Blown Circuits

Load Blown
Black Dice
Paw Tracks, 2007
4 stars

Black Dice have been on a decade-long crusade into the depths of noise-rock, but by their own standards Load Blown might as well be a pop album. Tribal beats fashioned out of bent computer static collide with warped samples, guitar strums and broken synthesiser effects – and it sounds incredible. A number of the tracks here were recorded for other releases, but they combine to form an album that is more varied, wide-reaching and accessible than anything they’ve done before, and there’s an energy to it that you just can’t help but plug in to.

Artwork: A+

Published in mX, Thursday 10 January 2008.