Those who think minimal Techno should be dark, dour and deadly serious are advised to stay far away from Spells Disaster…, Crackhaus’s second album. Even the presence of Matthew Herbert, who leads off the album by talking about his practice of sampling “accidental” sounds (the quote itself is itself sampled - ah, the irony from a press interview Herbert once gave in the Crackhaus duo’s home town of Montréal) can’t disguise the goofiness at work on Spells Disaster…. Crackhaus rhythms have always taken House music’s washing machine and propped it up at an absurd tilt, leaving each 4/4 cycle spinning with a ridiculous, lopsided swing. Here they throw a batch of bluegrass 78s into the load - hence titles like Soggy Bottom Bass and create something that could only be described as hillbilly House. Instead of Moby’s earnest anachronisms, however, Crackhaus draw from the most deliriously bent string plucks and harmonica squeals, using them as flashes of colour between their stuttering, static-laden beats.