The name Milemarker might not mean much to you now, but by the end of
this year they could be so unstoppably huge that neither man nor beast,
nor even insect dares cross their path for fear of being devoured whole.
The latest addition to the Jade Tree family not only has the skills,
but the vision, courage and desire to stage a full-on coup of the
musical world as we know it. A world run by Milemarker would indeed be
a wonderful place to frolic amongst the scrap heaps, de-program
malfunctioning robots and mate with the occasional steel grasshopper.
Anaesthetic is the sound of automatons rocking out so
hard they break through their polyurethane skins, exposing their frazzled
circuitry and aluminum skeletons for the entire world to see. It is a
caliginous journey through a time and a place where roving gangs of
androids rule the streets and humans are forced to dwell in the
underground -- the perfect soundtrack to Neil Gaiman’s
post-apocalyptic masterpiece, Neverwhere.
Milemarker’s music has been permeated by a hypothermic sheen ever since
their debut, Future Isms. That air of chilly perfection is what
sets them apart from the majority of their hardcore brethren; they
are, in truth, closer in practice to many electronic acts than to their
nominal peers. "Ant Architect", for instance, has all the diabolical energy and
warped convalescence of Aphex Twin or Squarepusher, the only difference
being that Milemarker’s music is refracted through a decidedly hardcore
loupe as opposed to the aforementioned artists’ techno-centric prism.
As you may have already guessed, keyboard-derived textures dominate
Anaesthetic, making keyboardist/tape loop operator/vocalist
Roby Newton one busy lady. Her impish synth leads and icy cool vocal
turns are the core of the record, not to mention the driving force
behind opener "Shrink to Fit" and the breathtaking sci-fi opera "Food
for Worms". The boys strike back on the sprawling "A Quick Trip to the
Clinic", a song whose gargantuan proportions are eclipsed only by the
skill and dexterity by which it is delivered. While it clearly
demonstrates their epic intentions and unerringly clever mindset, above
all else, Anaesthetic proves that Milemarker’s genre-splicing dye job is
not quite complete; their hardcore roots are still showing, though
they’re much less noticeable, fading more with each new release.
One listen to Anaesthetic and you’ll agree that living
underground and mating with metal grasshoppers doesn’t sound like such a
bad future after all.
