Kyler is the newest alias of Brighton-based sonic anarchist and enfant terrible Henry Collins, aka Shitmat. Known for his subversive cartooning of sample-based music on albums like “Full English Breakfast”, his unpredictable live set has become famous worldwide.
Here he’s adopting a gentler persona, using samples and “found sounds” to create an atmospheric noise-collage which goes for mood rather than outrage. There’s no way you could call these 32 short tracks “songs”, but if there’s such a thing as a breakcore concept album, this might well be it. Kyler aims to evoke “feelings of childhood, warmth, wonder and memory” through recollections of the Norfolk village where he grew up, but don’t expect “Trumpton”; these aren’t rustic noodlings or slices of dreamy ambience.
Instead, expect angular and often harsh soundscapes that suggest the random savagery of the countryside as much as any sense of pastoral innocence. “Lovejoy” might evoke every dodgy East Anglian antique dealer you’ve ever been swindled by, but some of the sounds are like nails down a schoolroom blackboard. The ecclesiastical “We Beseech Thee” is more reflective, and the strangely titled “Discontinue This Boil Treatment On The Quiet” is darkly reflective, like a half-glimpsed image in black water. Some of this music would adapt well to soundtrack use; the particularly cinematic “Emily” evokes a lost child in chilling, ghostly musical vocabulary.
Shitmat’s trademark zany humour is also present; “Pilgrim Rise” includes a sample of Val Doonican favourite “Delaney’s Donkey” as well as what sounds like a mutant rendering of “Swan Lake”.
Call this breakcore, mashcore, darkcore, or jungle, or call it nothing at all. Cosy tales these aren’t, but there’s plenty to intrigue and entertain.
- Darqwan - M/a...ximum Reespek
- iTAL tEK - Blood Line
- Ceephax - Megalift E.P.
- The Doubtful Guest - Electrobotz
- Milanese - Extend
- Pinch - Punisher
- Mary Anne Hobbs - Warrior Dubz
- Tim Exile - Tim Exile's Nuisance Gabbaret Lounge
- Venetian Snares - Cavalcade Of Glee And Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms
- Boxcutter - Oneiric
- Boxcutter - Tauhid
- Uniform - Protocol
- Shitmat & Friends - Gary's Gruesome Remixes
- Guilty Connector - Beats, Noise & Life
- The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble
- Venetian Snares - Hospitality
- The Gasman - This One's For You
- Breakage - Drowning
- Equinox - Acid Rain V.I.P.
- Pinch - Qawwali
- Virus Syndicate - Ready To Learn
- Virus Syndicate - Ready To Learn Remix
- Vex'd - Bombardment Of Saturn
- µ-Ziq - Ease Up