When we last checked in on Do Not Resist The Beat!’s menacing aesthetic — think selections for a techno dungeon beneath another techno dungeon — the labels proprietor and sole artist as of this writing, Milton Bradley, sounded manic, painting the apocalypse in broad, fiery strokes at a high BPM. “Dystopian Vision” might be the best Ostgut Ton record the fabled Berghain imprint had no hand in releasing this year, and it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise if “Psychological Drama,” Bradley’s latest, continued to pummel its audience with similarly brass knuckle-imbued fists. I mean, ’tis the zeitgeist, and the guy sure has a knack for ferocious, stuttering rhythms. But on his third 12″, Bradley turns his prophet’s gaze inward and maybe farther downward, trading visceral beats for paranoid ones. If he left you feeling slightly concussed before, then prepare to get head-fucked.
Bradley certainly hasn’t forsaken his love of shrill highs and blown woofers in his quest to kick DNRTB! further into the abyss. Rumbling bass drone and bird-of-prey caws sandwich obfuscated downbeats on the titular A-side, conjuring a smoldering battlefield familiar to fans of “Dystopian Vision.” This outlook, however, seems somehow removed from the experience: conjuring Shackleton more than Luke Slater here, Bradley pushes his devilish sonics farther out toward the periphery (or perhaps further into the subconscious), leaving the dance floor feeling woozier and far more exposed than he did on his last A-side. “Derealization” continues the retreat into tense subtlety, this time with an amply defined bass pulse and sharp hats to hold everything together. Stylistically closest to “Last Flight To Cologne,” DNRTB!’s inaugural release, it’s a solid option for those left feeling a bit alienated by the flip but still craving a pinch of misanthropy. As for “Hypnagogic,” Bradley’s ambient tool approximating a tea kettle whistling over an erupting volanco — well, kick off your set with it before everyone else playing techno this year does. There is certainly a place deep in the night for such a 12″, but I’m left craving the unhinged element Bradley has so conspicuously smothered. DNRTB! has been at the forefront of purist, back-to-basics techno since its inception. But for me, it was Milton Bradley’’s combination of doom and viciousness that separated his label from MDR, likely his closest sonic kin. We’re loving the dread, dude, but let’s not forget about the violence.
