ABILITY II "PRESSURE"

One of the most mind-melting, genre-bending, dimension-crossing, consciousness-morphing pieces of music ever put to vinyl has finally been reissued! The bleep classic "Pressure" by Ability II remains a stunning realization of electronic music's futurism: one listen leaves the impression that this record must have come from some far-off solar system unbeknownst to our lesser life form, left to us by a nobler species as their sole contribution to the historical undertaking of mankind. Erasing all memory of tradition, precedent or genealogical origin and taking a brave new step forward into a new musical landscape that would feel right at home in the most unsettling robotic nightmares of a Phillip K. Dick prophecy, "Pressure"'s 1990 release is a testament to UK rave culture's ingenuity, void as it is of the persistent murmuring echoes of dance music's past barring a rather serious mutation of reggae's echo/delay and colossus low-end. Dream-induced, floating synth pads, unsettling cut-and-paste vocal samplings strung out over endlessly unfolding delays, the screeching moans of a possessed machine, tough as cryptonite snares leading the unrelenting percussive march: every element of "Pressure" harbors an extraterrestrial oddity that still sounds utterly funky thanks to its sustained sub-bass assault. Ability II's only 12" release has been guarded with the fanatical zeal of a religious devotee protecting their one material link to a higher power---as such it has been about as hard to locate as the Holy Grail itself. Thankfully this pressing allows the uninitiated to take the same ride through cosmic revelation that the chosen ones have, converting believers to the existence of more enlightened creatures than ourselves---not in the greater universe but right here on Earth, private geniuses pushing a true electronic music that is tired of looking backwards for its inspirations and determined to forge a new path ahead despite the weights of the past.