Producer extraordinaire Geoff Barrows of Portishead fame steps out on his own to form a band of non-conformists standing in the shadows of Kraut pioneers Neu!, Conrad Schnitzler, and Amon Duul. 2012's ">>" was a lab favorite getting loads of play from the staff. Barrows having his foot in many door ways never sticks to a particular style for very long. The one unifying factor is that regardless of what genre he creates, it's always spot on and done inexplicably well. The latest from Beak> comes in 7 inch form with two tracks that continue the more straight forward approach of ">>". 'Mono' takes a synth lead with a Klaus Dinger-esque Motoric beat that recalls distant memories of driving down the autobahn. 'Kenn' is pure dirge psychedelia! Sludge drums, overdriven bass guitar, that builds to an epic freak out. The 7" comes house in full color pic sleeve and is pressed on black vinyl. Recommended

• music label: Invada Records 2012

reviewed by gene jacket 1/2013