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This Belgian duo consists of John Sellekaers and C-Drik, whose production and performance has appeared on releases from Torsion, Ambre and Snog. The debut release has taken three forms, but the one in my hands is the German CD edition. It starts off being a rather powerful foray into aggressive modern dark drum and bass.
 
 
The assault is a feverish cold-calculated digital one, but most impressively the joy builds. After four original tracks, the album changes from a seemingly faceless, heartless power jam to a charming musical adventure. The second half includes excellent manifestations by Imminent and Silk Saw, a rather lukewarm remix by Panacea, as well as the atmospheric original "Reptiles in Paradise." Fans beware: the four-track German 12" release includes reprogrammed versions of the first two songs, not available on the CD and the 9-track US version on Gun Music only has five overlapping tracks.
samples:
- Ghost Phalanx
- Reptiles in Paradise
- Psychoville (Imminent mix)
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Opium Jukebox is MartinAtkins (Pigface, The Damage Manual, Invisible Records) and BobdogCatlin (ex-Evil Mothers, Pigface, Pseudo Buddha) and a dozen othermusician friends. This cd is a contemporary covers album: Nirvana"Smells Like Teen Spirit", NIN "Head Like a Hole", Gary Numan "Cars","Ball of Confusion", Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing", EMF"Unbelievable", "Tainted Love", Devo "Whip It" and Dead or Alive "YouSpin Me Right Around".
samples:
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- Daniel Barychko
- Albums and Singles
I am amazed at the madgenius that is Richard H. Kirk, once again he manages to blur the linebetween music and noise as entertainment in a very thought-provkingmanner.
Kirk expands on ideas from more recent works including,"Loopstatic" and "Darkness at Noon"; using found sounds, sampled mostlyfrom shortwave radio, mixed with his signature "Clonk" and tribalrhythms. This time almost the entire song structure is built up fromthese odd test tones, crackles and overheard conversations. It is evenless synth-based than before, the samples ARE the instruments and Kirkputs these cut-up fragments together to invoke a cacophony of chaoticcomplexity reminiscent of an automated factory assembly line or thebridge of the Starship Enterpise.Underneath an all-out barrage of sequenced sensorium and subsonic boomswe are spoonfed bytes of intercepted fascism - but we are toocaptivated by the "blinking lights" and weird noises to percieve all ofwhat is being said. Similar to recent works, the layered arrangementsgive you the feeling that something sinister is lurking behind thishappy industrial mayhem, something ominous, calculated and not easilydistracted. Is it music or noise with a beat?? You won't hear thismusic in any commericals and that's a good thing. For me, it has alwaysbeen about one's expectations- meeting Kirk's latest ideas andapproach. I notice every Kirk release has a particular quality to it—heobviously employs slightly different strategies, techniques andinstrumentation from one to the next—but he isn't interested inreinventing himself, just exploring new ideas and directions. He's atrue revolutionary 'artiste'. Remember that Al Jabr cover, I've oftenthought that we (his fans) are the hostages and Kirk is holding the gunto our head- ready to take us for a little ride, it may get rough, somemay be lost, but perhaps he'll return us safely and go back to makingthe slick techno he used to after the final installment of this trilogy(and we pay his ransom),...
To sum up my thoughts: I like this "Blacworld" CD. The seminalindustrial artist, the visonary "Dark Magus" of modern music has openeda window to a futuristic reality of technologic overload; of increasingsocio-political interconnection and manipulation at the dawn of theelectronic age. Take a look. - Daniel Barychko
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- Mark Weddle
- Albums and Singles
Remember Tricky? Theformer music media darling amicably parted ways withPolygram/Island/Def Jam in 1999 and now calls Epitaph branch Anti homealongside Tom Waits and Merle Haggard. Mission accomplished? This UK EP(also due out February 6th in the States) gives us a little over 16minutes with 3 new songs and 1 previously unreleased old one.
samples:
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- Jon Whitney
- Albums and Singles
Slammin' mutherfuckingballsy-ass shit. This debut CD release is probably the most excitedI've been about a new rock-genred band in as long as I can remember.The energy is fierce, the music is fast, funky and full of wakka wakkaguitars, crazy effects, beefy bass chops, electronic and organic drums,wild cheering, hoards of percussion and a splash of horns.
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Barrelling forward with releases, John Hughes' Hefty Records has boldly issued a series of stellar limited edition 12" singles.First up was the Savath + Savalas 12" - something I missed, limited to 700 copies and now sold out. Second up is the debut of A Grape Dope, a delicious subsonic bass cochlear vibrating dub-friendly three-tracker from Johnny Herndon (Tortoise/Isotope), limited to 750 copies. IA003 is limited to only 525 copies and features two primo tracks from Twine, plunging deep and low with thick frequencies, lengthy intros and a disregard for conventional low-tempo high-fidelity. Side one is a chunky sexual feast, side two hypnotic and divine. Retina provides three top quality constructional head bobbers for the fourth in the series, also limited to 525 copies. The fifth 12" comes from Samadha Trio, limited to 850 copies and featuring four tracks of various origin. A studio tune opens with organic drums with space-jazz organ riding alongside a spacious fluffy electronic bubblebath, followed by a live-ish tune of bass, piano and drums with slick electronic mixing. And finally, the last in the series conveniently wraps things up with a couple remixes from The Aluminum Group, John Hughes, Slicker and Savath+Savalas as well as two new tracks from an entity called Process. Along with the minimal packaging and uniform design I must say I haven't looked at vinyl this gorgeous with grooves this deep and pretty in a long time. Glancing at their website, a forthcoming 2xCD release appears to have stuff from this series, but I sure hope nothing's left out as these 12" singles are quite astonishing.
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From Morr Music inGermany comes a wonderful offering of many of their fine artists. Don'tlet the title fool you, there's nothing to do with the former Smithslead singer on here. In the last few years, the electronic instrumentalrock hybrid scene in Germany has grown exponentially from what once wasonly a handful of acts who used to share loads of members. Collectedhere are some of the more prominent groups like The Notwist, Arovane,Lali Puna, Flowchart and the Tied & Tickled Trio. Disc one featuresfourteen new and exclusive cuts while disc two features fourteenincestuous remixes of many of the first disc's artists trading mixeswith others. Solvent remixes Kevin & Paul, Schneider TM remixesMicha Archer & Ms John Soda, while Kandis and the Tied &Tickled Trio remix each other. This provides a great introduction toMorr, which appears to be sort of taking off where Kitty-Yo decided toleave off when they pursued trashy cash cow kitch like Peaches andGonzales. Kudos to Morr for keeping the artwork alive.Read More
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In an almostanti-post-kraut movement, Ladomat (who gave us the compilation 'L'ageD'or' earlier this year) has unleashed a two-disc compilation of theirown, showcasing their artists like Sand 11, Egoexpress and CommercialBreakup. Flying in the face of the instrumental movements (like theMorr comp exposed), these groups are clearly pop-minded. The groupssing (frequently in English) and bring a jovial bounce and step totheir brand of futurism without going completely off the deep end intosomething that would wear thin after the novelty is gone. Germans canrock as they proved earlier this year, now they're telling the worldthat Germans can smile and make fun artistic music without beingstereotypically overly serious stiffs or churning out disposablecartoon techno.Read More
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The disc starts off verypromising. The rhythms are sexy and the music is rich in texture.Driving beats set the disc in motion from the start, but all of the funsoon begins to fade. What spoils the disc for me is when a guestvocalist either raps or sings. The rap is never interesting enough tohold my attention and the lyrics are rather embarassing to listen to.It's almost as if Red Snapper use vocals as a crutch for songs theyfeel need a better lead instrument, but when they keep them out, theintensity of the music grows to epic proportions. Going forward on thedisc, Red Snapper do however make some choices to keep other tracksinstrumental. A very nice option for tracks like the album closer,"They're Hanging Me Tonight," a wonderful play of overprocessed drums,guitars crying backwards and drone-like string samples.Read More
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From Tonschacht inCologne, Germany comes this heavy slate, cleverly disguised as a 7"single. I honestly don't think I own a 7" record pressed this thick.Anyhow the three tracks which compose this single bring together bothHrvatski's technical expertise of precision electro-meddling and afondness for outside sources laying down constant voices to be carriedthrough with each composition. Keith Fullerton-Whitman makes songs andsomething like this is a tease to his fans out there waiting foranother full-lengther from the boy. Look for a remix project due outsometime in January. The single's limited to 500 numbered copies buthas seemingly had an easy time making the distribution outside ofGermany.Read More
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With every new song thatcomes from this team of people named Jess out in Ohio, my interestgrows. Jessica Bailiff and Jesse Edwards have been collaborating ontracks following last year's full-length from Bailiff on Kranky, 'Hourof the Trace.' The result has been quite expansive for only a handfulof tunes - Bailiff has almost come out of hiding behind the guitardistortion for singles and compilation appearances, but on this single,more electronic space is being explored. Both sides of this limited 10"single average around ten minutes, each being two songs which flow intoeach other without distinct traditional breaks. Looking at the titles,the impression I get is that this release might actually be tributal innature, "Maybe Tomorrow" on the first side is a spacious interplay ofechoed voice, guitar wash and drum machine, "Amethyst Depression" isn'ta Coil tribute but is instrumental, beat-less, pretty and sweet. Sidetwo opens with a looping guitar riff which could have easily beenlifted off of the first godspeed record. "Rene?" is the first time Ithink I've heard Jesse sing himself and the song is rounded out with adrum machine sounding loop which eerily doesn't sound like it's loopingcorrectly. Rounding out the end of the side is "Your Sounds MakePatterns in My Eyes (for SOTL)," which is undoubtedly a nod to Stars ofthe Lid. Unfortunately it's all too short and the gorgeous soundscapeof that gem lasts around two minutes. If we saw the two expand on this,make it a full 20 minutes long and include it on the next JessicaBailiff full-lengther, that release is bound to become a classic.Read More
