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Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)
[Metropolis]
Bryan Erickson is one of these unruly and mischievious schoolboy who prefers disorder and chaos to any constructive activity. Indeed, he's known for his pranks, his disorderly concerts under the influence of drugs, his regular declarations in favour of them, his ironic remarks against his mates of VNV Nation... But we know that this type of teenager and suicidal attitude sometimes hide some genius. We couldn't say Bryan is one of them, but he undeniably has loads of talent. Three years after "Twisted Thought Generator", "Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)" uses all the ingredients dear to him (and us): cinematographic ambiences (samples of films' dialogues are used as a framework in each track and are inserted in between each of them), an always atypical mix of indus and electro, distorted and narrative voices... The work on textures is fabulous, the atmosphere is dark, heavy, tormented, almost scraggly, "Hex Angel" clearly is one step further in darkness. The single Pretty Toy is a real bomb, one which almost "spoils" the audition of the album so much the intensity spills over everything else and no other track manages to equal it. But this corner-stone strengthens the whole which undeniably is another masterpiece to Bryan's ten years' career. When this brat gets his mind on something, he really does it well.
Christophe Labussière |
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Kniga Skazok
[Ad Noiseam/Season of Mist]
From the very first notes, this record announces which colour it will be from start to end: minimalist ambiences and clicks & cuts. These words immediately evoke the universe of a label like Mille Plateaux, in all cases, much more than children's tales to which Andrey Kiritchenko refers to ("Kniga Skazok" means "book of tales" in Russian). Indeed, we struggle to find a link between this music and some children and narrative flash-back, all the more that the last track fizzles out, like if it was involuntarily garbled, and so we wonder if any story could have begun since there isn't any end to it! But there is undeniably a peculiar atmosphere on this album. Some sounds remind of some already known territories which bring you to some amazing (and musical this time) reminiscences. For instance, Pneumatic/Airless spreads some synthesizer layers that we almost never heard again since The Cocteau Twins... except that instead of the delicate voice of Elizabeth Fraser, we hear here all kind of blips and glitches acompanied by some drones inserted here and there, probably to add a darker and more enigmatic touch to the whole. So, it's totally different from the Scottish band, even if in the end we get a bit the same sensations of appeasement, which is not that bad.
Carole Jay |
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Bush Doctrine
[Cocosolidciti]
The bear of Sheffield gets out of his den two or three times a year. If it's almost impossible to know in advance which way will take this notorious granddad of the pre-techno industrial music (more known as one half of The Cabaret Voltaire), it's one the other hand easier to anticipate on his sensitive reactions. Is he going to hibernate after the Autumn and sleep on his artistic intentions? Or true to his legendary ferocity, is he going to bite the establishment by denouncing the injustices which hurt him since his teenage years? You'll find out while listening the new adventures of Richard H. Kirk under the name of the project "BioChemical Dread". We find on this album, composed last year, the obsessions which show the scathing political facet of this Northern man. When, somewhere in the world, there is a survivalist sect which manipulates naive country-men, some Ku Klux Klan's murderers, tyrants who act in total impunity, then Richard H. Kirk appears, armed with his dark synthesizers to denounce in his own way the ugliness of mankind. You may say he's paranoiac, but his target this time is the idiotic Bush, whose crusade war-monger doctrine is denounced with samples and sound reports. Musically, the spirit of collage is always here to support electronic layers, sometimes tribal, african overall. A mischievious groove is inserted in Bush's speech, the uneducated destroyer, who becomes against his will, the actor of an electro symphony where rhythm, seduction and lampoon cohabit. At last some wit, some critic in a movement which until then seemed devoided of any social conscience.
Anthony Augendre |
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Sensor
[Polydor]
Hats Off! It's like if the German trio Camouflage, idolized in the mid-80s as the German version of Depeche Mode (remember The Great Commandment), hibernated for more than fifteen years and then woke up to offer us what the Basildon's quatuor -now a trio- are struggling to find back now: a simple and efficient synthetic pop, made of catchy melodies and magnificent choruses which entice you to sing along. "Sensor" is perfect in the way the band has probably digested the better of its own clones, like De/Vision to start with, their likenesses, even in the vocal and in the way of singing, are confusing. This experience is all the more amazing that Camouflage tried to open its musical horizons during all these years, offering us uneven albums, sometimes almost experimental albums, never up to the standards of "Voices and Images", their first album, to which "Sensor" refers to. Particularly expected by the old fans, this new album seems in that context almost like an ordered piece: the tracks Me and You, I Can't Feel You, I'll Follow Behind, Thief or You Turn are among the best synthpop hits since the first appearance of bands like Mesh or the already mentioned De/Vision. The sounds, often close to the "Ultra" of Depeche Mode, serve some rather dancing compositions, even if most of them are quite meditating and often down tempo. This is perfection for all synthpop's fan.
Stéphane Colombet |
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Live One
[World Serpent]
Unlike the name implies, "Live One" is the fourth live album released by Coil this year. To end this 2003 "against the grain" series, which started by a "Live Four", the band offers us a double CD of their concerts in London and Barcelona recorded in 2000. From the first listening, a doubt settles and then becomes obvious: the performances give a wide range to the irritating sounds of "Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil". Even if this is a beautiful object and will be essential to all the fans-collectors of the Balance/Christopherson pair, the nice polar bear jacket illustrating the cover sleeve won't warm up the icy void of this record. Adept of sound putrefaction, Coil seems to play energy quanta like others play guitar and bass, and one has to admit, the result is boring and can be compared to the difficult "How to Destroy Angels" re-released in 1992. Both concerts are so similar that the two CDs are redundant. John Balance grows scarce and we only hear him on one of the three long tracks of the London concert, if we except his screams ending the second CD. Amethyst Deceivers, as the red thread of this live recording series (it's present each time in a different version) is also found on the Barcelona concert (CD2) in an unrecognizable hybrid version. With this record, Coil doesn't push back the contemporary music's frontiers, but really pulverizes them. But are we ready for it? You might prefer listening to "Live Four", "Live Three" and "Live Two", which are fortunately much better.
Bertrand Hamonou |
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Country on the Click
[Action Records]
Mark E. Smith must really laugh his head off when he hears everybody going into raptures about the new New York's scene which emerged from the so-called "post-punk" movement (The Rapture, Liars, Clinic, Interpol, etc.). He was already "post-punk" before being "punk" at all. Indeed, the leader of The Fall, the only member left of 1977, only does what he wants to do and doesn't need any tag like "punk", "post-punk", "techno" or "bal-musette". Just before this album, a single ironically called "The Fall vs 2003" was released although the band has nothing to fight for in 2003: they more than ever surf on the talent, irreverence and discretion's wave. "Country on the Click" will probably be put among the best albums of the band (that's one out of two): less raving, more melodies, the whole wrapped into beautiful synthetic, very "post-techno" sounds to the detriment of guitars. We'll even remember some tracks and hum them afterwards: Boxoctosis, Mountain Energei or Susan vs. Youthclub. The most timeless band of the "alternative" rock's history proved, once again, that it's terribly well integrated in its time, but also that it has become unavoidable, even necessary in all respectable discography. Respect.
Frédéric Thébault |
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Vertical Theory
[Out of Line]
Since his begining in the 90s, Haujobb, the main electro project of Daniel Myer, regularly evolved and was rarely found where it was expected: after being in the begining one of the best clone of Skinny Puppy, the Haujobb's sound got more refined throughout his albums and took a turn (coldly welcomed then) towards an austere and complex electronica with the album "Ninetynine" and its remixes. Then, Haujobb came back to more accessible horizons with "Polarity" (2000) and its light, clever and (relatively) complex future pop. This time we'll be less surprised because we already had some clues (the EP "Penetration" and the track A Terrifing Truth v0.1 released on a sampler of the label Out Of Line). Taking the risk of disappointing once again those who wanted him to come back to more rough sounds, Daniel Meyer stayed firm on his positions and "Polarity" state of mind, we can find the same mutant future pop, tinged with dark electro, EBM and electronica. Fortunately, the album has got some very good tracks (Metric, Platform, Slide, the new versions of A Terryfing Truth and Penetration) and Daniel Meyer kept his savoir-faire and doesn't succumb to ease to make a rhythmed and melodic hit, nor does he try to keep the classic verse/chorus schema. In the end, if several auditions are necessary to appreciate the whole to its true worth, "Vertical Theory" is well above the rest of the massive production of the genre. Haujobb proves, once again his constancy.
Renaud Martin |
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The Black EP
[Labels]
One year after the release of the phenomenal "Turn on the Bright Lights" and the Black Session recorded at la Maison de la Radio for France Inter, Labels finally proposes to the Europeans to hear some extracts of what was a revelation for those who discovered in live the quatuor then (actually completed by a fifth member on keyboards on stage). Even if the conditions of the auditorium gives an excessively padded sound, despite the voice put forwards the guitars, we'll find (again) with delight the energy Interpol gives away like on Obstacle 1 and PDA, an unavoidable single, or the sublime gravity of Specialist and Leif Erikson. The two tracks pretexts to this mini album still are great, Say Hello to the Angels, as it is also available on the album and NYC in its demo version recorded in 2001. The only snag: this "new" version of NYC will be redundant for those of you who rushed on the three titles "Say Hello to the Angels/NYC" released in April at Matador UK and available in import.
Catherine Fagnot |
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Les Secours arrivent et prennent le relais
[Ronda]
The Reverter's duo finally presents its first album, after releasing three EPs since 1999 - let's mention here "00:20:37", six "mirage-tracks" of 2001, somewhere between Brian Eno in his Apollo period, Diabologum and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Far from losing themselves in the post-rock, the main orientation of their previous work, Melmac cleverly persists in the ambient electronica to offer us unique textures, colours and resonances. They develop on "Les Secours arrivent et prennent le relais" an acute sense of detail and melody. Xylophone, thumb piano, gamelan, to only mention them in the percussions used, are treated with parcimony and finesse. [They embellish thin and dense canvas made by the samples, they alternate subtle guitars and maybe weave repetitious ambiances but subtly contrasted. And when the band makes a split with Transmissionary Six (the eleventh and last track of the album), the result has nothing to envy to some of the tracks of This Mortal Coil.
Urban zoom or internal panning, pixel of light or unfurling nightmares, this first album is a nugget.
Catherine Fagnot |
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Bilious Paths
[Planet-Mu/La Baleine]
Since the creation of Planet-Mu, which is his full-time job since 1998, Mike Paradinas must have devoted more time to his label than to his main project: µ-Ziq. "Royal Astronomy", his latest album was released already four years ago, and even if since then, he released several records under some of his numerous pseudonyms (Kid Spatula, Slag Boom Van Loon...), this new album was eagerly expected. Obviously, "Bilious Paths" is a nice surprise which remind us that few musicians are able to match the skill of this pioneer of electronica. Nevertheless, the surprise won't be appreciated right away, for one can be amazed, at the first audition, to find a less innovating µ-Ziq. There are two explanations: first, by dint of looking after his protégés, Venetian Snares and Hellfish & Producer for example, our man inevitably got impregnated of the creative madness of these musicians, which obviously brings something more to his compositions but, in fact, nothing new. The second reason is that being incessantly robbed, like all pioneers (you can ask Aphex Twin and Autechre what they think about it), he has to renew himself all the time, at the risk of being called a copycat. That beats all! Fortunately, the Mike Paradinas' touch is still here, and in a time where some give priority to experimentation against melody, he proves us he still excels in the creation of amazingly fluid and coherent compositions, among the general merging of the different styles he approaches (breakbeat, ragga, techno hardcore...). Dedicated to Lorien, one of his children, "Bilious Paths" would be, according to its author, the last album made under the name of µ-Ziq, but it doesn't much matter as long as the music is there.
Carole Jay |
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Compilation
[Mute / Labels]
The tenth anniversary of the festival of advanced music and multimedia art, Sonar took place last June in Barcelona. Since its creation in 1994, it has become a real institution, it welcomes for three days and three nights the artists of the international electronic scene. The day programmation, opened to the most audacious experimentations, gives to the public the opportunity to discover new talents. The night programmation is merrier with the participation of the greatest names of techno. On this occasion, the label Mute releases the festival compilation: a double album showing the 2003 selection of 28 artists. The first record is dedicated to the Sonar by day with artists as diverse as Data Rock, GD Luxxe, Colder, David Grubbs, Prefuse 73, Pole, Seefeel, or Matthew Herbert... It proposes a selection of refined electronica tracks. Breaking the barrier between rock and electronic music, most of the bands use vocals in their compositions for our greatest pleasure. The second record is more techno with the participation of notorious artists such as Carl Cox, Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier, Underworld, LFO, Scan X, Johannes Heil. A regular succession of dancing sets and quieter tracks with more subtle colours. In the end, this compilation shows a rather successful panorama of the latest trends in electronic music.
Delphine Payrot |
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Two Players
[A Different Drum]
After several appearances on diverse compilations, we eagerly expected the first album of the Norwegian duo, promising to be the next Erasure. The first track Emptiness, your Loneliness shows a real gift for new synthetic melodies of a terrific efficiency -without the excessive use of heavy rhythm boxes- and with a variety that will be useful for their perenity. The whole impression isn't a revolutionary one: we're reminded of Human League and other good bands of the 80s like Heaven 17, with the sound of the old analog synthesizers which evoke the best of Giorgio Moroder, Visage, and sometimes, strangely enough, Alan Parson Project, but also the first Depeche Mode: so here's some rather down tempo male electroclash. Nevertheless, we'll regret the lack of audacity of the band, and the fact that they contented themselves to reproduce the good old recipe of the synthetic wave without creating a more personal sound. In short, here's some music for the old nostalgics of the 80s; the fans of future pop will ignore it.
Stéphane Colombet |
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Turquoise V3.x
[realVast.com]
Quality isn't something easy to get, so after nearly three years of silence Jon Crosby finally releases a provisional version of the next VAST album on the band's website. How difficult it must be to follow the two previous albums, for they teemed with excellent melodies and subtleties! Yet, this is a faultless try. Jon's voice is always as magnificent and it's enough to listen to Don't Take your Love Away to be sure of it and be carried away by its irresistible chorus. On Ecstasy Jon fancies himself as Bono before remembering, on Falling From the Sky, that he's VAST all by himself and he has better to offer still. In the same way, Turquoise shows that even if the whole album is quieter than the previous ones, the beast isn't dead and can still bite. Be with Me, Can't Say No (to You) and Thrown Away immediately fascinate us, the VAST potion (a clever mix of voices' samples and sounds out of nowhere, an unique voice and a mastered guitar's play) always working marvellously. The acoustic and heart-rending Desert Garden will surprise more than one, while I Woke Up LA is perfect as a single. Like all the great records, this album will reveal its secrets on each audition so much it is well-balanced between softness and energy. We'll bet the next version "Crimson V3.x" that will be released in the same format at the end of the summer, will also contain some excellent surprises.
Bertrand Hamonou |
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Having been announced since 1998, the Laibach come-back finally happens. A few weeks from the release of the album "Wat", the track Tanz Mit Laibach, "dedicated to the friendship between the American and German people" (!), is declined in five versions, remixed by DJ Zeta Reticula (alias Umek), Johannes Heil and Temponauta. The cover-sleeve itself is worth looking at, it shows a hat with the band's logo and a tasteless Totenkopf . There still is the unique voice of Laibach, always perfectly mastered, on an electro strongly reminding of DAF, adorned with some irresistible female voices... Be a bit patient still, the album "Wat" is worthy of this single, we promise you.
Much more disappointing is the album "Damaged" of the Hawaii formation Razed In Black. In the past, Romell Regulacion was really singular, but nowadays he proposes us a totally impersonal album. More than ever, he's looking towards the synth-pop and totally forsook his agressive electro which yet proved its efficiency. The result is almost ridiculous and the remixes of the second CD could at the best be used as mobile's polyphonic bell.
You just have to go on the other side of the world to discover a band that really excites us, with their atypical mix of electro and guitars supported by a rather charismatic voice. SSS (standing for SubSonic Symphonee) comes from Australia and shouldn't have much difficulties to impose themselves out of their continent. You can hear their last single "Images" on their website.
Grandchaos comes back to their origins with "La Forge", the Belgian band Ivanovitch Dans l'Ombre side-project, offers us a nice old-school EBM exercise. Tcheleskov, the author, draws us in a strange travel in time which brings us 15 years back, at a time when Sigmund und Sein Freund, Klinik, SA 42 and À;Grumh were on our vinyl turntables... Dark, cold, if the sounds used aren't that new, they're still perfectly mastered.
The Projekt label just enrolled Android Lust and seizes the opportunity to re-issue "The Dividing", the second album of the lovely Shikhee, released last year. A digipack with a particularly well done packaging, on which you will find a CD-Rom track including the lyrics, some photos and an extra track, a splendid "ballad" which acompanies an album that deserves all our attention. Some female, sensual, neat, tense and dark electro, much more mature and personal than she ever did.
Christophe Labussière
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