The artist formerly known as Lady Blacktronika is on a new mission as Femanyst, set to drop an EP of ruthless techno on Paula Temples label, Noise Manifesto on May 25. Femanyst, a darker and more aggressive direction, is the newest iteration of Miss Akua Grants unrelenting musical imagination. With her newly debuted moniker, she has traded in the lush deep house sounds that kick started her career as a producer for a dive into the deep end of captivating techno, acid and hardcore. Grant grew up in California, seeking out the electronic, house and disco sounds that elevated her creativity out of the hardships of her early life. Music production initially served Grant as a much needed catharsis, but in the last few years has garnered her acclaim as tenaciously inventive head for grooves and beats, and has lead her to be selected by Paula Temple for her curated program at Lyons Nuits Sonores this May 12th. Her forthcoming release for Noise Manifesto is tribute some of her musical first-loves, namely 90s rave weirdness.
The four track EP is a churning, machine-driven tour de force. Femanysts intensely metallic and concrete sound palate reaches nearly boiling temperatures under ferocious drum machine patterns. Bat Shit sets up a perfect nightmare flashback to the warehouse raves you were always too afraid to go to, and then mauls the listener with a sound that can only be described as massive. Much of Femanysts sublime appeal derives from the effect of ones remembering to breath as breakneck snare triplets and razor sharp hi-hats give way to subtly embedded grooves. With innate cool, Femanyst subverts the EPs dominant hard-edged rigidity with the head-bobbing funk prowess of Lady Blacktronika. In carving out new corners of what techno is capable of, Femanyst joins Noise Manifestos young and promising tradition.