A luminary of Japanese techno scene with dozens releases to his name, the subject of this review doesn't require much of an introduction. If we were to represent the intensity shifts in his style with a line chart, it would be full of peaks and valleys: Ryuji Takeuchi started off as a hardtechno artist in early 00's and has went through a phase of affection for minimal production several years later before coming back to his roots again with an altered and renewed strength, a good example of which would be his second album "I Think, Therefore I Am", released though Takeuchi's imprint Local Sound Network. Being proponents of all things industrial, it is no surprise that Instruments Of Discipline have chosen to enlist him for a solo EP.

    Leading with a distressful drone wall, the 120 BPM opener geometrically progresses in intensity by first bringing out a hailstorm in form of ruthless kicks that strike 5 times a tact, then engaging tormenting synths and gradually raising highly abrasive ambiant fields, leaving the rampant run of densely clustered open hats for the second half; Ambivalence screams of both oppression and resistance, essentially throwing the listener right in the middle of the action.

    As opposed to the former number, linearly constructed Sadness does away with gradual unraveling: after 5 seconds of build-up through ominous and swiftly alternating, but warmly distorted and subtly delayed pads, a wall of encapsulating noise and virtually incessant barrage of 16/16 drums with a strong accent on each forth strike is basically what you should expect for the entire duration; it is a 180 BPM beast that curiously unifies offbeat techno and halftime drum & bass, verging close on falling into rhythmic noise category.

    It's hard to imagine what goes through Takeuchi's mind as he produces such Nietzschean electronics, but given the pace of a follower at that moment he presumably thought "Well, that's enough of downtempo music" and then casually set the tempo to 220 BPM; supplied with oppressive drones, piercing acidic synths and prolonged hats put together from the washes of low-passed noise, Sorrow is an ostensible gabber piece with wildly arranged kicks and a militarist attitude that leaves very little space for breathing.

    A seven-minute dive into gloom with varying levels of gain and no unpleasant surprises—the word is of moderately distorted, melancholically oscillating synths on a beatless closer Regret, which plays its role of seeing us out in a relatively calm, repressed manner.

    Peculiarly titled One's Sentiment, this four-tracker fits great with other titles in a rapidly growing IOD catalog, which we can always appreciate more of.

Release Type: EP

Release Date: 2 April 2018

Release Format: Digital • Vinyl

Record Label • Catalog: Instruments Of Discipline • IOD026

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