I remember hearing Supersystem for the first time and, along with missing El Guapo, thinking, “Damn, it’s like it’s the 1980s again, and everyone’s invited!” That was nothing — groups like Test House (and King God, who were much more grandiose about things) pull all the levers on the time machine. Liquid beats, pan-flute synths, “rhythmatronics” (a.k.a. tightly wound, robotic bass rhythms), and the sort of vocals that, if they were being subtitled, would glow florescent. Very fluid arrangements, too; there’s a certain urgency about these guys. They mean it, and that always means something. Bitemarks is about as engrossing as post-coldwave colorwheels get, especially “Cold Void Jiggle” and its lumps of playdough synths that, true to their title, wiggle like jelly. I like squishing them between my ear-fingers. “Island” might be the one track that doesn’t compute, its flat-footed figures doing little to help Test House’s argument, even if its endless coda is well executed. Just a hitch in the road. Seek and crank.
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