mix suggesting a wailing moment; while percussion gets more snappish. A bank of pin ball machines goes off - layering discord out of step. High string buzzes chatter through As If, liquid pulses and background plinks in a more teasing pattern. Thick beat plays stop/start bringing focus. Piano plays notes and the strings continue their interrupts. Bass forms a ridge, almost in a fuzzy pulse formation there is something about this which suggests an inclement climate - a thick cloud with a spattering of rain - not something to be going out in. A shimmer offers a moment of clarity but clatter of beats increases the tappering downpour. As if forming a slow, steady rhythm piece. Coming with a clearer and more open sound is As If (Part 2) - echoing in its spatial awareness. Flexing in a wet manner with the pulsing beats. The conclusion lock sees Imaginaria Award storm back into full on Scorn territory. Rapid hi hat tapping, thick bass wave backed by swirling moods. The swirling building to a sigh then breaking into melody. As it grows lock declares itself, making it the standout track on this release. It goes past the mellowness of vibe and creates a certain upbeat feeling, perhaps almost lush sound.

courtesy of the re:mote induction website

released this summer as an introduction to the excellent new scorn's album greetings from birmingham, this 5 tracks ep is an essential companion, enhancing the sound of the album with the same atmospheric film-noir ambience. much more convulsive tracks like the opener out of the picture and the following worried moves with rough drums, mad-genius styled keyboards and spacey electronics for a much more intense experience than most of the tracks found on greetings from birmingham; while not decreasing it though. as if is pretty much calm and moves with a mid-hip-hop beat along some scattered piano parts and its second part is absolutely quiet with randomize sounds floating around the totally disassembled and overdubbed distant beat. lock returns with the loud bass this time with an almost funky sounding, groovy deep beats while keeping the essential sound of scorn's last incarnation. thick and languid, the new scorn's material is absolutely superb. though, it would have been great to get remixes by some of the hymen's artists (there is some on the vinyl version though), the imaginaria ward ep is, as already said, an essential companion to one of mick harris' best production ever.

Final Man (courtesy of the electrage website)

remember the 90's? maybe some of you were listening to jesus jones or technotronic. maybe some of you were listening to nine inch nails and marilyn manson. or maybe some of you were like me and managed to listen to all of these and still discover groups like scorn. though there were rumors and statements that mick harris' dark dub project was calling it quits after the invisible records dealings went sour, "imaginaria award" proves otherwise. the opening hi-hats and filtered rumbles of "out of the picture" are just precursors to the explosive beats and woofer-blasting sub-bass that make it fantastic. slow, dark, and dirty; it shows that scorn is still true to itself. the track ends as it began, though minus the hi-hats. the same style is present on "lock," with a distorted dub vibe and some odd drones and screeches. "worried" shows the hip-hop flavor that harris has embraced in much of his work, though he once again incorporates that signature sub-bass and spooky mutated samples. i would be terrified to hear ol' dirty bastard or dmx try to rhyme over something this serie. "as if" represents a slight break with the old scorn sound. starting off as eclectic as a coil track, it turns laid back and groovy while incorporated some indecipherable noises and loops. a sparse piano part is part of the mix as well, making any fan nostalgic for the "gyral" days. "as if (part 2)" only continues in this vein, though the song is filtered beyond recognition. needless to say, this is highly recommended to all scorn fans. for mick harris fans, this album sounds more like his work as the weakener than anything else, except more aggressive. additionally, fans of the hymen label will be pleasantly surprised by this accessible release from a label notorious for the extreme beat experiments of somatic responses, beefcake, and xingu hill. much respect needs to be given to scorn, since this project has an undeniable, though subtle, influence on power noise.

kaiju (courtesy of the wet-works electrozine website)