Claro Intelecto - Forgotten Wasteland (136DSR)

Claro Intelecto - Forgotten Wasteland EP - Delsin Records (136dsr)

a1. The Thunderdome
a2. Sniffer Dogs
b1. Messages
b2. Sirens

www.delsinrecords.com/release/6393

Since the dawn of the Millennium, Claro Intelecto has beguiled listeners with his trademark brand of far-sighted electronic futurism – an atmospheric and otherworldly sound that reprocesses and repackages a multitude of influences drawn from three decades immersed in electronic music.

It seems fitting, then, that the latest Claro Intelecto outing – the first since the release of his Exhilirator album two years ago –was partly inspired by the formative years of the man behind the alias, Mark Stewart. Its’ title, “Forgotten Wasteland”, refers to the current state of the place where one of Manchester’s most influential underground clubs, the Thunderdome, once stood.

Stewart explores the impact and influence of this mythical club, and all that flowed from it, on EP opener “The Thunderdome”, a track whose industrial-strength beats, ragged acid lines, sci-fi bleeps and body-shaking sub-bass recall the raw and heavy techno music that emerged from the North of England in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In contrast, the equally heavy and lo-fi “Sniffer Dogs” takes a more considered approach, with Stewart wrapping cinematic sweeps and dubbed-out electronics around a glitch-laden, Skam style experimental hip-hop groove.

On the flipside, Stewart begins with a far-sighted chunk of loose-limbed electro-techno fusion, “Messages”. Rhythmically punchy with the producer’s now familiar weighty analogue bass and raw riffs to the fore, the track’s fizzing melodic motifs and woozy pads recall hazy memories of sunrises spent stumbling between soundsystems at chilly free parties across the UK. The track’s increasing intensity is mirrored on EP closer “Sirens”, a druggy blast of rugged mid-tempo heaviness blessed with sun-bright blasts of synthesizer-driven bliss. It feels like a fittingly evocative conclusion to another standout outing from Claro Intelecto.