"Andrew Dobbels’ XLV project has gradually become more focused and minimalist over the last few years, honing in on a style of rhythmic noise that focuses on tight loops with a balance of clear, percussive kicks and crawling feedback. But as the very brief Full Contact EP points out, that sort of focus and minimalism doesn’t have to be equated with low-fi powernoise nostalgia nor monochrome tracks with no dynamism or range.

The rising wash of feedback of the brief introductory title track sets up the advancing kicks and retreating, sputtering waves of “Are You Going With Us” to offer a wide range of movement in its tight frame. Closer “Wave Target” feels like a speed run of Klinik’s classic “Slow Death”, but with fine production attention paid to the feedback which introduces it, the micro-pulses underscoring it, and the metallic timbre of its core beat.

Full Contact is a brief affair – the digital release barely touches the ten minute mark – but that’s a big part of what makes it work. Without relying on the lengthy rhythmic hypnosis which a lot of stuff in the genre trades in, Dobbels keeps the idiosyncratic stutter and scrape of each of his miniature engines in the spotlight."

- Observer, idieyoudie 2024