In collaboration with fabric, Control Tower Records presents the new album `GROWL’ from acclaimed producer
RADIOACTIVE MAN.
Can squelchy Brit acid be digestible, even maybe feel good to slide down the throat and swallow into the belly? Equal parts sharp spikes and vicious intent, fueling the warmth of beloved sweeping acid-laced soundscapes with a punk funk push, RADIOACTIVE MAN’S long awaited new album `GROWL’ certainly makes the case for menacingly beautiful electronica that spreads straight from your belly to your hips and feet. Undeniably influenced from his Two Lone Swordsmen work and his love for that Sabresonic sound, this album of future classic acid, emotional electro and techno breakbeat dub post rock cool oddness, featuring vocal tracks from Andrew Weatherall and Dot Allison, is a quirk in the eye of electronica pushing you to the dancefloor with both feet forward. Shove all the rubbish music from your desk, make yourself a mug of something warm and sweet, press play and give in. `GROWL’ is nothing short of an absolute gem; a perfect example of the kind of brilliantly produced sophisticated electronic music that has become a fiercely British sound; that makes the listener both happy and proud to understand where it’s come from, (even if we all thought this sound had been silenced by some deafening irony swathed puerile/trendy wave). Thank god Mr Tenniswood is bringing us back to our senses, ears, mind and heart first.
It’s been almost seven long years since the self-titled RADIOACTIVE MAN debut album, which came out on Weatherall’s Rotters Golf Club label, waded through the critical accolades of the music-loving many, (oft quoted as `one of the UK’s most underrated DJ/producers’), which was hotly followed by `Booby Trap’ in 2003. But then Keith became an all too busy collaborator, working not just alongside Mr Weatherall with a host of productions including their on-going Swordsmen work for labels including Warp, but artists like David Holmes, The Aloof and Red Snapper, while juggling the running of Control Tower, his live and DJ work and well, his life.
Keith Tenniswood says: “My last album was in 2004, so this album is a collection of everything I’ve been working on the last four years. I’ve been so busy with Two Lone Swordsmen stuff and DJing, that I haven’t had the time to put it out, so this is a real culmination of a long period of time for me. I wanted it to be pretty dancefloor, but still the kind of album you can pop on at home and enjoy on headphones. Hopefully it’s just good quality, electronic dance music, really. I don’t want to think about it too much – everyone gets so wrapped up in the process, the technology, the equipment, and everything else…but what about the music? People talk more about the programs than they do the music itself. That’s all I hope it will be – no hype, just good music that is as poppy as it is deep. I’ve tried to make the emphasis on actual songs, rather than just banging tracks, I could make those any day of the week. I really hope it sounds a bit aged from my last album, more matured. A build-on from where I last left off and maybe proof that I have learnt something along the way. I hope that it’s still got a lot of soul and growth in it.”
RADIOACTIVE MAN is a dark talent and `GROWL’ passionately scribes the next suitably dirty and thoughtful chapter of Tenniswood’s complex and disturbing sonic dreamscape. Opening with the sweet methodical low-end bounce of `Basement Business’; moving to the breaks-ready loopy cool of `Pieces of Eight’ to Dot Allison’s dulcet anthemic embrace on `Nothing At All’; then the take no prisoners techhouse dancefloor build’n'bass boomp of `Kristiina’ followed by `Double Dealings’, the electro meets dirty postpunkfunk shadowed with Andrew Weatherall’s dark menacing vocals; to the relentless moody electro wob of `5 Armed Skeleton’; then the sweet melancholic caress of `Up In The Air’, a beautiful nod to all that is gentle in modern electronica; finishing with the complex techy electro-break triptych of `Dalston to Detroit’, title track `Growl’ and `State of That’. `GROWL’ is nothing short of eleven superb tracks awaiting an audience of sensitive and reflective listeners, as much ready to dance as they are to just enjoy what a truly special artist RADIOACTIVE MAN is.
01. Basement Business
02. Pieces of Eight
03. Nothing At All featuring DOT ALLISON
04. Kristiina
05. Double Dealings featuring ANDREW WEATHERALL
06. 5 Armed Skeleton
07. Up in the Air
08. Dalston To Detroit
09. Growl
10. State Of That
11. Lungful of Bass
Release Dates: 12/05/08
