Tank Battalion Attack/Roma Dune-Elegy of the Machine; Split release, Uma Rex Records cassette, 2012

Disaster Amnesiac found this cool split release in the best of ways.
See, there are these newspaper stands all along Market St. in SF, installed during the Willie Brown dot com boom of the late 1990's, and, needless to say, they are pretty much useless as regards their intended purpose, now that print mass media has begun its death spiral. Some very smart person, however, had the idea of letting independent media retailers use a few of them on select days in order to sell their diverse product. I happened to come across the one at 6th and Market, and, along with many other 'zines, cassettes, and vinyl releases, found Elegy of the Machine.
On the A side, Tank Battalion Attack feature a pretty driving approach, with a lot of electronic abstraction. The experimental electronics, generally moved by hard, pulsing beats, whoosh around the listener's skull, reminding Disaster Amnesiac of groups like Controlled Bleeding or others of the Dry Lungs ilk. According to the Umor Rex website, Tank Battalion Attack is a three man enterprise, and they definitely have the sound and feel of a collaboration. The audio elements mix in ways that only group work can achieve; the jagged edges and juxtapositions duke it out in a very band-like way.
A. Nigh Herdon's Roma Dune gets the B side. Aside from the track Grendel, its vibes are a bit more chilled, sounding more sparse and Hip Hop/Dub percussive. The beats, and their electronic accompaniments, are tighter and more tightly focused, respectively. Disaster Amnesiac could see this side being more dance friendly, but, really wouldn't know for certain as I am not a club person. That said, my perceptions certainly danced to its sounds.
Wrapped in a cool card stock cover adorned with abstract schematics and Latin phrases, Elegy of the Machine is a fun, fascinating example of what I assume to be current sounds in the Electronic Music Underground.