The prolific
Tadd Mullinix
turns up again under his own name, just a year after
Winking Makes a Face
. Some of the whirs and crackles and muffled cackles make a welcomed return but, for the most part, the six-song
Panes
EP is a very different animal. The title song is a damaged
dub
ballad
that refracts
Tricky
's most smacked-out material off a funhouse mirror. Incorporating some savagely tweaked vocals from
Mullinix
and a slithery rhythm, it manages to sound funny, erotic, and nauseated at the same time. The drum machine on
"Inch"
has a nervous, spastic jitter to it that is only exacerbated by various
atonal
effects and a foreboding texture that builds and builds until dropping out roughly halfway through. The closing
"Alternating Currents"
employs a racing, pungent synth throughout its entirety as the other elements squiggle, simmer, and flap. May the madness never stop. ~ Andy Kellman