Freeform Live

London's Simon Pyke releases angular, almost algorithmic experimental electro under the name Freeform. Expanding on the rhythmic and percussive elements of a style first seriously pursued by artists such as Coil, Autechre, and RAC, Pyke's Freeform material is at times even more lab-coat than the above, playing dense, sparking rhythmic figures off one another in complex, shifting patterns that manage to suggest ambient, experimental electro, techno, dub, and industrial all at once. After releasing an album on Ambient Soho house label Worm Interface and a stunning EP on Skam (co-owned by Autechre and fast becoming one of future electronica's most popular scouting-grounds), Pyke was snapped up by Sheffield's Warp label in 1995. His Warp debut, a double 12-inch/CD-EP entitled Prowl, was a mixture of the dirty experimental fracture of his previous Skam work and the more hi-res, circuitous electro-lounge of Warp and Clear artists such as Plaid, Gregory Fleckner Quintet, and Dr. Rockit. Although he never followed up with a full-length for the label, Pyke contributed a new track to a promo-only cassette compilation given out by Warp during a European label tour, as well as to the 1996 Worm Interface compilation, Frequencies. After his second album for WI, 1997's Heterarchy, he released three albums in three years for three labels: Headphone (Pattern Tub), Sprawl (Me Shape), and Sub Rosa (Green Park). ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide