Following the fantastic 2016 EP Shadow Boat, techno innovators
Porter Ricks released Anguilla Electrica, their first full-length since the '90s. As with the EP, the album sounds more pumped-up and alert than much of their older work. The tracks don't stretch out quite as long as most of the ones on
Biokinetics, and they don't have the same type of vast, oceanic wash as that album. Titles like "Scuba Rondo" allude to the aquatic themes of their earlier work, and while these productions don't sound quite as wet, they certainly sound fluid. The opening title track has a bit of a slanted industrial/EBM pulse, which is smeared with the duo's requisite unnerving echo and distortion effects. "Shoal Beat" increases the dub damage, with swelling, rippling, and crashing textures over a Kompakt-esque ticking beat. "Port of Tangency" is the head-spinning highlight, as the duo performs audio magic tricks, making it sound like a blues harmonica is chugging along with the bubbly, squishy noises and minimal (but not basic) beat. Hyper-focused yet still spacy and abstract, Anguilla Electrica retains the familiar
Porter Ricks sound while continuing to sandblast into new territory. ~ Paul Simpson