[Thriller]

If Beats In Space‘s Tim Sweeney showed up to play your town’s roller rink with his signature blond shag dyed coal black and fresh blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, would you be terrified or freaking pumped at the prospect of pogo-ing to satanic slow-mo disco edits until he had to tuck back into his coffin at dawn? Assuredly, “Freak For You/Point And Gaze,” the latest 12″ from Werk Discs and its founder Actress’ shadowy Thriller imprint, would be at the front of his crate on such a spooky evening. Thriller has found a niche between disco revivalism and dub futurism we didn’t know existed, cranking the low-end of crackling, anonymous electro records to eleven and smothering the results with a thick shmear of evil. What’s so awesome about this series, now on its third 12″, is how thoroughly its records have defied gimmick status to become a veritable bass music sub-genre — an elastic, discombobulating, and damn exciting one at that. This latest transmission might just be Thriller’s finest yet.

While backpedaling substantially from the brooding techno and abrasiveness of the Actress-helmed “Swarm/Hubble” from earlier this year, “Freak For You” (purportedly also an Actress production) still opens with a bang. With crunchy snares and that signature grinding bass squelching out at breakneck speed, the sunshiny electro sample that eventually drops makes for an unexpected reprieve with serious sing-along potential. The track’s marriage of double-time, demonic beat science and slow-mo, lo-fi soul creates a kind of ecstasy too often lacking in the straight genre sets where “Freak For You” might slot. It’s the sort of singular anthem, though, that could fit everywhere and nowhere simultaneously; as a DJ, figuring out where this bomb might drop only adds to the fun.

The twitchy sixteenth notes propelling the instrumental verses of “Freak For You” are given free reign to work their bouncing magic on the aptly-titled “Point And Gaze.” The track nearly versions its A-side, this time letting the soul atmospherics of the sample subsume the beat for a substantial portion of the middle. All bass throb and steady flange, it’s an exceptionally shoegazey breakdown, one which extends just long to lull the floor into a deft DJ’s utter submission. When the beat finally kicks back in, hypnotized dancers will likely see their feet given over to madness — precisely Thriller’s calling card. Record store jerks could spend weeks wringing their hands over where this record should be filed, but its listening strategy requires very little debate: play it late, play it loud, and dance like an over-caffeinated zombie.