Now this is a little gem. Pyrogen was a one-shot release by Brixton duo, AV8, who never released another record after this. If Discogs are to be believed neither D.C. Banks or S.P. Roberts, the writer and producer behind this track, ever put out anything besides this. Not for them 20 other aliases putting out records on guerilla labels. No, AV8 was their sole enterprise and the Pyrogen 12 inch their sole contribution to UK music culture. On the evidence of this, they can die happy.
With its computer game style backing, interesting and bizarre mix of samples (“We can learn to fly!” “He loves me not” and what sounds like the orgasmic moan of a woman, but which is probably just Edith Evans performing a vocal warmup), recurring music box motifs, brass drop-ins which sound like they’ve been salvaged from Yello outtakes and delicate aural dead-ends - I’m particularly struck by the moment at 3:23-3:29 where it sounds like the track physically runs out of road to run on until angels with harps come to carry it off and settle back on solid ground again, it’s a continuously fascinating listen.
All the way through the track, we keep hearing different things designed to catch our attention, but made indistinct by either the bangs and warps that crop up throughout the track, sounding like someone calling for help down a tube and which are only met by recurring, mocking laughter - and which sounds like an ex-girlfriend of mine. A pyrogen is described as a bacterial toxin designed to introduce raised temperature in the blood and the sense of feverishness is prevalent throughout via the half heard conversations and aural crashes and bangs, which feel like the listener is being dragged in and out of consciousness amid the busy cacophony of an over-populated hospital.
It’s very much a track for the “head”. Dance music to be listened to and which one can use to transport into the subconscious. It feels like an uptempo trip hop track, if that isn’t too much of an oxymoron and I think that may be why I like it. Paired with the flipside track, E, which was very much the “soul” side, designed to drag you out of your internal contemplation and out on to the dancefloor, it made for a stunning one-off.
Video courtesy of unknowntwat.
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