Two Lone Swordsmen
Big Silver Shining Motor of Sin EP
Warp
It’s been a long unpredictable road for the DJ/production team of Andrew Weatherhall and Keith Tenniswood. Both began as techno mavericks in the early 90s, parlaying their hallowed background into Two Lone Swordsmen’s early efforts, which were askew, brilliant takes on electro.
But with last year’s gritty, but excellent From The Double Gone Chapel, the pair manifested its dark side to create a rock-punk-dub-electronic amalgam that was a most exciting reinvention. Maybe spending more time swilling lager in dingy punk rock pubs instead of manning the decks of megaclubs perpetuated the new sound. Weatherhall introduced his deadpan vocal menace to the Chapel tracks; this new EP, a continuation of TLS’s more aggressive structures, follows the same pattern.
“Showbiz Shotguns,” the better of the two new tracks, is filled with tweaked sonics and scattered synths, bridging nuances of early albums, like Tiny Reminders, with Weatherhall’s submerged vocals and dark, throbbing bass lines. “Feast” is dub rendered through a funk template, a little monotonous, but grooving enough to make the grade. Also included is a pulsating electro rendition of TLS’s cover of Gun Club’s “Sex Beat,” along with instrumentals of the EP cuts for added measure. The title maybe a little too bombastic for what’s provided, but the EP’s content is a solid extension of Two Lone Swordsmen, Version 2.0
Two Lone Swordsmen: http://www.twoloneswordsmen.com • Warp: http://www.warprecords.com
