4 – Slam – Machine Cut Noise (Soma)
All Slam albums are techno, but some Slam albums are more techno than others. It’s easy to forget Slam used to be a vocal band. Cue memories of Dot Allison’s floaty vocals. Not so here. Machine Cut Noise is an insane assault of planet-sized sonic weaponry.
Each track is unrelenting in its Orwellian disregard of anything approaching humanity. There is no escape from the thundering bass drums, the ominous synths, the hissing snares. I joked in November about a Slam Tent. It’s not a tent. It’s a prison.
Yet, it’s also hypnotising. Liberating. Even exhilarating. It might be Stockholm Syndrome, but you will lose yourself in the metronomic majesty of Slam’s most impressive album yet. If you want a vision of Machine Cut Noise, imagine a bass drum stamping on your face forever. But in a good way.
Scroll all of the best 2016 electronic albums by clicking here.