Swinging from the chandelier and setting fire to the feast, our original raison d’etre is back to raise merry hell and we couldn’t be happier as accessories to the crime. Ark was one of the biggest influences on Circus Company when it first formed from the freakier corners of the Paris scene, and since day one he has been a guiding force in maintaining an uncompromising attitude towards house and techno in all its most flamboyant forms.
It has been some time since the Mr. Full Destructor graced our label, but he comes to us on a wave of productivity that has seen recent singles for Versatile and Thema boast developed studio skills clashing with the same punk spirit that has always forced Ark to stand on his own for the safety of the other kids on the dancefloor. On this new EP, Guillaume Berroyer has never sounded so urgent, so demanding, and yet so in control of his creative powers.
“Hall Of Confusion” is a brutal call to arms that channels rolling breakbeat badness into a nerve-jangling alarm while the samples come flying thick and fast throughout the jam. As if to complete twist with your fragile state of mind, the track’s successor “Tirés Par Les Chevaux”, created with Ark’s half-brother Pit Spector from Antislash, employs a horse to drag you by the hair back into some refined beat-head shit (as La Funk Mob would say), calling to mind some of those early downtempo interludes you would find on Brif Records but still played out like a psychedelic doodle pad of ideas and samples.
Never afraid to wave two irreverent fingers at the electronic music establishment (with the utmost respect behind it of course), Ark and Pit team up once again for “Troll Of Detroit”, a track that comes to life on some romantic Motor City strings before mutating into a bastard child of the early days of the Belleville Three.
If ever you needed an indication that the man is ever-evolving as a producer, EP closer “Megasalad” is the perfect pudding to a hearty four-course dinner. Born out of a collaboration between seven minds dealing in trumpet, clarinet, flute, guitar and percussion, the track unfurls like a wondorous tapestry of organic instrumentation and easy-going funk perfect for sunny afternoons recovering from the intensity of an evening with the Unknown Mysterioso.