Song of the Day: Factory Floor - Turn It Up

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week’s song comes from London electronic act Factory Floor. "Turn It Up" is the opener of their 2013 self-titled LP, out now on DFA Records.

Factory Floor - Turn It Up (MP3)

After years of under the radar singles and remixes, post-industrial trio Factory Floor are finally exploding onto the scene with a fiery DFA LP. Factory Floor is everything we could have asked for from full-length. Tossing out to the industrial gods of the past like Throbbing Gristle and Suicide, as well as the darker side of new wave, Factory Floor give us a darker, more visceral version of disco that will captivate you as quickly as terrify you. But it's a vicious cycle that draws you in, and with singles like "Fall Back" and "Two Different Ways", Factory Floor are sure to make waves this year.

"Turn It Up" is equal parts a totally appropriate introduction and a frenzied, strobed out glance into the seizure-inducing color spasm of Factory Floor's sound bank. Things start simple - a single skin drum tap is given syncopated accompaniment by a pounding disco bass drum. After half a minute or so, Nik Colk's distorted, computerized vocals come in, repeating the same, almost incoherent line over and over again. A marching band style drum line adds to the mix, bits of sound enter and exit the spectrum as if by mistake. The growing atmosphere of the track balances wonderfully between disco majesty and uncontrollable chaos. It's here where we know the band is right at home on DFA, matching the danceable brilliance of LCD Soundsystem and The Juan MacLean with the experimental noise pondering of the likes of Black Dice. Snares and hi hats enter the mix as the track begs to explode into a post-industrial mosh pit massacre, but Factory Floor practice a careful and deliberately mysterious restraint here, never letting an ounce of your anxiety move up or down until the very end. It's the perfect introduction to a brilliant record, and it should tantalize your likings until you take the full plunge into Factory Floor.

Factory Floor is touring Europe through the end of the year and don't yet have plans to tour the U.S. Keep a look out if they do on their Facebook page. For now, here's a video for "Fall Back", released earlier this year: