Rupt & Flex (1994 - 96)

When Seefeels 1994 Peel Session was released in 2019 as part of Warp Records WXAXRXP Sessions boxed set, bundled with other transmissions from late-90s signees Boards of Canada and post-millennial arrival Oneohtrix Point Never, it made plain the bands role on the label as stylistic progenitors. The four tracks, despite lying dormant for 25 years, werent outmoded relics. Their swirled compounds of dub, dream pop, industrial, and techno remained transportive, almost psychoactive. That previously unreleased recording served as a prelude to a deeper excavation with Rupt and Flex (1994-96). An attractive anthology, it combines the albums Succour and (Ch-Vox), the Fracture/Tied single and Starethrough EP, and an array of alternate versions and remixes that surfaced on low-profile releases as late as 2019. Theres also a bounty of non-negligible archival material -- 75 minutes worth -- that at times is nearly as fascinating and heady as the previously released goods. Seefeels Warp period followed a prolific 1993 on Too Pure that culminated with the double-LP Quique, and the bands output during this time became both leaner and remarkably variegated. Although Starethrough EPs title track was as vaporous and heaving with dubwise bass as anything off the preceding album, the Warp debut also contained Spangle, an aptly titled indulgence with Sarah Peacocks processed vocals at their most sugared. (Not for nothing was the track selected by label co-founder Steve Beckett for the Warp20 series.) The two sides of the bands later 1994 offering, Fracture/Tied, went even farther out with shards of battering percussion and abrasive hip-hop rhythms. Succour in turn ranged from seductive to assaultive, and in its most thrilling moments -- particularly the atypically rapid Vex, a banger in the figurative and literal senses -- mixed the moods. Then came (Ch-Vox), delivered to Aphex Twins Rephlex label (in return for the AFX remixes of the Too Pure-era Time to Find Me) with some of Seefeels most skeletal and baleful compositions. Out of the rarities, most noteworthy is Autechres gently knocking 12-minute expansion of Spangle, a contemporaneous remix that Seefeel released on their own in 2003. Rupt and Flex is CD/download-only. On vinyl, its contents are spread across three multi-LP releases: redux editions of Succour and (Ch-Vox), and the compilation St/Fr/Sp, which are also available as individual downloads. ~ Andy Kellman