Ice "Bad Blood" In Bloom / Reprise 9 47068-2 1998 (53:50)
X-1 (7:14)
The Snakepit (5:55)
Trapped in Three Dimensions (7:38)
Dusted (6:54)
A New Breed of Rat (11:55)
Devils (7:05)
When Two Worlds Collide (7:09)
Ice is Kevin Martin (vocals, saxophone, synthesizers, turntables), Justin Broadrick (guitars), Dave Cochrane (bass), Lou Ciccotelli (drums, percussion) with guests: Scott Harding (drums loops, samples on all tracks), DJ Vadim (scratches - tracks 2,7), Sebastian Laws (vocals - tracks 1,4,7), Blixa Bargeld (vocalisms - tracks 1,2,5,7), Toastie Taylor (rap - track 2), El-P (rap - track 3), A-Syde (echo chamber outro rap - track 3), Sensational (backing rap - track 4), Priest (rap - track 7)
Overall impression: excellent. "Bad Blood" is simply put, the most brutal hip hop I've ever heard! But what would you expect when some of the participants are from such bands/projects as Final, Techno Animal, Godflesh and Einstürzende Neubauten? Now, add to that a whole slew of guest rappers and DJ Vadim for some extra scratching and you end up with a dense, mean batch of jams. Ice's music is slow and methodically brooding, packed with bass and gritty beats (programmed and played) with an ambient/industrial-ish sound atmosphere layered topping. Some times it's funky, some times it's chaotic, some times it's groove-y, some times it's scary ... some times it's all of the that in the space of 5 minutes, and it all sounds great due to killer production. The raps/vocals are as densely layered as the music ... they range from quiet whispers to obnoxious guttural mantras, often simultaneously since several tracks have more than 1 vocalist. The end result? Music concrete meets Tricky? Old school meets Godflesh? I'm not really sure ... haven't quite heard anything like this before, but I highly recommend it ...
Where did I get this cd? - mailorder via Marie Senese (email her to get the big weekly list of cheap used and new cds ... tell 'em markw@southwind.net sent you!)