From the very inception of electronic music, dating back to the musique concrete tape experiments of Pierres Schaeffer and Henry, one of the style’s trademarks has been its willingness to create a sense of deep unease in the listener. It was only natural, especially when the idea of sampling was in its infancy and magnetic tape recorders were relatively new technology, that the process of hearing sounds divorced from the acts and instruments which created them should elicit responses such as discombobulation, dread and even queasiness in the listener. In the intervening decades, even as popular culture caught up and embraced these technologies to their own ends, those original qualities of unease have been amplified and refined by innovative freaks from THROBBING GRISTLE to BLACK DICE.

It’s within this proud transgressive tradition that we find “Red Seal” by NYC-based (though currently back home in Boston – Ed.) weirdo GOBBY. The song is a lopsided and amorphous collage of fizzy granular noise, distorted drums, vertigo-inducing synth swirls and bleak vocal snippets.

The video fits the track to a tee, with a pair of devilish marionettes duking it out among Nicholas Buffon’s creepy but wonderfully-realized miniature sets. It’s the perfect way to whet your whistle for this month’s edition of Open Loop and Boston Hassle’s ongoing SCANNERS night, where Gobby will be joined by resident DJ WON’T and a live set from WORLD CUP.