System: Tempo EP
Rump Recordings

System's Tempo EP is not only more uptempo than the group's 2002 self-titled ~scape outing, but also announces a dramatic stylistic shift. The trio (Jesper Skaaning, Anders Remmer, Thomas Knak) have updated System's digi-dub with potent injections of two-step and dubstep. In the blistering opener “Nothing,” robotic, “Boing Boom Tschak”-styled voices stutter “Nothing is wrong” and “Nothing is completed” over a steely broken beat base that draws largely from dubstep but electro too while “B” merges deep dub textures with a robust two-step skip. Though “Rumpstep” is slightly more solidly grounded and harks back to the trio's digi-dub style, it still restlessly barrels forth with spirited abandon; the minimal bass-driven “Ekko” comes closest, however, to replicating the ~scape album's sound. Tempo EP's energized funk vibe feels light years removed from the cool restraint of System and opens up a promising range of sonic possibilities for the group's future.

April 2007