Age Coin Make Brutalist Techno Feel More Human on "Raptor"

The duo return in January with a new LP called 'Performance' on Posh Isolation.

December 15, 2016, 5:15pm

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Kristian Emdal and Simon Formann are probably best known as part of the now-defunct Danish punk band Lower, who offered a Romantic (with a capital R) take on their storied scene's blistered sonics. But in the wake of that group's dissolution, the duo's other efforts have picked up steam. Emdal has dedicated some of his time to play in the punk orchestra of sorts Marching Church and Formann has been making dead-eyed techno under the name Yen Towers. But together, they've continued their work as the electronic duo Age Coin, delving into the fractured realms between experimental composition and club music.

On January 13, the duo will return with their second proper LP Performance, this time on the boundary pushing Posh Isolation (who's also released a few of Age Coin's tapes). In a press release, they promise that the release is a "joint effort to process past as well as present experiences within father-son relations. In order to make things tangible, scenes are drawn from memory and merged in a shared fictional collage."

It's a bit of an amorphous concept, but today you can also see it in action. They're also sharing the record's lead single "Raptor," a five-minute assemblage of subtly shifting rhythms and dazed synth lines. Amusingly, the track's tagged as "dubstep" on Soundcloud, but it's a far cry more intimate than anything that's been released under that banner—on either side of the Atlantic. Around their puttering percussion, there's heart-warming bass hits that feel like the sort of thing you might hear on a Modern Love release—there's something wonderfully off about them, though. There's a humanity to these morphing sounds that's impossible to shake, a rare quality to find in such industrial, sparse realms.

Performance is out January 13 on Posh Isolation. On the same day, the label will also reissue Croatian Amor's 2013 album The World.

You can listen to "Raptor" here and check out the record's art and track list below.

Performance is out January 13 on Posh Isolation. On the same day, the label will also reissue Croatian Amor's 2013 album The World.

You can listen to "Raptor" here and check out the record's art and track list below.