Full of subsonic bass rumble and glitchy polyrhythms,
Growing'
s debut for
Vice
finds the group fully transformed from their modest beginnings as a band using guitar crunch to make ambient soundscapes into a fully focused (and completely trippy) electronic force.
Pumps!
picks up where 2008's
All the Way
left off in a wash of a drone and noise, and adds forceful beats throughout. Driven by a pulsing kick,
s palette of fuzz shards, goopy gurgles, and vacuum suction is transformed from whispers in the ether to block-rocking beats from a Martian club. As well as becoming more danceable (in a freaky, frenetic way), the band incorporates a vocalist,
Sadie Laska
, who delivers spoken echoes in the styling of
Miss Kittin
over
"Camera 84"'
s techno pacing. It's not as if the duo has gone all FM radio, though. Everything is twisted and blurred to the point that only the patient and experimental-minded will sift through the murk to find the hidden grooves. Closer
"Mind Eraser"
manipulates the phrase "I love drugs" in and out of a clubby dub-skitter, along with what might be German elves yelling in an echo chamber. Yeah, it's that stoney and weird, but it's also really, really good. Potentially their most accomplished work. ~ Jason Lymangrover