Necro Deathmort’s name suggests “death death death” and their Myspace classification is set to “grunge/grunge/grunge”, however their music is not even remotely either. In fact, if you dig deeper, the London duo consider themselves more drone doom than anything else quoting a major influence from early Earth. However, Necro’s eclectic pseudo-style is closer in spirit to the creepy electronica of Aphex Twin or cut and paste trip-hop of Coldcut although the predominant influence here would seem to be that of breakbeat alchemist DJ Shadow (from the Endtroducing era). The album’s title – This Beat is Necrotronic – clearly nods towards the retro-beat-electronica that saturates this collection.
Necro’s drone nestles quietly beneath the loops and breakbeats creating ambient tones reminiscent of a hip-hop inflected take Sunn O)))’s spookyscapes. Technicolour Minstrel Show is pure ambient, minimalist drone, while Hurt Me I’m Bored is a much more traditional doom affair with guitars and real drums dominating the lightly electronic undertones. On the brief Origami Werewolf the styles seem to mesh more cleanly and this is perhaps the coherent edge that this album needs to really shine. Final track The Ultimate Testament takes Boris style drone to its logical conclusion and is perhaps an allusion of the entropic nature of the universe in which we live.
It’s clear that Necro take their art with a pinch of salt. The Beat is Necrotronic is certainly creative, and its originality comes from the mix of styles, rather than the music itself. It is a playful work of ADHD genre noodling that will no doubt irritate the hell out of the genre purists (of all the various genre’s this record references) which is always a good thing. But if you alienate everyone, then what are you left with? Is this album just too damn erratic to be anything other than very niche? Or could this genre hopping opus please the wider audience?
All this aside, this motley assemblage of loops and doom really put a smile on my face, and it’ll certainly get heavy rotation on my iPod. Given I’m a fan of pretty much all the genres and artists mentioned here, this was guaranteed to entertain me. There’s a legion of folks out there with similar tastes out there, but we’re hard to pin down. If you stumble across this expecting drone, then keep an open mind. If you’re merely looking for something really fresh and thoroughly entertaining then look no further.
Listen to Necro Deathmort on Myspace
Buy the album here
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