Premiere // Innyster on Contort Yourself

The DIY industrial imprint, Contort Yourself, have returned with a curious EP from the Brazilian producer, Innsyter. Contort Yourself have always intrigued me for being a label that does music like post-punk, only more so. Their sound palette covers analogue overdrive, cassette warble, and vintage echo, and the label itself describes their sound in true post-punk simplicity, "expressing the sound of darkness and frustration through use of machines". Even the name, Contort Yourself, brings to mind the destructive impulse of Orange Juice's Rip It Up or The Slit's Cut.

But the label diverges from the hallmarks of the 80s underground in its contemporaneous use of electronics. Their latest release, Magnetic Healing, is an excellent example of this. It sounds at once both forgotten and futuristic, like a knackered mix-tape found on mars. The label itself describes the EP's opening ‘Desintegrado’ as sounding like, “an industrial dub punk trying to channel early Cluster or Moebius and strangely succeeding”. The strangeness of its sound is unmistakable. The beats and the arpeggios merge into one another to create an odd-shaped mush. But there is plenty of groove in there if you listen carefully.

'Magnetic Healing' will be released on 23rd July with Contort Yourself.

• Published
• Jul 9, 2018

• Credits
• Words by Georgie_McVicar