Cavern of Anti-Matter - Blood Drums (2013/2017) [Hi-Res]

One of my review highlights of last week was the bargain-priced Cavern of Anti-Matter 12" on Deep Distance which features 45 minutes of freeform kosmische synth jamming from the Stereolab-related trio. Fast forward to this week and they've got two more records out on two entirely separate labels, the most exciting of which is this double LP 'Blood-Drums'.

In contrast to that 12"s meandering cosmic synth explorations, this double LP is a far beatier affair, still krauty, but with emphasis on the krautRock rather than Kosmische; a bright, propulsive voyage full of delicious repetition in a series of head-nodding hypno-scapes. Almost everything here is beat-driven, with a mixture of live and programmed drums holding down steady, pulsating rhythms while synths pulsate and shudder and beep and squelch and modulate and flange.

There's something strangely futuristic and panicky about it, kind of like a dystopian angle on Warm Digits' crisp neo-kraut momentum, although the album is a "musical journey" and they ease you out in very slickly uplifting style with the closing couple of numbers. Penultimate track 'Kool Boy Narcosis' in particular is an unexpected bit of Inner Tube-ish bliss with a slightly new agey feel and a hook which is too catchy if anything, but while it's my personal highlight it's not exactly representative of the rest of the album, which is less cheesy and more cerebral, an hypnotic thump'n'bleep voyage with gorgeous synth tones and plenty going on.