Looking back at my past few reviews it becomes apparent that we’ve been rolling in great new electronic music, and last Wednesday brought yet another entry with the debut release by PAIN TOLERANCE. The tape was put up on DJ Speedsick’s Bandcamp page with no other information or credits, so I assume it is either an alias or at least a collaboration. Though it certainly has its fair share of techno throb, PAINTOLERANCE001 is less the adrenaline-filled, anxious, metronomic fever-nightmare that was Nothing Lasts and more of a deliberate, somewhat reserved trip through rhythmic cells that slowly expand and become more complex… At least, that’s what I thought until the first drop in the second track, and what with its crunchy overdriven bass drum and shuffling lo-fi loops it has the same manic, infectious, slightly-to-more-than-slightly dark energy that forces its way to the surface of all of Speedsick’s releases. PAINTOLERANCE001 creeps up on you, but if you’re not up and dancing when the seething, toothy groove of “3” kicks in, I dunno what to tell you. This track might be the most fascinating of the four; it’s actually somewhat reticent, at least in comparison to what came before, but again there’s that lurking energy that somehow makes it sound huge and formidable. Bouncy and almost sprightly at times, grim and hellish at others, PAINTOLERANCE001 is a trance-inducing adventure, which culminates fittingly amidst the pleasant surprise of subdued, rhythmless drifts in “4.”