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
Bernhard Wagner — The Fourth Night Buy it at Amazon
Zurich is the home to ambient minimalist Bernhard Wagner. “The Fourth Night” shudders with dancing vocals and slivered loops of electronic ambience. Future pop mastheads should be flown in honor of this great achievement. Light guitars speckle the often dripping wet synth pads to give it an airy and spacious palette.
- J-Sin
Volvoe — Organized Faults Buy it at Amazon
Danish electro-clash band Volvoe once again mines the late ‘80’s and early ‘90s club punk roots for influence on their new “Organized Faults”. A huge step ahead of all of the faker groups that the mainstream goes head over heels for, Volvoe manages to turn in a set of catchy tunes that are fit for dancefloors in living rooms as well as high brow lounge clubs. Power-pop chords dominate while the synths pop and weave throughout the flow of the rhythms. The title track boasts one hell of an amazing guitar solo that is looped to create tension and builds up to the eventual fade-out. Staggering!
- J-Sin
Life Toward Twilight — I Swear By All the Flowers Buy it at Amazon
Detroit is Motor City as Life Toward Twilight is dark neo-classical ambient. This simile holds true with this latest venture down Instrumental Lane. Cleverly capturing noise and manipulating it with minimalist soundscapes, Life Toward Twilight structures their sound against chaos but produces quite organic structured noise. This is like a real scary version of Dead Can Dance mixed with Merzbow.
- J-Sin
Vestigial — Aeon Buy it at Amazon
It’s amazing how densely packed a 3” CD-EP can be. Italy’s dark ambient project Vestigial propels you into an insane abyss filled with nightmarish soundscapes and experimental bliss. Tweaked out drones domineer the mix as odd samples float in and out. Caustic distorted aural fluctuations madden you and cause you panic. This is intense—I only wish that I could have this intensity for longer than 20 some-odd minutes.
- J-Sin
Nymph — Geek Pop Star Buy it at Amazon
Dance pop that isn’t afraid to tackle difficult genres like jazz and jungle as well as electronica and club. Throbbing beats pulse with Nymph’s sweet and sugary vocals well in hand. Definitely a very different electronic dance album, “Geek Pop Star” boils over with exciting rhythms and Bjork-esque enigmas.
- J-Sin
Various Artists — Regress Classics Part 1 Buy it at Amazon
Regress Records has been a record label that is aligned perfectly with the club scene. Producing classics time after time, but often only 12” vinyl, Regress Records was finally pressed into putting together this double disc album of some of those previously unavailable on CD tunes. Tons of big underground names including the more mainstream kid Jimmy Van M (his “Bedrock” double disc was widely circulated among critics as the perfect definition of deep progressive) as well as legends in the club world like NEMA, Mavi, and Flatline. Big club tunes that fit into the tribal, progressive, and house circuits.
- J-Sin
Teleseen — War Buy it at Amazon
Teleseen is a multi-instrumentalist and producer whose dub soundscapes are brimming with bubbly bass and textures of IDM. Rhythmic abstract dub is boosted with dense electronica and patterns similar to old school Detroit style techno. While still focused on roots reggae to some degree, “War” is digital dub that traverses the sound of PlateaU. Minimalism at its very finest and deep.
- J-Sin
Various Artists — Made Gold - Part One Buy it at Amazon
Progressive house choons can be as adoring as they can be addictive. Just ask Made Records. Starting with a progressive favorite in iiO and ending with Nymph, this compilation is sure to shake up the dance and club scene. iiO offers up mixes of “Smooth” including the Pig & Dan analog remix as well as the dub version. Also Nymph lets loose with their “Exit” featuring a dub by Behrouz and Andy Caldwell as well as two versions of their classic “Afraid” both Flatline remixes. This is sincere dance music at peak volume people. Do not be afraid!
- J-Sin
Juba Dance — Orange Buy it at Amazon
“Orange” sounds like an album that Jamiroquai might have produced. It’s smooth, loaded with various downtempo influences ranging from hip-hop to soul to Afro-Cuban. Elements of jazz, funk, and electro are carefully ladled into each song that Juba Dance composes. An abstract downtempo beat will at once boast a chubby bass hit and bleepy hi-hats while there might be horn or improvisational vocals (they sound like it at least). The album grows on you after a while. Check it.
- J-Sin
Small Sails — Similar Anniversaries Buy it at Amazon
Warm atmospheres lie beside post-electronic beats and downtempo vibes throughout this inviting album known simply as “Similar Anniversaries”. Pretty much perfect for any particular setting, the album recalls Album Leaf and Animal Collective at times. “Aftershocks and Afterthoughts” (also present on their “Hunter and Gatherer” EP) leave you with both, haunting your dreams with its igloo cool bleeps and coffeehouse guitar loops. Small Sails accomplishes a lot here but still maintains an overall feel that is stripped down and raw lending it creditability among the crowd who doesn’t care for the processed laptop sound. You could hear Conor Oberst listening to this album as he pens the follow-up for his “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn”.
- J-Sin
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