|
|
|
| |
| Recent Listening
2006.09.30 at 17:55 |
|
|
|
Cabaret Voltaire : Radiation (BBC Recordings 84-86)
[****.]
The sleeve says these recordings are from CV's "slightly more accessible"
period. Big emphasis on the slightly here, folks - you're either
into this sort of thing or you're not. A lot of the tracks are variants
on songs from Code and Micro Phonies. Overall, it's a good
listen : I bought it after DJ Imperium
spun the Peel Session version of The Operative at Ceremony, and I
consider it money well spent. |
|
|
Techno Animal : Radio Hades
[*****]
I'm a Broadrick fan,
and Amazon has been a great source of non-Godflesh projects. Radio Hades
is a great dose of loop-heavy technoindustrial hell jazz, big on the thud,
thorough with the samples, and quite a bit more to my liking than The
Brotherhood Of The Bomb. While I dig the horns in Fistfunk, my
favorite track is Excavator, as it sounds a lot like Godflesh. Thud-thud
grind, thud-thud griiiind. |
|
|
Techno Animal : Re-Entry
[*****]
I thought this was a bit pricey when I snagged it - it wasn't until the
package showed up in the mail that I realized Re-Entry is a double
disk. Silly of me not have actually read the description or the track
list :P. More ambient than Radio Hades, heavier on the loops, Re-Entry
is kickass techno-industrial-trance. Favorites include Mastadon Americanus,
The Mighty Atom Smasher, City Heathen Dub, Catatonia, and Cape Canaveral,
which is close to what I was expecting the recent Final release to sound
like. Excellent work music - my recent maintenance
interval was performed to this album. |
|
|
Front Line Assembly : Artificial Soldier
[*****]
Unless you're one of the few rivetheads who happen to like Millenium,
Artificial Soldier is easily FLA's strongest release since Tactical
Neural Implant. Finally, an FLA album that doesn't sound like it's trying
to be Male Delerium, more accessible Noise Unit, Haujobb, or some sort of
industrial trip-hop. I haven't been shit-your-pants impressed by post-Millenium
FLA, so when I say AS is fucking good, I mean it. It's
not perfect - I find Humanity (World War 3) very annoying, for example
- but the guest appearances of Covenant and Front 242 vocalists more than
make up for it. The track that really stands out for me is Dopamine
- good programming, and (a true rarity for FLA) good lyrics. AS is
an exceptional FLA release, and I've gotten a lot of listening mileage out
of it. |
|
|
Killing Joke : Hosannas From the Basement of Hell
[****.]
All the earth-shattering thud of Killing Joke (2003), though the
lyrics are closer to Pandemonium. Piles of catchy riffs, some great
intros (the title track, for example), intelligent lyrics, long songs,
and a solid groove throughout: it's a good release, but it doesn't knock
their previous salvo out of first place. |
|
|
Ministry : Rantology
[***..]
It's easier to justify the purchase if you're into live recordings (I'm
not) or if you don't have much of Ministry's back catalogue (I do). The
hook here is the "update" mixes, none of which are better than
the originals (Jesus Built My Hotrod has suffered, Bad Blood is
pretty good but doesn't replace the original, NWO could have been
a lot tighter, and Wrong, while pretty good, feels like it could
have been a bit tighter). Standout tracks are The Great Satan and
Animosity, both of which feature Ministry's signature whack-whack-whack-whack
drums and Wall Of Guitars. Rantology is a listenable release with
some high points, but it feels unpolished in some places and rushed in others.
Ministry fans will dig it, casual listeners would be better served by A
Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste or Psalm 69. |
|
 |
|
