Force + Form cover

Force + Form

Released

Anthony Child’s third album as Surgeon contains just four tracks, ranging from eight and a half to nearly 12 minutes. The snatches of melody that popped up on his debut, 1997’s Basictonalvocabulary, are almost entirely stripped away here, leaving just a chromed Terminator skeleton: pounding beats, the occasional vocal sample chopped too finely to even function as language, a single droning synth note. But the pieces are suitelike, moving through distinct phases and going down surprising tangents (wait for the recording of him in a Kalamazoo hotel room near the end of “Returning to the Purity of Current”) even as they deliver relentless, concussive percussion.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Moments cover

Moments

Lull
The Sacrificial Code cover

The Sacrificial Code

Kali Malone
Basictonalvocabulary cover

Basictonalvocabulary

Surgeon
Purge cover

Purge

Godflesh
0ºC cover

0ºC

Ryoji Ikeda
No Geography cover

No Geography

The Chemical Brothers
Terry Riley: In C cover

Terry Riley: In C

Members of the Creative & Performing Arts at SUNY-Buffalo
Blurse cover

Blurse

Chevel
Bleep to Bleep cover

Bleep to Bleep

The Micronauts
Beaucoup Fish cover

Beaucoup Fish

Underworld
Release cover

Release

Pangaea
This Bliss cover

This Bliss

Pantha du Prince