Lex talionis is the law of retaliation. An eye for an eye, the oldest sentencing principle going. As a track title it does not leave a great deal of room for interpretation.

Ruksby is Alexander Klygin, Moscow born and Moscow based, and he only started making music properly in 2019. He has covered a lot of ground since: acid, electro, techno, synthwave and EBM, frequently inside the same track. He also curates OMERTA Records, which is how he first turned up in these pages when we premiered Modeca’s ‘Complex Analysis’ from the label’s second compilation.

Longer-serving Transmitees have had him in their ears already, mind. His collaboration with K.A.T.A. opened Ovelha Trax’ ‘Planet Section’ when we reviewed it back in May, and he has remixed Memory Clap Acid, who was behind the decks for Waveform Sessions #18. Small scene, this one.

‘Lex Talionis’ sits at track seven of ‘Forest Voltage’, a twelve track compilation landing on LES.promo on 28 August. Electro, electropunk and breakbeat across the whole thing, and the concept is the forest after dark with nobody within earshot to complain about the volume. Ours first.

Ruksby approaches electro from a different angle here, delivering a more breakbeat focused take on the sound.

You can hear why it fits into the album aesthetic; the track mimics multiple facets of nature’s sonority. Close your eyes and between the breakbeats you can hear the digital chirps of cybernetic birdlife, or the synth plucks taking on the form of encrypted raindrops.

Listen to our exclusive world premiere above, and snap up the album on Bandcamp while you’re there…