Fiercely original high-octane escapism, conceptually provocative and organically crafted industrial beats – no_hope.tor is the gripping new EP from well-received creative producer ^L_, and it’s one of the most engaging and impactful projects to emerge this season.
Self-defined as ‘rejecting hyper-compression and formulaic structures’, this is something many electronic and industrial music fans will crave from original work. An elusive producer, ^L_ maintains a strong focus on the project and audio at hand, and the result is something that steadily balances immersive appeal and total freedom of play.
Xanax Manifesto is the bold, unignorable opening track. Intense doesn’t cut it, but it’s a near-euphoric kind of intensity – dark and mildly unsettling, ultimately quite addictive in its consistency of rhythm, its uniting of atmospheric details and pure force. The track is almost tribal in its relentless tempo, tone and artistic trajectory. It’s hugely compelling to fall into this at volume, over seven minutes of unignorable soundscape and groove, experimental but also grounded by movement and density; not repetitive but comfortingly relevant to itself, as the ambience and beat roll along.
Conceptually there are intentions to these six tracks, the artist’s name is also a keyboard shortcut for clearing a terminal, and the idea of a system collapse intertwines with the no_hope.tor theme of alienation somewhat – the outsider, the uncertain realm, the molecular disorder. We bring together man and machine in a harsh, heavy and cinematic fashion.
The project meanders through gabber and hard techno tumbling arenas, The Billionaire Killer both fuzzy and hypnotic in its industrial ambiance and unpredictable, sweeping soundscape and beat. A personal highlight, eerie and unignorable, but crucially impactful and strangely, quite deeply, evocative.
This is a really interesting project. You don’t think of genre when you listen, it’s like a release – almost meditative, but through some harsh process of reawakening – perhaps akin to the brutality of cognitive behavioural therapy, and the lasting emotional relief that comes with it. The music screams out around you, but it’s purposeful, rhythmic, oddly comfortable, and your thoughts and feelings align as it fills the space.
Serial Experiments Lain is captivating, fragmented voices imparting ideas and scenes that redirect us, as a chaotic tempo and tone take us through a hardcore, unforgiving gabber production. Then for Diesel Therapy, a beautiful pairing of ambient calm and high-octane drum & bass or tripped, playful rhythms – something aptly reminiscent of Prodigy’s deeper album cuts, for me, in both title and style.
We then get a factory setting of sheer topical poignancy, as Bills, Coffee and Cheap Existentialism proves instantly confronting, severe and striking, with over seven minutes of audio and thought exploration. And after this, a haunting bonus track to further those thoughts of the modern realm and our lostness within or submission to it. Unpaid and Overworked is brilliant, a stunning creative beat, hints of melody and fear, ferocity and calm, all carefully intertwined throughout an unpredictable but captivating arrangement.
^L_’s talent and imaginative approach are impressive, to say the least. Something immensely unique, but also engaging, skilfully crafted, purposeful, and consistently interesting. The closing track is a personal highlight for its detail, drumlines, and this fascinating balance between chaos and fluidity. The entire no_hope.tor EP, however, is something of its own, ideal for gabber and hard techno fans, sure, but also – something that instrumental, ambient, electronic, and generally the tired, forever seeking music lovers of an oversaturated modern world, will find enthralling; there’s plenty to connect with and unpack.
Project released on Insane Industry Recordings, Italy. Download No-hope.tor via Bandcamp. Find ^L_ on Instagram.
