L.A.W Compile a Six-Way Cross-Section of Extreme Electronics on LAW002

Side B opens with Slave to Society (Andrew Bowen), a figure with roots in rave and techstep hardcore, whose ‘Zero Point’ pushes manipulated percussives and drum and bass-adjacent passages through a lens of orb-like synth electronics. NYC-based Buzzi (Jose Buzzi) follows with ‘Spotty Density’, a schranz track of considerable weight, singular in its march, bludgeoning in its execution. HFK (Florian Bienaimé), described by the label as a flashcore legend and a notably elusive figure, closes proceedings with ‘Carnage’: a track that eases out of ambience before collapsing into harsh, pounding noise that offers rhythm only in the loosest possible sense.

LAW002 is not a compilation interested in synthesis or coherence in any conventional sense. Each of its six artists is operating in a distinct corner of extreme electronics, and the sequencing makes no attempt to smooth the transitions between them. That is, presumably, the point. As a document of where this cluster of genres currently sits, the record is impressively rangy; as a listening experience it rewards those who can follow it on its own terms. Whether the label intends to maintain this level of curatorial ambition across subsequent releases remains to be seen, but LAW002 is a more considered statement than its brief runtime might initially suggest.