Polypores: Wrigglers (royal blue vinyl) LP

Cracked Ankles are proud to present Polypores’ “Wrigglers” - the latest emergence from Stephen James Buckley’s strange and overgrown brainforest.

From the opening bars of ‘Memespawn’ it’s clear that this incendiary release is going to defy all precedent. Kicking off with a heady mix of woozy, slewed melody lines and a relentless Motorik beat, it soon breaks down into a gritty instrumental redux and a frenetic syncopated woodwind jazzathon before bursting out again into spine-tingling melody that resembles some deformed cousin of synth-pop.

A restless misfit of an artist who inhabits the fringes of whatever scenes he inhabits, Buckley maintains a certain crackling unease throughout the whole thing, but it results in jubilant outbursts and freewheeling joy, tethered only by the mechanical constraints of the machines it’s wrought from, like some broken robots have cobbled together an orchestra and they’re writing a soundtrack for a film they haven’t seen.
It’s beautifully melodic, whilst still maintaining Buckley’s trademark sense of the chaotic and the downright wonky. Endlessly listenable electronic music that breathes and moves like a physical organism, and always refuses to stand still.

Mastering by Anthony at Red Red Paw and featuring some stunning artwork by Stewart Francis Easton.