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ILLUMINATI, "CDEP2"

Planetsounds
You'd be hard pushed to realise that samples from classical music formthe core of the second Illuminati EP, as they've mostly been utterlydistorted and pulverised beyond recognition. A middle aged electriciancommented that this reminded him of Soft Machine which is odd becauseDave Clarkson of Illuminati and Planetsounds is a big fan of theirs,but I'd never have thought it was something that sounded similar. WhenI mentioned the comparison to Dave he asked if it was the third track,"Glass Box Trap" which chucks a melodic keyboard jitter over thrummingdouble drone backbone, and a nasal voice muttering disgruntled andnebulous. If I was going to fling comparisons at Illuminati though I'dhave to mention Throbbing Gristle, particularly "DOA," but I think Idid that with the first EP. This one has the same picture on the cover,but inverted to negative and in some ways this a darker and moremenacing trip. A deep singular pulse beat opens the strange door onto amicroscope resolution for "Midget Germs" which vibrate ominously inhell spawned misery. Feedback screams and muffled moans punctuate thistortured cancerous eyeball injection. The poor germs don't stand achance when "Argenteum Atavism" squirts beatnoise bleach all over them.Crunching along in hectic overloaded abandon, this is what it mightsound like if Aphex Twin tried to put one over on Non. Just as themelody creeps in one final crash collapses into semi-ambient bleepscapegurgling. The fourth and final track swings "The Strange Door" shut anddesperate knocking can be heard from outside as the germs shut outsideslowly fizzle to their demise, and a new dawn of lush angelic keyboardbursts across the blackened sky. Distant thunder rumbles.

 

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