“Warp’s enfant terrible returns with another devastating slice of dirty gritty electronic music. Follow up to last year’s Turning Dragon, his most upbeat record to date, Growls Garden ups the ante once again as Clark launches another digital assault on the dance floor. Counting six tracks and clocking just over the twenty five minute mark, this EP is perhaps Clark’s most eclectic release since Clarence Park, as he revisits the dark hues of Empty The Bones Of You or Body Riddle (Growls Garden, Distant Father Torch), and, as he did with Turning Dragon, cuts some fine body-jerking grooves and harsh beats (Seaweed, Gonk Roughage).

The title track is also the first to carry the man’s voice, albeit heavily twisted and processed. Written in a matter of days, filling a gap during the recording of Clark’s next album, Growls Garden, Seaweed and Distant Father Torch have the urgency and angularity of true Clark monsters; rough around the edges, heavy footed, corrosive. Elsewhere, The Magnet Mineappears more complex and tortured, with multiple layers fighting for attention, while Gonk Roughage, once again using Clark’s voice as part of its structure, sounds like a nasty 12-rounder down a back alley. Only Farewell Mining Town, with its dense ambient sound waves, shows a hint of gentle elegance here and brings this EP to a surprisingly atmospheric end.

A true Warp stalwart in the great tradition of Aphex, Autechre or Squarepusher, Clark delivers another might blow with this latest EP. Whether this is in any way shape or form representative of his next album is anybody’s guess, but Growls Garden has too much to offer for it to matter at all”

http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2009/03/clark-growls-garden-warp-records/