L/F/D/M - Music Without Discipline
• 2nd LP of cranky hardware oddballs by Richard Smith a.k.a. L/F/D/M for Ecstatic
• 11 tracks for the ‘floor and stranger spaces
• RIYL Jamal Moss, Larry Heard’s Gherkin Jerks, Not Waving, Beau Wanzer
• Cut by Mike Grinser @ D&M
L/F/D/M squeezes off a volley of misshapen bangers and atonal wormholes in Music Without Discipline, making a mutant follow-up to his M Is A Shape (2015) LP and Crocodiles In The Ceiling (2016) EP for Alessio Natalizia (Not Waving) & Sam Willis’ Ecstatic label.
For his 3rd solo LP proper as L/F/D/M - taking into account M Is A Shape and Under The Eyes of Augustus (2016) for Clan Destine - the Brighton-based producer/artist/designer jams, layers and hacks a clutch of new hardware toys, the Akai VX90 and Yamaha TX81Z in particular, into 11 variants of what is essentially a style of no wave or new beta techno.
Pursuing his taste for unique, visceral and affective electronic tones into odder integers of the club, L/F/D/M establishes a jagged line that runs from original ‘80s industrialists thru Larry Heard’s legendary Gherkin Jerks and the scenius of Downwards’ brummie radge packets to a place right between the eyes of 2017.
DJs and dancers will find full fat, wonky weapons ranging from the cranky-assed jacker Dance, You Awful Cunt, thru to a sludgy turn called Birds, a super-tangy Chicago percolator Texan Flower Girl, and the throaty acid gargle of Living Without Gain. But it’s the way in which Richard Smith a.k.a. L/F/D/M is just as happy to follow his nose into sparkling vignettes such as After R Version and Ballet, and into the grubby pits of Pinx that really gives this record its shape and asserts its messed-up character.