Production Unit Xero VS John Nap [REACT7:03] – Album Review

Release Date: April 4, 2025

Label: Reactionary Records

This album is short enough to hit like a crowbar, long enough to leave the bruise. The rumor is one of these tracks is a remix of a remix, inside another remix – which is fun. Side A belongs to Production Unit Xero. Three tracks if you count the digital bonus, and you should. Nemonic Cybernetics kicks it off with something that sounds like a corrupted diagnostic check on a synth’s nervous system. The vocal samples are haunting as always.

Future Shock comes in quicker, meaner. If the first track felt like a machine waking up, this one feels like the moment it realizes it doesn’t want to follow orders. The samples are pulled tight and frayed at the edges. Fans of Production Unit Xero know that this track is classic PUX – the kind of tightly wound audio paranoia that rides the line between groove and collapse. Then comes The Magnetic Mirror, digital-only but not at all disposable. I can hear of hints of PUX’s Mr.X in this track with it’s chopped vocals and swaying melodies dancing with their own spirit in the background.

Side B switches gears but doesn’t ease off. John Nap takes over, and if you’re expecting a cooldown, forget it. I’m loving the break work here and the spiraling mass of acidic melody stabs. It’s actually pretty contemplative. I actually think this track compliments the next track perfectly. Those bleeps and bloops peek through the surface of your speaker – and the production is absolutely clean. The highs shimmer without slicing, the lows hit like a gut punch – the whole thing breathes.

Closing it all off is allmyfriendsaresloan. It’s the come-down, but not the gentle kind. Slower, yes. But it drips with tension. There’s melancholy here, but it’s synthetic. If there’s a moment on the whole release that hints at anything resembling this reality, it’s this one, and even that feels suspect. My only complaint with this track is that it isn’t longer.

And that’s my only real complaint with this EP. Not long enough. They’re not trying to imitate some nostalgic scene or coast on genre ideas. They’re working with rhythms and raw power in their most pure form and doing it like it’s a second language.

Would absolutely recommend.