Music Reviews of Techno, Trance, Industrial, Electronica
Band Spotlight
Chiodos
Perhaps no one can explain the sheer ferocity and timid quietness it is better than when vocalist Craig Owens says “we don’t want to let the kids down” when discussing the group’s intense vocals live at shows. Well they never let a single kid down with their vicious assault on the ears and grip on the jugular...
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Current Top Ten Chart
Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker
Converge - No Heroes
The Graduate - Anhedonia
Death By Stereo - Death Alive
Comeback Kid - Broadcasting
The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth
Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
The Geeks - Every Time We Fall
Limbeck - Limbeck
WinterKids - Memoirs
03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Techno, Trance, Jungle, Trip-Hop, Industrial, Electronica, IDM, House, Drum&Bass
Andrew Liles — The Dying Submariner Buy it at Amazon
Dark foreboding ambience that twists knives deep into your cortex with wraith-like disgust, “The Dying Submariner” is a twist conceptual nightmare of slowed down agony. Layering faint sounds onto chilling experimental surreal firestorms, Andrew Liles knows that music filled with this much dread not only tingles spines but chills them with fierce abandon. Psychologically a bit of an undertaking when listened to in complete darkness, the album fills your head with disturbing images as you let your mind wander in the droning collage of sonic textures and elongated sound waves. Beautiful, frightening, eerie, intelligent: all of these adjectives and so much more sum up the truly disheartening experience of listening to this album. And I love it!
- J-Sin
Brunnen — The Beekeeper's Dream Buy it at Amazon
Brunnen’s vocals plainly remind me of the Legendary Pink Dots. Shifting from one gear to the next while remaining upbeat yet downtempo, Brunnen massages the listener with beautiful textures and slowcore asides. Psychedelic themes vein through “The Beekeeper’s Dream” as Brunnen keeps the captain’s log completely cerebral rather than mapping anything out to tow you along. Psych-pop that leaves the imagination alone as each song fully embraces sensational melodies and spacey atmospheres. “The Beekeeper’s Dream” doesn’t sting but instead evolves into something bright, shiny, and riddled with intelligent musical drama. Astonishing.
- J-Sin
Sylver — Nighttime Calls Buy it at Amazon
Belgian duo Sylver boasts club DJ/keyboardist/songwriter Wout van Dessel and Silvy De Bie on vocals. Her vocals are dynamic with a high range that offers a signature touch of diva-ness that is sure to fire up the clubs throughout Europe and across the sea with this release on Toucan Cove. This is their third installment but first in America; “Nighttime Calls” has infectious melodies, thunderous beats, and pop anthems that are sure to catch on fire in the most hip clubs. They’ve won “Best International Dance Act” at the German Dance Awards and no doubt that’s the first of many awards for this smash-hit-in-waiting dance duo.
- J-Sin
Halou — Wholeness & Separation Buy it at Amazon
Slow moving melodies float upwards to reach out and grip you with tight assurances that sonic landscapes can be molded and felt by gods and humans alike. Halou (pronounced ‘huh-loo’) utilizes cello, bass, synths, loops, and guitars with soft female vocals washing up on beaches of long lost lands where certain sounds have been never heard before. Delicate melodies coexist nicely with the laid back downtempo beats and ambient textures that are neatly interwoven into each track. The ethereal vocals are stirring and leave an otherworldly feel deep in your blood. Beautifully addictive.
- J-Sin
Various Artists — Buzzin' Fly Vol. 3 Buy it at Amazon
“Lone Cat” was a buzzworthy underground single that propelled Ben Watt (Everything But the Girl) into being able to start his own record label. Now that Buzzin’ Fly Records has turned three years old, Watt’s dream is cementing firmly into reality. As a house label, the competition is tough but when you have such a good ear for music as Watt has always had, it isn’t as difficult. This third installment finds the label researching minimalism and electro, keeping a fresh breath of air in the mix. But there’s still plenty deep house and progressive to get your feet and body moving. The mixes are soaked in acid, washed with four-to-the-floor bangers, and delivered with a deep sense of laid back groove. Absolutely fantastic club-friendly tunes from a label that continues to stretch its wings.
- J-Sin
Sundealers — Tears, Love, Religion Buy it at Amazon
I reviewed Sundealers’ “Tears” EP a while back. These German techno-rockers come back with their latest “Tears Love Religion”. Industrial strength techno is fused with pop-rock in the vein of Gravity Kills and Stabbing Westward. High energy choruses that tangle with superb pop hooks. This five-piece builds on what they accomplished last time around and now own a superb set-list of gravity defying theatrical techno pop hits with an undercurrent of viciousness just beneath the surface.
- J-Sin
31 Projects — The Music Buy it at Amazon
Austrian musician Gerald Krampl tackles the powerful emotional subject of the Holocaust on his new release “The Music”. Faced with increased racism and bigotry, 31 Projects sets out to create awareness and cultivate a sense of social consciousness. A documentary piece with some thirty multimedia sequences, this soundtrack evokes the myriad of emotions that comes with this horrible tragedy.
- J-Sin
Apollo 13 — Lovebomb Buy it at Amazon
While they’ve been garnering some awards in the dance/electronica competitions, Apollo 13’s best song might be their dance-punk pop hit “The Bomb”. But with that said, there’s plenty of sweet synth work and disco beats to keep it raw and unbridled. Fantastic catchy hooks are populated alongside gnarly melodic vocals and acid lines. Textures are thick with poppy rhythms and sweeping ambient synths. A popular outfit on Purevolume, and one that’s established themselves with the grand prize in the 2004 John Lennon Songwriting Competition for Dance/Electronica as well as an appearance in an XBox game, film trailer for “Eros”, and a Nike commercial, Apollo 13’s limit may only be the moon.
- J-Sin
Arastoo — Three 12" Buy it at Amazon
Isounderscore is a label that everyone that enjoys experimental music needs to pay full attention to. They don’t seem to do any wrong. Arastoo unleashes some creepy drone populated with string arrangements and synth wizardry. You may have heard this 25-year old Oakland cat, whose full name is Arastoo Darakhshan, on the “Dielectric Minimalist All-Stars” double-disc. But if you haven’t heard him then I highly recommend picking up this dank drone 12” that experiments with noise and textures ominously weaving a free noise tapestry of delight.
- J-Sin
Doctor Echo — Echo Evahlastin' Buy it at Amazon
Featuring the solid vocal and spoken word poetry of Solange St. Croix, “Echo Evahlastin’” is another fantastic dub entry for the master of dub Dr. Echo. Having worked with the likes of Blackalicious, ALU, the Defendants, Steady Ups, and many others, the doctor has build a huge following since the early ‘90’s when he first started mixing dub. The bass is thick with bubbly percussive bass hits that are soaked in a glitzy jazz horn. The spoken word gives the album a cerebral feel that when you close your eyes, just washes over you transporting you to some hip back-alley poetry club where men stroke their goatees and ponder the lesser known work of Langston Hughes. Downtempo beats that drip wet with heavy dub re-rubs and deep reggae glamour. An essential if ever there were.
- J-Sin
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