Music

Pete Swanson — Man With Potential

Pete Swanson — Man With Potential (TYPE101)

When
Nov 2011
Cover of Man With Potential by Pete Swanson
Artwork: John Twells, Radu Prepeleac

This is a release on Type Records, the label I co-founded with John Xela. John was responsible for its musical output; I contributed in the first few years on design and running the label. The catalogue is archived here for posterity.

The New York-based artist might still be best known for being a member of now defunct noise duo Yellow Swans, but 'Man With Potential' shows that Swanson is unafraid to dive headfirst into the dank pulsing soundscapes that helped birth his old band. Where Yellow Swans used pulses to underpin their cascading white noise, Swanson here puts the chattering 140bpm percussion at center stage, not least on the album's opening track, charmingly titled 'Misery Beat'. This is Birmingham techno filtered through the mists of the Pacific Northwest — a blistering collection of contemporary club music with a deafening noise twist.

Made at Type.

Around the same time

Earlier in music: Gaining Spacial Awareness. Later in music: Cognitive Consonance.