Somatic Responses

The Welsh brothers John and Paul Healy comprise the duo Somatic Responses, who have built an extensive and varied body of intense electronic material. Forming in 1994, they began with hardcore acid techno before gradually incorporating industrial, drum'n'bass, noise, hip-hop, ambient, and dubstep elements into their productions. These works often feature dense layering of distorted rhythms alongside haunting sci-fi melodies. The pair has issued dozens of albums, EPs, and digital items through outlets including Hymen Records, Ad Noiseam, Sublight, Component, and their own Photon Emissions imprint. Despite exerting considerable influence on rhythmic noise, breakcore, and IDM, Somatic Responses have remained largely overlooked compared with figures such as Aphex Twin or Autechre.

Their earliest 1995 outputs on Christoph De Babalon's Cross Fade Enter Tainment and the pioneering Milwaukee-based Drop Bass Network quickly positioned them as a dynamic presence within hardcore techno. Martin Damm's Shockwave Recordings put out Riot Frequencies, the duo's initial full-length LP, while the Post-Organic EP appeared on Christoph Fringeli's Praxis label in 1996. By the period of releases such as 1997's Photon Emission, their approach had shifted from its hard acid techno origins toward the intricate, densely layered style that became their signature. Continued productivity saw four EPs on the Belgian label Six Shooter alongside further records on Deadly Systems, Underground Futuristic Organisation, Ultra Annoying Records, and numerous additional small imprints.

Circumflex, issued in 1999, marked the duo's first compact disc and their debut on Stefan Alt's Hymen Records, the label that would handle many later projects. This album represented a crucial step, pushing their sound toward greater complexity and force. The 2001 successor Augmented Lines, also on Hymen Records, refined that direction, whereas Accidental Happiness, released the same year on Connecticut-based Component Recordings, offered a relatively restrained contrast by emphasizing atmospheric qualities over sheer intensity. Dying Language arrived in 2002 as their first outing on Ad Noiseam, another German label that would issue multiple recordings, while Touching the Void appeared on Hymen that year as well.

Component Recordings put out the ambitious double-CD Adverts in 2003, among Somatic Responses' most substantial achievements, followed by the "Spooky Pen" single drawn from it and featuring remixes by Venetian Snares, Proem, and Emotional Joystick. The 2005 album Pounded Mass on Hymen Records stood as one of their most aggressive and elaborate statements to date, extending prior approaches while introducing a notable hip-hop influence. Giauzar, their 2006 release on the Canadian label Sublight, developed this further with mutated hip-hop and electro beats alongside slower yet heavily distorted rhythms. The 2008 Hymen full-length Digital Darkness leaned overtly toward drum'n'bass, whereas a pair of 12"s on Belgium's PuZZling Rec. label revisited their acid roots. Reformation, issued by Ad Noiseam in 2009, explored dubstep in a style closer to the stark, fractured approach of Cloaks or Vex'd than to more dancefloor-oriented variants. Mercury and Clone Aware, two free releases on the British netlabel Acroplane, extended that dubstep investigation.

Returning to Hymen in 2010, Neon encompassed numerous facets of their sound, spanning electro, dubstep, and hard drum'n'bass. Alongside commercially available albums, the duo began issuing numerous items through Photon Emissions, most offered free of charge. Hymen released the 2011 full-length Concrete Glider, though nearly all later material appeared via Photon Emissions. Four substantial albums emerged in 2014 alone: Gamma Ray Bursts, Hard Landing, Let's All Disintegrate, and Obscure the Future, the latter marking their first ambient effort. In 2015 Somatic Responses turned increasingly to modular synthesizers and announced plans for additional physical releases. Folding Space, their first Hymen album in five years, surfaced in February 2016, with Pattern Seeking following in 2017.