Xinlisupreme - Murder License EP
(Fat Cat)
Xinlisupreme's follow up mini-album, Murder License, is perhaps even more insane and intense than their debut, Tomorrow Never Comes. Drum machines and the crunch of umpteen layers of distortion have all but taken over a large portion of this EP, creating music that is piercing and dense but still oddly approachable due to the simple melodies lurking below the surface.
The title track starts the EP, launching right into a drum machine assault. Machine-like industrial pounding covers a wash of retro keyboard melodies, sounding like a non-stylized version of Atari Teenage Riot. And, given the song's title and the album's cover art, the politics also seem to match. Vocals are barely heard underneath the attack of sound. The mid-fi recording studio is overwhelmed, giving the recording a fuzzed-out glow.
While "Murder License" has melodies underneath the assault, "I Drew a Picture of My Eyes" is more just a noise collage. Warbled industrial sounds moan, screech, and grind, creating a noise that is just hard to listen to. The noise eventually fades away though, leaving an equally warbled piano piece—a few random bursts of melody sounding like they were recorded inside a jet engine.
Not all of these songs are so heavily affected by noise. "Front of You" and "Count Down" are almost dance-able. "Front of You" features a fast-paced bass line that lasts the duration of the song, giving it a solid backbone. On top of that synthesizers and distorted synthesizers and totally fucked-up synthesizers create simple trance-y melodies. "Count Down" is a very, very dense song—so dense the recording seems to be crumbling around it, unable to support its weight as bursts of digital shard fly out from the rumbling mass. However, beneath all that debris is the simplest drum beat—one that could easily be just a hand clap—and the melody is pure dance music, alternating between bubbly electronics and disco-like organ vamps.
Much like the band's previous album, Murder License ends with a "Nameless Song," a song free of distortion offering simple, unfettered sounds, offering a break after the synapse-tiring density of the rest of the album. Here a piano plays a simple melody, much like children's music, perhaps showing the foundations of a Xinlisupreme song, before all the experimentations with noise and distortion are added on top.
Murder License is perhaps more cohesive and more enjoyable than the band's debut, however it's also harder on the ears. You can't listen to Murder License anytime; you have to be in the mood to get your ears bashed in. Because of that, it's definitely worth adding to your collection but is hard to put into any sort of heavy rotation.
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