Beppu

Hot on the heels of that ace John Lacey/COUM Transmissions release, Andrew Hargreaves returns to his Other Ideas label for a bleak, No(rthern) Industrial battery under his Beppu alias. Beppu releases in the past have been largely confined to limited CD runs that have mostly all sold out on the day of release - but this edition is the first in a proposed trilogy of albums, and the first material Hargreaves has released on vinyl under this alias. 'Coercion' was conceived whilst reading Stanley Milgram's 'Obedience To Authority' tome, and consequently closely mirrors the book's themes of claustrophobia and brutality, either by design or osmosis, whilst also drawing parallels with Andrew's recent shift of direction to more Technofied, gnarly terrain as one half of The Boats. Its seven tracks broadly fall into two categories across two sides. The first three are low sunk and furtive exercises in atmospheric tension melding washes of Alessandro Cortini-esque synth pads with sparse, sparring drum machines sharing much in common with the likes of Dwellings & Druss, Alberich or the recent Delroy Edwards album, but with a claggy Burnley warehouse touch. Matters become more intense on the flipside, locking down to a tunnel-visioned technoid churn reminding of Tuning Circuits and reams of other unsung heroes with dedicated integrity. It's a heavyweight, brutal assault, contrasting well with the more spacious, contemplative noise on the flip and making for another intriguing release from this bijou imprint.