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
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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
Pants Pants Pants — Ok, Fine Buy it at Amazon
Whoa cool Origami-esque fortune-teller (you remember doing this when you were in middle school damn it) cover art/liner dudes! Pants Pants Pants after their pretty damn impressive “Pop Songs to Make Us Famous” unleashes this beast of cool laptop electronica. Indie pop crafted with electronica in mind, “Ok, Fine” seems to be a shot at all those mainstream acts who spend thousands of dollars in studio time but seem to only put out one to three half-decent tracks. And the best part is that they do all of that with not only bass, drums, and electronic instruments but also odds and ends like children’s toys, trombone, melodica, and the nefarious keytar!
- J-Sin
The Secret Meeting — Ultrashiver Buy it at Amazon
KaRIN and Statik of Collide fame join forces with Dean Garcia (Curve) to get together on this new project. Energetic alternative pop is blended with airy industrial dance along with ethereal melodies and blissful arrangements are what makes “Ultrashiver” really outshine everyone else. Rich textures and darkwave atmospheres percolate the Secret Meeting into an out-of-this-world combo that is completely intoxicating. Beautiful!
- J-Sin
Pete Warren — Ambient Electronica 94-06 Buy it at Amazon
Recorded over the course of the last twelve years, Pete Warren debut is a nice ambient album. Touching on Moby’s famous “Ambient” album a bit, these tunes are MIDI-arranged keyboard-centric pieces. Soft and warm glowing textures abound in this electronica debut from U.K. upstart Pete Warren.
- J-Sin
Creature — Mechanical Buy it at Amazon
Influenced by Nine Inch Nails and Boards of Canada, Creature actually does a fantastic job of merging both into their own sound. Dark ambient pieces dominate “Mechanical” with its driving rhythms circulating the atmospheric synth pads and computerized effects. Haunting melodies drive home the nail with tweaked out stabs and filthy cinematic vibes blended underneath the rest of the mix. Downtempo warm beats bring you to your feet in an instant.
- J-Sin
Saemskin — A Simile For Murder Buy it at Amazon
Moody post-ambient pieces that range from pleasant to undercutting and terrifying, “A Simile For Murder” seems hell-bent on drifting from one end of the extreme to the other. Industrial music has come a long way since the days of Throbbing Gristle and Skinny Puppy. Saemskin is part of the new wave of industrial music, tired of the direction it took when Nine Inch Nails popularized the genre. Crunching beats, driving rhythms, factory samples, and vocal effects are smattered about this dank piece of music.
- J-Sin
Marilyn Manson — Eat Me, Drink Me Buy it at Amazon
Remember when Manson wrote decent music? Me either. This shock rock version of Howard Stern placates his audience with his seminal journey into his own personal issues as well as commenting on society at large. Well since all Marilyn Manson does is manipulate the drones of the mainstream into thinking that he somehow has something unique and poignant to say, I think it’s just all irony from here on out.
- J-Sin
Klute — The Emperor's New Clothes Buy it at Amazon
Whoa. Two full discs of storm draining filling drum & bass from one of the all-time masters of junglism. Klute crushes us with soulful vocals, hard-edged bass slams, and rolling snare rhythms. I love how he tosses on a song called “174 BPM” that’s anything but that fast. Tom Withers once again gives us a sneak peek at the various grow spurts of the drum & bass world, leaning towards breaks, classic jungle, amen loops, ‘80’s synth stabs, and even the punk & bass stuff. “Learning Curve” sounds as if the riff from Refused’ infamous barn burner “New Noise” but maybe I’m just hearing things. So if you’re a noob or an old SOB at the DnB scene, you should count “The Emperor’s New Clothes” as a clear must-have.
- J-Sin
Us3 — Say What!? Buy it at Amazon
Remember “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”? Well if you weren’t listening to cool trendy hip-hop / downtempo stuff, you might not have. Anyway, that’s most of the reason that anyone has ever heard of them. And that’s a damn shame. They’re good cool club music that has a slew of phat grooves and thick rhythms. You know you want to dance to it!
- J-Sin
iio — Reconstruction Time: The Best of iio Remixed Buy it at Amazon
I like iio’s stuff but they really need to move on from their huge hit “Rapture”. After being played to death by DJs world round back in 2001, it’s made its point. Here it is remixed along with iio’s other hits “Is It Love” and “At the End”. The remixes are good but after six odd years maybe it’s time to write new material. Yeah I know I'm being a harsh--it's named "the Best of" after all--but it is high time someone finally said it, damn it.
- J-Sin
Matt Linder — Relic Buy it at Amazon
Old school techno and acid jazz that sounds a bit too MIDI for my tastes. Matt Linder works as a visual effects artist on films such as “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Night at the Museum”. This apparent talent doesn’t lend itself to his yawning boredom of an album.
- J-Sin
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