(One Infinity Records)

K-Oscillate (K-O) say they sound like “splitting a planet in two using silicon tweezers and gamma rays”. Or alternatively, “Pink Floyd meets the Prodigy” and “Squarepusher meets The Orb”. Actually, this perception of their sound isn’t entirely out of whack. Their self-titled debut album released independently on One Infinity Records most comfortably sits within drum & bass, but is actually an amalgamation of styles, which is quite unique in its freeform approach.

The album begins with Supersoul, lulling you gently in with a nice melody before quickly becoming fast and furious and a bit Prodigy-like in the MC style. Typical of K-O, the structure is quite loose (at least in the drum & bass sense of the word) and it sounds ‘live’ with all the sounds triggered by ‘real’ instruments. Opticall [sic] sees drummer Matt Bray singing vocals over some hard fast break beats, but with plenty of slow breakdowns to create interesting mood variations. Acid is one of the more gentle tracks on the album, with an acid-jazz feel and cool rhythmic rhyming by Hugo Tremayne.

Having received lots of airplay on Triple J, Clear Light is now a familiar tune; with a catchy dubby feel and a complimentary play-off between Matt’s singing and Hugo’s MCing. Titanium has a melancholy Royksopp sort of feel, plus deep rolling bass lines and a cool sped-up propeller effect. It’s a great track – especially to hear the K-O soundscapes and synths from Fred Woller and Daniel Nixon – and the sounds being triggered from Tim Pryde’s V-Bass. The final tracks on the album are dark and heavy, with lots of nasty bass lines and industrial sci-fi sounds. Darkside features death-metal vocals and Sulpher has a spooky cinematic feel about it, with crazy ups and downs and muted rolling beats.

At times this album can sound like K-O is just experimenting. Sometimes it feels directionless and you don’t always know where they’re heading – but that’s what’s so great about it! It’s always good to hear a band breakout of a specific genre. Once you play this album a few times, it all begins to make sense and the freeform vibe, especially in the context of their live shows, really works. The production of this album isn’t the best quality in the world, but it’s a damn fine piece of work and one, which I’ve grown to love. It’s definitely worth checking out – these guy’s are going places.