Releasing a stunning debut EP as the very first release on London-based imprint Blackest Ever Black established Raime as contemporary electronic music’s preeminent purveyor of grim, oblique soundscapes of the very serious variety, tying its destiny to that of the then-fledgling imprint. The duo’s first full-length, 2012’s Quarter Turns Over A Living Line, found it mining the odd common ground shared by drum ’n’ bass, dub and early industrial music, resampling live guitar, cello, bass and percussion to create seven tracks of vast, desolate ambiance.
Few moments on Tooth could accurately be described as “ambient”; its icy, calculated deployment of guitars, synths and percussion is miles ahead of the duo’s previous work. Gone are the moments of meditative brooding that made up much of Quarter, replaced here by a bold, tenacious resolve across eight taut, meticulously detailed tracks.
—Möhammad Choudhery
