The single is an overload of modular synthesis that pulls from the weight of Boys
Noize and Errorsmith while sneaking in a nod to Benny Benassi.
“‘Ode to the Meatheads’ stems from an idea I had of what an anthem for
gym bros and bunnies who were raised on Boys Noize’s first two albums
and the Timedance label in equal measure, instead of Melbourne bounce
and Swedish EDM, would sound like,” Strict Face explains. “Further to
this, the concept I had in mind was ‘Brainless after the office, but
make it Braindance’.”
The track continues the broken, hand-crafted sound design of Severe Forward while aiming
squarely at peak-time commuter chaos. It’s the first taste of an EP that,
according to the producer, explores burnout, politics, digital overload, and online culture. The record draws from the
legacy of Thomas Bangalter’s Roulé label, the forward-thinking club
mutations of Timedance and Fever AM, and traditions of the British bass
continuum, kuduro, batida and bubbling music.
Strict Face has spent
over fifteen years in Australia’s
underground dance landscape, building unexpected bridges between
contemporary electronics and their antecedents. He first emerged during
the second wave of instrumental grime in the early 2010s, releasing via
Mumdance’s Different Circles and Mr. Mitch’s Gobstopper, and has since
fronted his own SLG International and Heuristic imprints. His
long-standing relationship with NLV Records has charted a path from
flirtations with pop and R&B production on 2017’s This Heat EP and 2018’s New Racer mixtape, through to the club-notoriety of 2021’s Pulsers and 2022’s Focus, Explode.
As
a selector, his versatility has been endorsed by a wide network of DJs:
he’s shared booths with Ben UFO, Chloé Robinson, Eris Drew,
Massimiliano Pagliara, Jossy Mitsu and Special Request, among others,
and picked up co-signs from DJ Plead, Jamz Supernova, Skrillex and Lena
Willikens.
