The Flashbulb – Flexing Habitual

Strong collection of breakcore/glitch which sits very nicely together on this release. Technically intricate, but also with emotive melodies on 'stretch industry' and 'please don't remember', which flows beautifully into an a kind of breakcore ballad at the same time as the tempo gets switched up - definitely a highlight. On side 2 'Chik Habit' brilliantly remixes that song into something joyfully chaotic and anarchic, and then there's a bunch more intricate high speed glitchy noise stuff.

In response to the other comment, this album IS an EP. Also, Benn Jordan often plays with and collaborates with Mucca Pazza. Chick Habit is an old french folk song that was covered by many artists, most notably April March. The version on this album contains performances by Mucca Pazza.

For an EP that sits perfectly on a 12", I think this it's very accomplished. I've already witnessed tracks like Chik Habit and Amen Iraq serving perfection while being DJ'd at parties. Tracks like Ninedump and Lucid Bass III are challenging, and are served best with a pair of good headphones and a decent attention span. In my opinion the album is a great step in breakcore, it turns the limits up a notch without sacrificing the listener. The bpm never seems to get out of hand, and there's nothing in this record that deliberately sounds 'evil' or 'hardcore'. It's simply a huge array of sounds that are put together so tightly that it's hard to even imagine what the studio sessions must have looked like.
This is some next level stuff Benn!

So here it is, Benn's take on breakcore. After anticipating this release for several months, I was sorely disappointed when it came in the mail and I finally listened to it. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes long, It should have been an EP in the first place. The songs are too short, which means almost none of them afford any time for development. In addition to this, none of the songs have anything constant at all. Benn, it's okay to have the same snare hit on 2 and 4 once in a while! The album also features exhausting use of pitch shifting, which grows old after the first two tracks. Even the melody to the best track, Chik Habit, was lifted from a band called Mucca Pazza. Overall, the album sounds like it was recorded very hastily. It's enjoyable only if you lower your standards.

Sloppy job, Benn. Do better next time.