Flail in Bloomington, MN

Confrontational Brooklyn duo
Wetware
's 2018 LP
Automatic Drawing
was a high-anxiety trip filled with broken machine rhythms and commanding frontperson
Roxy Farman
's vocal convulsions.
Flail
is their aptly titled second release for
Dais Records
, and it's even more challenging and unstable. Building on earlier
releases' fractured industrial and atmospheric techno,
's more overwhelming tracks are closer to power electronics, with dense walls of noise and jackhammer rhythms pummeling and grinding away, while
Farman
constantly gags, hyperventilates, threatens, and taunts. "Kismet" is a furnace blast of sporadic kick drums, suffocating feedback, and
's uncontrolled howling, stammering, and giggling. At one point, when sirens collide with thudding 4/4 beats, it seems to momentarily land on a spontaneous bunker rave.
's delivery on "And So It Is" seems halfway between
Diamanda Galas
and a cattle auctioneer, and she seems perfectly poised on top of the blazing, dusted-up speedcore beats of "Cause Unknown." A few tracks in the middle ease up on the high tempos, but they hardly feel like mellow, meditative reflections.
's voice is reduced to a confessional whisper during "Exaggerated Bliss," but she's directly inquisitive during "Indifference," and she pleads and shouts for someone named Johnny to remember her over the lawnmower drone of "Divided in Halves." "She Was Having a Good Time" recalls the dripping, pulsating techno of
's past work, with
's dislocated voice rippling over an aired-out yet skipping beat.
ultimately has some less fiery moments that provide a sense of balance, but overall, it's blindingly intense, and easily
's most expressive and exciting work. ~ Paul Simpson