NEWS
EVENTS
One to Watch: Blacknecks
House | Sunday 16th November 2014 | Cristina
Blacknecks have been the name on the lips of techno aficionados since their debut EP in 2013, which established them as one of the most exciting new talents lurking in the shadows of UK techno. The EP, Untitled, and its corresponding press release, revealed two untitled tracks of noisy techno on either side of it by ‘two prominent UK garage producers & remixers known for remixing a string of top 40 singles, as well as having their own minor hit in the late naughties’. Quite opaque, this spawned a year of theorising and speculation as to the identity of the duo, which ranged from playful suggestions like Tiesto to slightly more serious ones like Ant & Dec.
As it turns out, Blacknecks are neither duplicitous EDM titans moonlighting as serious musicians, nor aging comedians, nor Disclosure, they are in fact Tom Russell and Al Matthews, respectively known as techno pioneers Truss and Bleaching Agent. This was revealed when they performed live for the first time in Birmingham in February this year at seminal nightclub House of God. They were accompanied by a cross-dressing ginger MC called Joyce, probably referenced on the cover of their latest release, as they ploughed through a set of satisfyingly nauseatingly hard techno, proving their salt as excellent DJs as well as innovative producers who just might be worth the murky cloud of hype surrounding them.
This week, Blacknecks released their sixth EP, Blacknecks 006. It picks up where their last releases left off, addressing clubbers and DJs with a blend of gargantuan electro walls of sound and progressive techno just bizarre enough to tickle dance music fans who wouldn’t normally venture this far into maximalist techno. Compared to Blacknecks 5, this EP has fewer abrasive moments, like ‘Moon Over Rotherham’, and more hands-in-the-air moments – ‘Easy Lionel’. As such, it’s their most accessible release to date, as well as their zaniest – drunk, naked, transgender DJs grace the cover art, complementing song titles like ‘Stunning Gurn’. House-heads - brace yourself. Techno purists – crack out the glitter and get your inner diva on.
Blacknecks have a Soundcloud you can peruse.
