With Volume 12 of their archival Maximum Vaultage series, Woodleigh Research Facility take a break from their now customary electro-kosmische / techno-motorik and dig out a trio of tracks made in Youth’s home studio, nicknamed his Garden Shed. These tunes, labelled simply 1, 2, and 3, instead, raise ritual rhythms from more organic sounding sources. Woodblock percussion, triangle and tingsha chimes softening their kick. 

The opener has a post-punk, post-industrial vibe. A hypnotic, mid-tempo mover, its sonic palette is very similar to WRF’s debut album, Phoenix Suburb & Other Stories. Released in 2015, this too had a Youth connection – playing bass on the Jah Wobble-esque Taqiya. The hook here is a fuzz guitar arc, which again nods to Youth, and his past, since it’s highly reminiscent of the riffing on his former band Killing Joke’s Requiem.*

The second shot is spookier. A stripped back sketch of cicadas, sparse echoed snares, sinister picking and frazzled electric fretwork. The EP then closes with a stoned, zoned mediation, driven by bongos, congas and gongs. A drum circle ceremony suitable for Balearic beatniks, Amnesiacs, who’ve moved into Magick. Again spectral, but sexily shimmying to a rudimentary Rhythm Devil’s programmed tick and pop. Coloured by the zing of zither strings and melancholy minor chord orchestration, the feel is firmly that of Andrew Weatherall’s Fort Beulah New Underground. A project which, between 2017 and 2019, produced some of the late icon’s most interesting, esoteric and experimental sides. 

*Especially Kris “Thrash” Weston, ex-of The Orb’s A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea remix. 

Woodleigh Research Facility’s Maximum Vaultage Volume 12 can be ordered directly from Bandcamp.