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HECQ
Bad Karma

Hymen Records

Posted: Friday, October 27, 2006
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Benny Boysen's path may show him still fresh on the trail, but what a trail it is. As the man behind HECQ, his music weaves an intricate web of divergent electronic textures and rhythmic manipulations, with just a touch of melody to give his glitches a personality apart from the multitudes of acts already crowding the once adventurous IDM scene. With Bad Karma, Boysen presents his third HECQ album, a work of irrefutable electronic mastery. Beginning with bubbling rhythmic attacks and soft distorted waves of the opening "(untitled)" track, to the skittering clicks and cavern-esque dark ambience of "Cr.blox," Bad Karma is immediately on par with the best works of anyone on the Warp or Frozen Empire labels. "Into the Unseen" brings us to a slower, slightly hip-hop tempo, like cruising down a city street at night, with only the reflections of the street lights to guide the way in the form of sprays of echoing samples. Kicking up the pace a few notches with some touches of drum & bass are the skittering electro effects of "Lightning Slots" and the nocturnal chirpings of "H7," as well as the tribal ramblings of "Scumdrum" and the second "(untitled)" track. Curiously, the title track is little more than an interlude of dark ambient noise. Given that Boysen has worked as a remixer for the likes of Architect and L'ombre, it should come as no surprise that his music bears a resemblance to those groups; that, plus the fact that both groups make an appearance on the album. Stephen Sawyer of L'ombre appears on "Nineteen.seven," starting with a rather disturbing sample of sad voices and kicking into a bouncy array of somewhat danceable percussion and light breaths of airy pads like sparkling clouds in a grey sky. The track then shifts slightly to include more ominous clicks and clacks of static and noise. Architect's Daniel Myer also lends his abilities on "Misantron," characterized by a simplistic but melodic synth bass line, and complemented by layers of subtle but energetic percussive glitches. Simply put, Bad Karma is dizzyingly complex in its construction and production while still appealing to the musical psyche. Be it for the underlying dance sensibilities amidst the labyrinth of electronic layers, or the hinting of melodies beneath the atmospheric structures, this album is one beautiful and, at times, haunting outing. Fans of Architect, Monstrum Sepsis, and even the more melodic works of Download will find much to behold in HECQ's third album.