- Aside from the sound of the music itself, maybe the biggest thing that sets L.I.E.S. apart from other electronic labels is its "fuck you" attitude—its records often have a nihilistic tone that echoes '80s punk and New York No Wave more than most club music. This has never been more true than on its latest two EPs, both incendiary debut releases from UK-born, San Francisco-based artist Oliver Vereker.
Ron Morelli, the scrappy individual who runs L.I.E.S. out of Brooklyn, nicely captures the mood of these records in their press blurbs, which he writes himself. EP 1 is "designed to rip the listener apart like a sickened animal on the loose." EP 2 is "Nitzer Ebb meets techno meets your face in a meat grinder." That will sound pretty unappealing to most people. But then there are those of us who read that sort of thing and think, "fuck yes." For anyone in that second group, Vereker delivers.
EP 1 is the more brutal of the two. "Rosite" and "Disconnect" both fade in to scenes of total mayhem: the drums are searing, the synth melodies have the dark and frantic energy of death metal riffs. "Falling" is post- rather than mid-apocalyptic, with a funkier beat and a mood that's ominous instead of outright horrifying. EP 2 is a club record by comparison, albeit one with plenty of gall. "Fear Eats The Soul" is slightly less bleak than it sounds, thanks to a dusty, jacking drum track. "Next" and "Untitled" take a similar approach: tortured-sounding but basically club-friendly. Not for the faint of heart, but pretty killer for the rest of us.
TracklistEP 1
A Rosite
B1 Disconnect
B2 Falling
EP 2
A Fear Eats the Soul
B1 Next
B2 Untitled