Kier: "Secret Level"

The UK IDM incentive appears to be away on its hols at the moment, working arm-in-arm with the smoking ban to keep the heat from the barns it was born in. With imprints like Type and Benbecula working hard to preserve their machines in pastures, it seems these days you have to look ever further afield to get your fix of read-only glitch symphonies (apparently the current Mecca lies in deepest Newcastle). The smart money’s always going to be on the inside of Aphex Twin’s bank vault—that’s a given—but what about those rainswept granite shacks where the yokels do strange things with software? Surely there must be someone still out there helping to power the rise of Skynet, one hardy electron at a time? The answer is an emphatic yes: the county that gave us The Crowner John Mysteries is pleased to present Kier—otherwise known as Devonshire console boffin Kieran Millet—whose latest “Secret Level” delivery reminds us why it is that so much sci-fi gets shot in the countryside.

Announcing itself with the ascent of a foraging cyber-gnat, it doesn’t take long before Game Boys begin to shine and resonate. Once the loading bar has filled, a brisk beat flashes into life, raining down like a hailstorm of bytes. Perhaps the track’s trim length is Kier’s reminder of the speed at which the tonics you chance on can curdle, but, as with Boards Of Canada’s “Kaini Industries” and the more precious elements of electronica, it leaves a sweet and purpling bruise once it’s done punching. If the nation’s really about to head into recession then here’s something you can use to deter bailiffs: frugal, bewitching, and extending that same south-westerly welcome that Dustin Hoffman dealt out in Straw Dogs. Press Continue.

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