Hainbach - Schwebungssummer (2021)

What do you do when you've made a super-gnarly, somewhat accidental anarchotechno rig smasher using brutalist 1950s test kit, put out by a label who love yr werk and sold out in a day? You do the same again, but bigger and better. If it ain't broke...

Sadly, the wider world is pretty broke right now, in every sense of the word. This is something Hainbach's bruising new album – a deepening of, yet subtle departure from, his previous misc.work – serves to reflect, its plunging beats and swarming tones sketching out the dark, strobe-lit contours of a looming black hole, as social life and subjectivity slowly fragment, stall and shatter.

The architect of this psychosonic blast – the sound of “tape stretching over knives” – has this to say about it: “Schwebungssummer embraces anxiety, the mad rush of adrenaline useless in a crowded subway, the joy of jerky movements in ill-lit clubs, and the inevitable disaster”. What this disaster is, exactly, we don’t know: there are too many possibles to choose from. But there are streaks of melody here too – striking and bright – acrobatic leaps and turns, and driving, earthly riddims that tug the whole thing along like Popeye on a spinach trip. Kovid Krautrock? Industrial ambience? Cosmic mud? Schwebungssummer is all these things and more.

We've opted for red wax this time, a B-movie blood-orange splash to paint yer decks with, with updated analogue artwerx. Tidy stylings for our tenth outing, despite the doom/gloom. We hope that you appreciate the package, the sounds most of all, as we pack our bags for the future, pause for breath, and plough on.