Transylvania-born artist Dracula Lewis' "Permafrost" sounds like aural torture. Over thin synth stabs and a beat that resembles a plodding metronome, Lewis chants and jeers insistently. The song sounds like it was recorded in a basement outfitted with nothing more than a tape recorder, a keyboard, some exposed rusty pipes and a dingy, uncovered lightbulb. Lewis proves himself adept at molding discomfort through repetition, as "Permafrost" builds to a weirdly satisfying anticlimax where the sterile synth whine that rises and falls throughout just stops. Here, Lewis suggests that he's got a talent for making electronic music that sounds like dying.

[from the Permafrost 12"; out 11/05/12 via Souterrain Transmissions]