Beak, a netlabel electronica artist, is back with a new EP on Monotonik. Like his last release (which hit KZSU A-File last fall), Beak combines dark, sinister Spanish-esque guitar with noisy IDM beats. There’s a visceral tension at play here. The beats seem to teeter on the edge of unrestrained drill & bass, as if one straw short of madness. But the songs always remain well-behaved, and the music is all the more ominous for it. For you gamers out there: this strikes me as the perfect soundtrack to Blizzard’s Diablo.

This is a Creative Commons release, so you can download it FOR FREE, completely legally, at:

http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp150.html

– Captain Dee, August 2005


*1. Rich Spanish guitars, fuzzed-out/noisy head-nodding drum beat with lots of cymbal hits. Spooky sound effects, howls. Awesome! (2:22)
2. Wistful guitar, but something seems slightly fucked up or dysfunctional. Weird vocal texture and ambience, slow pulsing beat. (3:33)
**3. Oh fuck yes! Intertwining layers of super hypnotic/haunting Spanish guitar, fast/catchy/clap-y IDM beat. (2:40)