When the Roland TB-303 was released in 1981, it was marketed as a substitute for a bass guitarist. It failed almost immediately. Years later, when secondhand units found their way into Chicago studios, producers discovered that pushing the machine beyond its intended limits produced something entirely different: a squelching sound that seemed less like an instrument and more like a living thing.

That spirit runs through Nark’s 2026 Queer Acid Energy II, out digitally on Acid Camp Records. On “I Wanna Be Basic,” Nark opens with a relentless four-to-the-floor kick, 90s textures, and heavy snares that cut through waves of raw acid pressure. “The Space Between Us” lays off the gas—if only for a few moments—with resonant 303 lines, warm pads, and a slow-building tension that eventually gives way to the dance floor once again.

Like the queer spaces that inspire it and instruments that guide it, Queer Acid Energy II finds possibility in transformation. The result is a release that understands acid not as nostalgia, but as a language of reinvention: dramatic, dynamic, and constantly in motion.

Credits

Written and produced by Kevin Kauer / Nark

Mixing Engineers Nick Bertossi and Michael Cignarale

Mastering by Matt Parent

Original Artwork by Kevin Kauer / Nark

Liner notes written by Daniel Sharp