Briain

The latest drop on Art-E-Fax welcomes back deep cover braindance tinkerer Briain with a tape of warm and gritty electronica done the right way.

We last coaxed Barry O’Brien away from his day job as sound tech at beloved Berlin haunts Ohm and Tresor for a 12” back in 2019, and now he’s graced us with 11 slices of tweaked and freaked machine funk that should appeal to anyone who savours the maverick electro crossover between Rephlex and Drexciya.

The synth lines crunch and squirm and the beats stutter and rasp as Briain rolls out one wonkily perfect jam after another. In the intricate detail and movement that drives each track forwards you can sense the insular focus that comes with the best shut-in electronica. ‘Fist Fight Or Hug’ toys with sliced up breaks while ‘The Precipitous Descent Of Dignity’ deals in dystopian electro of the highest calibre. ‘Beal Bocht’; puts the drums to one side for a gloriously dislocated trip through FM synthesis and broken delay feedback and ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ revels in twitchy micro perc and delicate keys.

It’s a full-bodied album to sink your teeth into, and while it proudly carries the torch from certain legendary electronica forebears, it’s also delivered with all the charm and personality required to make for a future classic in the braindance canon.