This is Benjamin Damage’s second album, and as the press release rightly states he’s decided to go back in time to 1994, take some of the best elements of techno as it was then, and bring them forward for his own use. That would explain the really rather excellent ‘010x’, which is a great hook and energy, or the lean, stripped back approach of ‘Delirium Tremens’ and ‘Extrusion’. Where Damage is right up to date, mind, is in the clever beat manipulations of ‘End Days’, which could be down or up tempo, depending on how you hear it. Influences abound from either side of the Atlantic – with Detroit and Berlin the most obvious – but Damage gets his own style to the front of the queue, adding character to an album that is a nocturnal treat. He is one of Modeselektor’s best finds to date for their 50 Weapons label, and that’s saying something!
5 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
