Sd Laika – That's Harakiri

Harakiri: a ritual Japanese suicide of disembowelment reserved only for samurai. Seems horrifying, but witnesses insist it was a profoundly impressive sight to behold.

Its an apt title for Milwaukee producer Sd Laikas long-awaited debut album then, as aural demonstrations of ultra violence are carved into something texturally exquisite.

Meshes (below) splits the seas: an Afro-futurism night terror that forces tribal rhythms into industrial hip-hop contortions. Throughout the album, he takes a dark, fast-paced and aggressive grime framework and expropriates it for his own brand of bastard brain-dance. Case in point: I Dont has those choppy, pitch-bending grime synths but batters them with pneumatic percussion thats as brilliant as it is brutal.

Sometimes these obscure noise releases with their morbid artwork and darkened press shots can mask their complete lack of listenability behind a protective black veil of excessive complexity, and the desperation of its listener to feel exclusive. Sd Laika defeats this. His music marries complexity with club-ready thump, resulting in a dystopian dancehall of morbid booty shaking.

8/10

Words: Joe Zadeh

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Sd Laika - That's Harakiri