Powell - Insomniac / Shoulda Been A Drummer - 12" Vinyl

With recent releases from Zomby and Special Request to their name, XL Recordings seem to be returning to their dancefloor roots in a big way. Here, they welcome back Diagonal boss Oscar Powell, who follows up his recent "Sylvester Stallone" 12" with two more certified dancefloor bombs featuring the widely publicized sampled sounds of Steve Albini. "Insomniac" is particularly potent, drawing on EBM and industrial for inspiration. The result a distorted, vocal-laden, punky affair, like DAF or Front 242 given a 21st century makeover. Flipside "Should've Been A Drummer" is a similarly full-throttle affair - admittedly with more of a standard 4.4 swing - with ragged analogue electronics and the kind of grit-laden sonic textures for which he's renowned.