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Dyspraxia – A Pound Of Flesh

Dyspraxia - A Pound Of Flesh

CD, self-released, 2007
www.dyspraxianation.com

At first I thought this was some kind of artwork free promo copy of half an album, until I checked the Infekted Sound website to learn that this five track EP is designed to look like a minimal white label vinyl. And it costs one pound British money, which is a great bargain, and a witty pun of course. The Dyspraxia website boldly exclaims that this is “ear-bleeding breakcore and noise” but my ears were only mildly irritated by some of the more annoying drum’n’bass style sections. And excuse me for being pedantic about the popular abuse of the dirty ‘n’ word; this isn’t noise, it’s ‘just’ music!
There is some quite well produced drum’n’noise in here of course, if an absence of actual noise, so your pound might be well spent if you’re that way inclined. The opener “Breathless And Bleeding” is for me a highlight, with a sinister three-note melody and more subtle rhythms showing great potential for a more varied output in Dyspraxia’s future career. Because after that, it’s generic breakcore for most of the way, fast, frantic and furious. The compositions have just enough going on in them to keep you occupied and the breakbeat rhythms are punishing enough for dancefloor, but then the main drawback to this CD is that it seems to be lacking in bass. It just doesn’t feel heavy enough, the treble percussion sounds tend to dominate throughout, as you’d expect with more commercial drum’n’bass.
“Glaxo Smith Kline” has crunchy guitar like sounds and an almost cartoon sounding tune, bringing to mind anything other than dodgy pharmaceutical companies, while “Paradigm Shift” also fails to live up to its name and continues in the same tried and tested style. The dubiously titled “Sexactive” manages to bring in a more industrial feel with plenty of crunchy bass beats and a sleazy man with a rasping distorted voice, which would certainly get the kids going in the clubs (but hopefully not in the bedroom). “Numbness And Tingling” is a good choice for closer, displaying a more mature approach, with a slow start, a creepy Oriental-flavoured melody and much clearer and better executed drum loops.
So, you breakcore kids, throw your British pounds at Dyspraxia and may we hope the money he makes might lead to some interesting developments and improvements in his so far reasonably adequate work.

[5.5/10]

— Nathan Clemence

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