Anti-Mechanism at Stimulate

In 2005 in northern New Jersey, programmer/lyricist/vocalist Brian Alt conceived an electronic project he called Anti-Mechanism. With David Borsky (programming, guitar, keyboards) and Lance Marxen (keyboards), Anti-Mechanism became a bigger, wider concept. The band performed on the underground industrial circuit and released an EP in 2006, an album in 2013 and, most recently, a four-song EP entitled Distortion Days in 2017.

Because darkwave and similar genres are so far below the mainstream radar, Stimulate parties are bastions of discovery for the community that enjoys the extreme edges of dance music. At Stimulate, one only hears industrial, post punk, death rock, electronica and other alternative dance music. Anti-Mechanism was comfortable in that cache. At the Stimulate party at the Delancey tonight, Alt performed alone at a small console, introducing many new works that furthered the Anti-Mechanism catalog. Nearly obscured by rolls of dense fog and flashing stage lights, Alt played anvil-hard beats and swimming layers of electronic waves. Several songs were somewhat lengthy, but rather than build on repetition, Alt twisted knobs on his console and increased the distortion or suddenly collapsed a groove to intensify the dynamics. The half-hour adrenaline-pumping set pulsed relentlessly to deep and dark rhythms. Anti-Mechanism is not yet a well-known name in darkwave, but this new music is bound to reach a wider audience upon release.