A blinding full-length by L’usine ICL, apparently in great form, with releases to the left and right. Last reviewed here for his contribution to the excellent delikatessen imprint, but also for his contribution to the Hymen compilation “Masonic”. And not (just yet) reviewed 12″ releases on Hymen, Isophlux and Eat This. This time it is a collaboration-release of Hymen Records and Mad Monkey Records. “Iron City” and its 11 tracks is a treat in much the same way as the previous L’usine ICL releases. Very strong album opening with “Blind”, solid beats, accompanied with an as solid bassline and on top of that nice chords. L’usine is not in any hurry and lets the track evolve in a steady pace, there’s even a break included. “Invisible” is following directly on the excellent “Blind” and features beats constructed along similar lines of thought and again the track builds nicely into a forward moving, warm groove sprinkled with interesting sounds. The track’s then slowly disintegrated and is never reassembled again. It is a fitting description for the third track as well “Shoot the Moon” add a powerful break, a rebuilt track and some crunchy beats. “Strand” is slightly more down tempo and contains some heartbreaking melody and clever use of sound positioning. And it just goes on, “Numbers”, “Tonic”, “Scheming”, “Bent”, “The Fast Lane”, “Perpetual” and “Running in Place” are equally good tracks. Aha, 11 good tracks out of 11 available? Yes, it is a good thing in every aspect.
electronic desert ≡ revisited + extended