Following a string of remixes over the last 18 months, Houndstooth is ready to present the Netherlands based duo’s debut original release this May. A work that was sent exclusively to the label, ‘Spek Hondje’ encompasses the uncompromising sound you’d expect from the pairing: built on a growling groove the track nods to Birmingham’s industrial heritage as much as it does to Chicago’s muscular jacking style. The vocals are provided by American vocalist, Bear Who?, with whom Clarke and Jones chose to work independently, using his contributions more like an instrument: holding the emissions back in bursts, entwining them with and building them alongside the groove. The B side version removes the vocals entirely allowing the other elements of the track to take on their own forms and strengths.
Available only as a digital bonus, the ‘Bassapella’ version offers an even more reductive take on ‘Spek Hondje’, dropping many of the track’s elements to arrange and contort the vocals amongst blasts of tightly honed white noise and acidic stabs, highlighting the finer elements of _Unsubscribe_’s engineering. Having these considered explorations of the one idea on this record is ultimately done in homage to the confidence in the quality of it. After a long wait from Clarke fans and the backing of his equally talented studio companion, ‘Spek Hondje’ finds _Unsubscribe_ delivering on their initial promise of honest and proper roots techno.