Iammynewt vs. Skullduggery – Ohaka

It’s a small world, and thanks to the advent of the internet and modern technology, it’s becoming even smaller. As such, it’s not uncommon to see more and more collaborative projects emerge, and as both Iammynewt and Skullduggery steadily make names for themselves in the electronic music underground, such a release between the two of them is bound to be one of the most exciting albums of its time. Ohaka, released digitally through Aphotic Audio, finds the two artists blending their musical eccentricities into a vicious display of sonic anarchy where no audible stone is left unturned.

Both artists are difficult to categorize as it is as they each display a wide range of influences that coalesce into virtually all forms of electronic music, from glitch-laden IDM to frenetic breakcore to melodic ambience. As such, Ohaka is a mixed bag that brings to listeners all of these forms, set to an audibly caustic cornucopia that is sure to melt the speakers. A distorted loop permeates throughout “LILbob,” offering up a bass line that is as infectious as it is disturbing, and the drum & bass warbles of “FlexFiT” that will undoubtedly mess with the equilibrium. Yet for all of its electronic malignancy, Ohaka never descends into directionless noise as so many electronic artists can do in efforts to sound edgy – there is restraint and composition at work, but such that is rarely heard except among the most forward thinking and experimental artists, not unlike Autechre at their most frantic or Venetian Snares at his most malevolent. The bass lines are simple and catchy enough to hook you, but the anarchy of the beat structures keep things purely on the razor’s edge of modern electronic music.

Taking all the best elements of their individual work, Iammynewt and Skullduggery’s Ohaka is a feast for the ears, one that will leave an enticingly sweet and sour taste that simply must be experienced multiple times. To hear Ohaka is to understand where electronic music has been and has yet to go.