ninehertz

Hampshire electronica trio The Quatermass Xperiment are a quirky bunch. Marrying all sorts of crazy noise-making technology and having the damned audacity to include a real-life drummer, these three herberts batter the life out of things that would probably prefer to have been a toaster or a kettle, and thus avoid such tortured experimentation.

This six-track mini-album comes packaged with a DVD of studio and live footage, spliced and edited within an inch of its life, all housed inside an old reel-to-reel tape box, spray painted black. Musically, these six tracks are a demented pick-n-mix of samples (which work best when you don't recognise the occasional oh-so-subversive burst of Bill Hicks), fuzzed-up sub-bass and over-driven drums. Oddly, the lack of bang up to date technology lends the album a faintly nagging Nineties sound, not unlike the Chemical Brothers' entire back catalogue falling down some stairs.

QX are at their best when riding the tides of feedback and unexpected waves of noise which naturally occur when fiddling with a lot of things all at once (they're a treat to experience live). The organic drums and sheer noise passages work the best and it's only those plinky pianos on 'Electromagnets' that genuinely irritate.

An intriguing listen overall then, and if they can pare down the best elements even further, they're definitely on to a winner.