Since the release of their debut studio album Split the Atom in 2010, Noisia have been keeping themselves busy in various areas of electronic music, from their soundtrack for the rebooted Devil May Cry video game to their EP releases such as Purpose and Incessant.
Released on August 31st, Dead Limit is their latest offering. It’s an EP produced in partnership with producers Dylan Jones and Jeremy Glenn – better known as The Upbeats – and despite some of the songs not feeling like they have a lot of substance to them, all are enjoyable tunes to include in your playlist of choice.
Dead Limit
The title track has all of the large build-ups and big drops you’d expect from Noisia and The Upbeats, with more and more effects being layered on and dropped out as the song progresses, clean snares complementing fat kick-drum beats.
It risks overstaying its welcome a little when the middle of the track feels like it isn’t really going anywhere, but the outro soon cuts in before you get a chance to notice this.
Inverse
Following on from the title track, Inverse combines menacing bass wobbles and a slow but relentless rhythm with more playful melodic elements and changes in tempo part-way through. With so much going on, there’s a lot to enjoy in this second part of the EP.
Inverse is always keen to bring different elements into the track and lose others, or change the mood of the song when you least expect it. It’s a track that never stays in one place for too long.
Omnivore and Mouthbreather
The third track Omnivore treats the listener to about one full minute of build-up before settling into an enjoyable rhythm, with the beats sticking to one main pattern free of too much variation as the rest of the song treats its audience to bassy buzzes and more squishy effects that somehow all work together within the simple but constant rhythm.
Based on a selection of vocal samples that explore the nature of, yes, people who breathe through their mouths, Mouthbreather is the final track on the EP. It’s the kind of sampled weirdness that all fans of electronic music have been familiar with for years and it helps to give the track a bit of identity and range, making it stand out among the other tracks through its quirky quotes and heavy breathing noises towards the end.
The Dead Limit EP
Each of the four songs seems to roll along at a fairly similar tempo that is great for long mixes. Even though this creates the risk of giving the four tracks a rather ‘samey’ feel overall, it’s the kind of EP that begs to be listened to in one session rather than shuffling the individual tracks into a playlist of your own. Sometimes the epic build-ups are let down by beats that don’t have much variety going on, but more often than not the songs have a lot of back-and-forthing between different ‘moods’, such as calm and relaxed sections that are followed by bass-heavy segments that come out of nowhere.
Other EPs by Noisia (and other collaborations with them) have led to tracks that are instantly interesting and likeable – the Evol Intent collaboration “Long Gone” on the Purpose EP would fall into this category, for instance. However, when listening to Dead Limit it feels like the songs need a few repeat plays to really grow on the listener. If you don’t care too much for that and just like strong rhythms and powerful bass, then this EP is recommended. From the diversity of Inverse to the random talky bits of Mouthbreather, it’s a fun selection of tracks. The whole EP comes and goes within around twenty minutes yet still finds its own identity within that short time, setting itself apart from other Noisia EPs whilst delivering another great series of tunes.
Listen for yourself at Noisia SoundCloud.
Find Noisia & The Upbeats on:
- iTunes
- Beatport
- Spotify
- And at the Noisia website, which includes digital, poster, T-shirt and deluxe bundles via their store.
