Twisted Science

Although Jonathon Tye's work as one-half of MLO has turned mainly on ambient and house, his solo work as Twisted Science has headed for the jagged edge of extremity, exploiting the more beastly potential of jungle, midtempo breakbeat, and hardcore techno against a wall of piercing noise and distortion. His debut release, appropriately titled "Freedom of Noise," was released in 1995 by Tony Morley's well-respected Leaf label, which, like Tye's own Lo Recordings imprint, seems above all else committed to pushing the boundaries of genre and stylistic conventionality. "Freedom from Noise" ably conveyed this agenda as a double-12-inch of ruthless, unrelenting sonic experimentation, usually under a minute or two per track, and singularly committed to the art of the off-put. His subsequent work -- 1997's Cold Fusion EP (also on Leaf) -- backed off the overkill a bit, beguiling by method rather than madness, although the twists and turns of its eight tracks make it equally difficult to get one's head around. The debut Twisted Science full-length, Blown, was released in June 1997. The Sharpest Tool in the Box followed one year later. ~ Sean Cooper