Anyone who indulged in Touched, last year's debut release from Blondes will have elicited a certain gleeful shriek at the news boutique label RVNG INTL was working with the NYC duo on a series of conceptual twelve inch releases spread across the months of 2011. The first release, centred on the theme of love and hate, can only be described as auspicious. Naturally for a band that have toured extensively in the period before and after Touched was released, the new material builds on the heady hypnosis of these early productions, delivering them in a more polished veneer that retains the duo's capacity for devastation. "Love" is Blondes at their tribalistic best, steadily building from woozy beginnings into a throbbing house rhythm drowned out by shamanistic chanting courtesy of some smart Meredith Monk sampling. A potent part of the Blondes live set, "Lover" remains powerful here, not least when the midpoint momentum gets turned up a notch. Flipside excursion "Hater" is naturally darker in tone, with the crisp reverse cascading percussion cutting through the thick bottom heavy throb, before the track twists inside out into a thrillingly industrial lysergic jaunt skywards.