Londoner Artificial System has returned with a new EP of dark, uncompromising, psychedelic electronica. Compositions he’s termed “inter dimensional excursions”. The set takes its title, “X/E/C/K”*, from a frighteningly potent drug cocktail, and throughout features sampled dialogue and that describes the use and effects of undisclosed pharmaceuticals. 

The mid-tempo techno pounding of “Killing Time Before We Get High” pits sinister squelching and Sci-Fi sound effects against rattling snare rolls. A trance dance where the beat and B-line are rigid, hypnotic, but nothing else seems fixed. The voices on “X/E/C/K” itself discuss machines manipulating brainwaves while sequences shuffle and frequencies fizz. A growling, leviathan low-end shaking / earthquaking its illbient, ambient atmosphere. 

The protagonist of “21 Grammes Of Spores” finds himself driving while drinking “magic juice”. A slow, seismic, buzzing, distorted bass-drum kick backing his recounting of the lysergic experience. Metallic percussion simultaneously rocking the room with its resonance, before a final breakdown / fade introduces some melodic serenity. “Special State” is a 13-minute jacking ritual, aimed at the more open-minded dance floor. The narrator, in this case, sounding like industrial instigators / agitators Clock DVA’s Adi Newton doing his best Aleister Crowley. However, its prog-y throbbing sheds some of the darkness by packing in programmed patterns that echo old school house / techno anthems, such as Inner City’s “Good Life”. 

Ending the trip with with the statement “You are there. You have arrived”, the whole EP is a clear continuation of Artificial System’s unique, sonic world building. Taking turned on, tuned in travellers on a cinematic journey through a dystopian terrain of distant sirens and cut-up, collaged spoken word sources. The pieces evolving like chapters in a novel unfolding. This obsidian vision, I’m sure, will find few more fans in the light of Boards Of Canada’s “Inferno”.  

Artificial System’s X/E/C/K is available on Bandcamp. 

*X/E/C/K = Xanax, Ecstasy, Cocaine, Ketamine