Datacide 2 – record reviews

All the record reviews published in datacide 2, 1997.

Burning Lazy Persons
Leave Me Alone
(Fischkopf 21)

The second release by DJ Harakiri Overdrive and Naoto Suzuki on Fischkopf, this time only 6 tracks (compared to the 8 on the previous Fart EP (Fisch 15) of insane speedcore of the, well, overdriven speedmetal meets breakcore meets shouting and screaming over a pounding 4/4 beat school of thought. Fischkopf now seems to alternate between this style (see also Amiga Shock Force) and the more experimental and visionary work of the Michelson sisters (No Name / Auto-Psy, see Bonjour Vitesse – article in the first Datacide and reviews in this issue). I prefer the latter, but Burning Lazy Persons is charming enough in a very manic way to warrant a recommendation to the amiga-trash speedcore lovers.
CF

Auto-Psy
Necrophage
(Fischkopf 22)

After Fraktal 1, Arachnide (Fisch 18) and the Mouse EP (on Anticore) another installment of manic speedcore madness from Stella Michelson. As fast as the BPM’s are pushed up the volume of the cut seems to be down, a problem a lot of her releases have suffered from to a degree that could detract from the quality of the tracks. Her work lives in the tension between the fast bass drums and the screeching high noises, a rapidity of breathtaking effect that would be as mindblowing here as on her other work, but the glaring light is dimmed by the work of a hostile cutting engineer, as it was on the otherwise excellent Mouse EP.

Only with a little bit of imagination you can get into the fast beats and fierce frequency abuse here – she certainly deserves better than the low volume and dull sound that is putting waste to her tracks!
CF

Napalm 9

New 5 tracker that’s one of the weaker releases, clearly produced for the speedcore-party market interspersed with distorted vocals a laMF-MCing that doesn’t really raise my pulse; which is a shame as some of the sounds are in the more serious Napalm tradition. All in all closer to the releases of the sister-label Speedcore than to the classics (1,2,4,6) of this series, fast post gabber meltdown (or letdown).
CF

Agent Orange 6

In the best tradition of the early Napalm material this latest installment of the sublabel series brings more along the lines of the straight banging 4/4 ‘industrial’ hardcore type that the #5 by Biochip C. foreshadowed. A full, multilayered sound of samples and analogues going haywire over the mostly strict bass drum foundation that is well arranged as well, always progressing & never boring. Produced by Ralf Ferley and Dirk Konze this orange vinyl 7” presents 2 tracks reminiscent of the best Napalm material, and worth getting.
CF

This is Spite
(Spite 001)

Opening with an appropriate hardcore version of Italian horror film music – when will it be that people drop Kraftwerk from their genealogy and mention Goblin instead? It’s well known that Rome was built on a rock that was hollow, containing secrets that are making cameo appearances everywhere movies are shot mistaking architecture for power. Beam that back to Berlin and you find 6 units of guerrilleros breaking beats and noises, releasing a 6-pack comp to show what’s in store with Test Tube Kid, Ec8or and crew, ranging from broken beats mayhem to generally cool hardcore showing different ways out of the mess. As the occult establishment is trying to built the new capital for the new empire, the resistance is gaining momentum.
CF

Near Death Experience
Everything Is War
(Russian Roulette Recordings 01)

A new sublabel of Brutal Chud dedicated to more noisy broken up and distorted stuff, which of course sounds promising. The first release is by Noize Creator who created a few of the Brutal Chud releases and on 6 tracks we find some quite interesting Amiga-abuse ranging from total noise via half-tempo electro-grunge to a track of full on speedcore but of a more industrial type than what we are used to from BC. Definitely the best Noize Creator release and recommended!
CF

Zodiac
Lykanthropie
(Russian Roulette Recordings 03)

Zodiac already presented my favorite Brutal Chud release Psychic Hardcore and this is even better, brutal breakbeats of the digital hardcore school, rapid broken up beats, speedchanges > but mostly in a fast but not too fast (with too fast I mean a kind of speedcore that becomes a strange sort of ambient hum) mode, often interrupted with breaks, overlayered with fierce noises etc., still in that kinda 2-D 8-bit quality on Czech vinyl & in parts a bit of ‘old school’ vibe in terms of mid-90’d hardcore, but still worth checking.
CF

OTS 1

Solid banging 4/4 hardcore on the one side that is constantly interrupted creating gaps and breaks in the otherwise monotone soundscape remaining dark and pushing in a pleasing and very usable way, all in a tempo that’s danceable and groovy more in the range of, say, Micropoint than the usual speedcore scenario.Which is what the two tracks on the flip side resort to, being therefore less interesting. Not epochal, but the discerning hardcore DJ’s will rate the track on the a-side. From the eastern part of Germany, as far as I can tell.
CF

Gwal
Verlustmeldung
(Widerstand 02)

After the first release that was a split between Gwal and Eiterherd, the hardcore force of Graz, Austria strike again, this time with an EP or rather LP each. 02 is by Gwal and consists of 9 tracks that are constructed around fast non-distorted bassdrums supplemented with distorted high-pitched noises often in a halftempo pattern over the basic rhythm. A crude futurism that works well, best when the half tempo is held for a while before drums set in with minimal forcefulness.
CF

Eiterherd
Erase The Establishment
(Widerstand 03)

A fuller and at times more demented sound than on the stricter #2, Eiterherd’s attempt to erase the establishment presents itself on 7 tracks that find a very good balance between slow/fast, sharp/heavy revealing at the same time a love/hate relationship with heavy metal. Digital Assassination, Chase’em, Pressure, Der Wahn (Madness), Aderlass (Bloodlet), Offfenbahrung (Relevation) , Das Ende are the tell tale titles for a journey to the dark side of the Austrian psyche that will please those amongst us with a fascination for the dark and dirty. The soundtrack for the insurrection of the impure.
CF

Eiterherd
(Silent Revolution Records 1)

First release on Widerstand-sublabel for 300-copies-ltd.ed.-coloured-vinyl-7” is not surprisingly in the vein of the other releases of fucked up noizecore and sonic destruction including Eiterherd-typical infernal voices and metal-influences. 3 tracks on this Czech pressing that demands pushing on the treble EQ, but good composition and collectable format with John Heartfield graphics (from an election poster for the German Communist Party).
CF

Memetic
Still More Fukt Muzak
(Bloody Fist 11)

At the forefront of a certain type of post-gabber mutation, then if this is Muzak, then the emphasis must be on the Fukt. Amigas are driven to the most eccentric speedcore behaviour, cheesyness is eliminated, instead noise erupts, beats go haywire and little high pitched noises drill into you ear; apart from the speedcore exercises we find a track that could teach some people a new meaning to the term Acidcore, while another excells with ruff breaks, nicely fukt-up ones indeed.
CF

DJ:Tieum
(R.A.T.001)

Again a record (this time from France) that offers one solid/playable track of monochrome hardcore below the 200 BPM mark that is of interest for DJ’s plus 3 slightly more cheesey efforts from the post-gabber land, another exception being the first track on the second side w/ ominous beginning and a kind of ‘walking’-b-line.
CF

Sarin Assault
(Dead End Records DE003)

The latest Dead End continues the stringent four to floor policy of the label with 4 tracks that will please addicts of the straight beat. Maybe not as intense as the last release by Micropoint, this may not capture the imagination so much as it is power-/useful for the dancefloor.
CF

Slaves Of Devil Our Master

After Sans Pitie a new sub-label of Dead End, also limited to 250 copies each release, and there are 2 to report so far:
S.O.D.O.M. 003, one side produced by Angel Flo and one by Armaguet Nad it’s not half as satanic as you’d expect really, instead we get four surprisingly minimal hardcore tracks that are more for the mix than standing on their own.
S.O.D.O.M 666, Speed Yq’s and Armaguet Nad continue the sinister scenario on the 666 release with more straight 4/4 patterns supplemented by mostly high pitched noises, slightly harder and darker than the other release, especially pleasant the backwards “dansez” sample first on the Armaguet Nad side.
CF

Ingler
Iops Blocks
(Epiteth 009)

Hard and experimental, at the same time as extremely dancefloorfriendly this is one of the best hardcore releases of the last few months. Sharp & fierce sounds collide with some of the best bass drums in a while, wicked production and clarity, an intensifier of the finest kind. Riot makes me wish I had been on the decks at Trafalgar Sqare the other week, things would have really kicked off. Excellent!
CF

KSI Record 001

Another fraction of the original Explore-Toi collective goes solo in much the same style as the more recent releases on Cybercore etc., fast 4/4-obsessed attack and disorganised noise on top, or somewhat in the background; due to muffled soundquality it takes a while to discover the hidden qualities that lie in rapidfire changes in some of the beat patterns and an usual drum & bass experiment on side b.
CF

Explore Toi
(013, 015, 016, 017)

With four new releases from the ET camp these come in the usual paper sleeves and anti-design labels and do provide a few positive surprises. Generally more refined than the monochrome speedcore of the last batch (05, 09-012, that had their moments but became rather repetitious when going through the whole lot) there are more excursions into analog driven hardcore, but also some moments of broken up or fake jungle atmospheres. The emphasis overall remains on fast 4/4 tracks – if you play @45 which overall seems to be the “right” speed (despite the “33” printed on the labels) – the fundament is more a 808 with the gain cranked up on the bass drum and low toms. My favorite tracks are, maybe predictably, the more broken up episodes that unfortunately remain rare.

Conceptually (I received those with some printed material which I don’t know if they’re sold with it or not) ET return to the themes of their early material of a critique of the urban environment and the commercial manifestations and mechanisms of the “techno”-world, not giving up their vendetta against some people they see as the ‘establishment’ within that scene, but claiming irony as a weapon successfully used. More interesting are their views as to the purpose of aesthetics of their music – I quote here from the press release: ‘Kritik the suburb concrete, urban aesthetics, did you grab your man?’

A most disturbing electronic music, that quivers informatic bleeps and clashes interconnections riddled on high speed. Not to “sing” the technological progress: on the contrary to be kritik towards it, diverting its totalitarian automatisms, its obligatory paths towards surprises obtained through errors, buggs which bring the unknown. The specificity of creation is never to consider instructions for use, but explore secret, unexpected ways.
CF

Reverse Rec.001

From the cold shores of western Britanny comes this first release on Reverse, six tracks of varying speedcore, not as harsh or abrasive as you could have expected (wait for EPC for that), but a very good selection of round bass drums overlayered with noises of a non-clicheed, minimalistic and interesting nature, which include massive drones, cut-up voice-loops and tone terror of the finest kind.
CF

Erase Head
(Anticore 02)

Four new tracks by Poka Michelson also known as No Name and in a similar vein of warped speedcore, here occasionally investigating half-tempo territory that gives more space to the noises than straight 250 BPM mayhem. Starting and stopping, bass drums pounding, noises morphing, lost souls screaming, perspectives rapidly changing. Blood, Fire, Despair, Inferno!
Do you like your new body?
CF

Erasehead
(Anticore 02)

Yes,more machine abuse from Toulouse.On a superior pressing than the last release,Poka Michelson once again takes speedcore to another level.Four cuts of super-psychedelic chaos,like having a huge download of coded data directly into your cognitive zones.The speed of the music is incidental as noise links with noise from 0-270 bpm.The Anticore sound is progrssing and mutating and no sound system should fear it.
Eun.

DJ Deadly Buda
(Deadly Systems 001)

Deadly Buda’s first release on his own label picks up somewhere between Morph Beat and the Fukem release. Less twisted than the Praxis, and less cheesey than the Fukem, he manages something amazing: To be energetic and funny that is refreshing and not embarrassing at all. The four tracks emerge as hardcore jump-up battlefields for cartoon characters. Pounding 200+ BPM MorphBeat™ hardcore. This is the surging power – and here it comes!
CF

Pressurehead / UK Skullfuck
(Surgeon 16, Surge 2)

New 5 tracker of hard post-Kotzaak UK speedcore with hip hop injection on the Pressurehead side, while UK Skullfuck torture their PC until it gets quite angry. In place for the “Gabba!” shouting crew.
CF

Stormcore 5

The label dedicated to 3-D hard kicks is reborn with this release which is a split EP with 2 trax by Micropoint on one side presenting powerful straightforward hardcore around 200 with some shrill noises and a hard 4/4 beat. The other side opens with a study in 4/4 bass drums of massive proportions produced by the Invisible SP and myself, and ends with a journey from industrial hardstep morphing and mutating into a 4/4 beat by Delinquent & myself, a favorite despite the side sounding a bit flat, which on the other hand gives more scope for tweeking the EQ, and ideal for subtly morphing a set from techstep to hardcore @180.
CF

DJ Ales
Spatny Tmavy Hlucny EP
(test, Czech Rep.)

They obviously received ‘Look and Learn’ out there and learnt while the West forgot. From the man who hasent had a TV in the house for 11 years – regularly found keeping it militant at the Kasprovy where the spirit remains resiliant,. Maybe it’s the different climate, devoid of destraction and aided by a lack of equipment that has ensured this focused delivery remained refreshing. Cold and minimal, PCP is obviously an initial point of reference (beware of the underdog, he may piss on your laurels). Shame about the dodgy Czech pressing.
Nomex.

The Doom Patrol
Adverse 1 Remixes (test)
(Reprisal Records)

Following their ‘Origins of the Chief/Man who lived Twice’ 10” comes this similarly bizzare reworking. Locking in with cryptic studio techniques and low-tech appreciation renders this an original approach. Spaciously stiched up with their fir-tree-rumble sub-bass and Korg Moped(J) in a duel of disrespectful autonomy. Sometimes an excess of equiptment can weigh down the user with infinite posibilities, not the Doom Patrol – they forge ahead with speed and efficiency, for they know how to find the mystery track in their VD boiler. Surely the best 9d invested in sonic response.
Nomex.

Kill:Out Trash
Disko Sukkers EP
(AIPR)

2-track 7” on AIPR limited to 330 copies by the Kill:Out Trash we encountered on the Harder Than The Rest comp. by DHR but this time rather than fierce breakcore we find them abusing overdriven bass loops and effect laden samples. Non-arty noise concerned with sound destruction more than sound scaping, worth it if you can find it.
CF

Scud + Aphasic
(Ambush 02 test)

The killer track opening the 4 track follow up to the much celebrated Jackal + Hide release successfully combines hard steps with broken beat elements, big sub base punctuated with splinters of short harsh noises – clearly a winner for the dancefloor. The second track is breakcore de-grooved and mutilated with a machete of shrill noises. Justify my Hate opens side 2 (the title a pointer as to where sampling has occurred), turning something “groovy” into something “bleak” and back again.Kill your parents, fuck your friends and have a nice day. Smash hit material! The final track utilises a break reminiscent of Transversal on the Society of Unknowns due to the backwards effects underlined with a nice bass sound.
CF

Give Up
(Ambush 03)

The most fucked up and disturbing release on Ambush so far is from the same man who gave us High on Emotion and Sweat, the mighty Shizuo. On 5 tracks he shows complete disregard for the conventions of hardstep or breakcore etc. creating a symphony of stress that will convince you of possibilities beyond groove and reason. Great!
CF

Bomb 20
Less Than 20
(DHR 20)

After the excellent slow-core release on Riot Beats (Pigtronics, see datacide one, p.13), this number 20 obsessed-release on Digital Hardcore Recordings only has two half-speed hard hop tracks out of five. The rest ranges from crude break-thrash to DHR typical attacks as you’d expect from the label, raw and defiant including some sections exploring fierce PC-created speedcore.
CF

Dark Star
(Sub/Version 001 test)

1-sided epic techstep of the hardest and darkest type, sinister heavy drones, analogue sweeps and a distorted rave sound out of a dysfunctional machine with ulterior motives; chunky breaks and a heavy dry bass on the attack. Will appeal both to the drum & bass and hardcore crowds with its heaviness, noise abuse as well as straight hard drums and basslines, building up all through the track to a passionate climax. Phuturistic music for the urban wastelands.
The Jackal

Problem Child – 1 – Chrome 10
Panacea – Low Profile Darkness – Chrome 9

Mathis Mootz’s murder campaign continues unabaited. The Panacea album is best sampled on CD which runs to 70 minutes and adds new material rather than just collect the old stuff. In fact the 2 best tracks is the fucked up down link of communication breakdown in “I’m Losing U” and the growling “Lowtek Intro” which takes the Panacea distorted trademark away from the obvious breakbeat formula and into a panoptic panic opera. Problem Child is split between a very distorted reworking of the Shadowboxing style which pisses on Doc Scott’s ‘star sickness’ remix of his own track, and a typically bug-infested badly compiled computer program expressing itself through a cranked up system. For now, excellent.
Autotoxicity

Panacea
Low Profile Darkness
(Chrome 09)

Awesome double pack from Panacea taking so called techstep to new levels of distortion and energy, contrasting with the clean No-U-Turn production but still keeping that dark edge. Panacea lays on the grit and makes no excuses, tearing the breaks apart and overdriving the bass with the snares at times pushed into almost unrecognisable noise. Massive freak beats, liable to cause waves.
Kovert

Panacea
Low Profile Darkness
(Chrome 09)

Setting new standards in distorted drum and bass this double pack contains over an hour of uncompromising metallic breaks and dark rave textures,hopefully upsetting nu-jazz purists and intelligent junglists alike.Using purposfully unsettling breaks and frequencies,Panacea is giving your sound system an endurance test if it’s not already fucked from the previous releases on this label.Wicked (as in evil).
Eun.

Techno Animal
Phoboic
(Chrome 11)

The a-side here, Myth/Illogical, is 3 different versions of a sardonic industrial-rap type outing, that works with a slow and heavy break but is a bit rambling and ‘over before it’s begun’. The surprises come with the b-side which really should be the lead track. On Fistfunk, as can be guessed, it’s dirty timbre and deforming slow breaks which are as exhilarating as anything Alec Empire has done with this genre. Toxicity though is the breakthrough: Here Techno Animal give their skill for aural experiment propulsion by allying it to fuzzed-up breaks and what seems to be a detuning double-bass becoming metallic. There’s a constant crackle and hum on this track,topped by a burst of shortwave/lunatic melody. Last up is Needle: A sound collage track … sombre and humorous.
Flint Michigan

Future Forces Inc.
Cold Fusion
(Renegade Hardware)

Strong tech-step release from Future Forces Inc. that doesn’t quite get to the pitch of the earlier Intensifier release, but, having said that, there’s a different trip on offer here. The hard-step drum sond is mixed to give even more room to the sounds that surround it, and the pace of this rhythm is such that it can leave spacesd into which can be furtively added all manner of rhythmic speed-ups, cymbal suspension hangs and detail. The bass riff is given to us in snatches of distortion before it bangs in on the final third. If anything is becoming noticeable to detract from an over-enthusiastic listen it could be that tech-step tracks are too often broken into three segments. They perhaps need a compositional shake-up (which is easier to write than to deliver!).
Flint Michigan

Zenith
Immortal/Damage
(Frontline Records)

Drum and bass enters the huge space arena on the latest 12” on the Frontline crew.”Immortal” is the standout cut, building up to a tear- out finale from a minimal break,driven by an addictive synthline which twists throughout the track giving an ice cold ambience to any party.”Damage” is a more percussion based assault,working with more familiar tech step sounds and structures but still pretty fucking dark(and thats what matters afterall).
Eun.

Terminal Outkasts
Deadlock/Militant Moods
(Frontline Records)

Deadlock is exactly that. It starts and ends with the same ringing noise. The beats between leave the door ajar. Militant Moods has harder breaks and a squelching b-line. Frontline Records still on the frontline.
The Reverend

Terminal Outkasts
Militant Moods
(Frontline)

Two slices of moody drum & bass,with Militant Moods reigning supreme with its underlying fear choir setting the scene and chop/change breaks cutting each other up over an acid pulse and deep subs,moving into a filter workout keeping up the interest.
Kovert

Torque L.P.
No U-Turn

Summary of some of the recent N.U.T.output,as well as some new cuts,including the classic”Crystal”by Fierce and Nico previously only available on the No U-Turn Black series.Of the four new tracks Torque and Lo stand out with their super clear production and heaviness in content,also check the drum loop on Torque fast and seriously furious and the growling bass that enters half-way through Lo.N.U.T here keeping the same formula they’ve become known for but still producing darkside floor killas.It will be interesting to see how or if they will react to people like Panacea who in a sense are taking their sound further becoming less obviously jungle and leaning more towards noise-step than tech-step.
Kovert

DECODER: Fog / DYLAN:Virus /DOM & ROLAND:Resistance, Hydrolicks

The mutation continues, studios become the laboratories for the strange chemical experiments appropriate
for today.
“FOG” is atmospheric threat perfectly programmed, a complete sound world, the more it is played the more it reveals itself. An absolutely essential record.
“VIRUS” A tension from the beginning, the beat pushing towards a an exposed place, the tension increases,
metallic samples chain your legs and then….. roller coaster bass attempts to destroy you, leaves you and slams in again and again. Pure visceral pleasure.
“RESISTANCE” Huge hangar doors open into deep space, feedback loops pull you out, left to float , you are pummelled by asteroid beats, space junk and dismembered frequencies. “HYDROLICKS” enter into a colossal
machine, piston stroke beats, fluid pump action that pulls and tears. IT is under control, enjoy the voyage.
Peter – Tunk Systems

DJ Trace
21st and South / Nexus Apache
(Smile 9053-0)

Trace returns again on the Smile label after an excellent earlier excursion on blue vinyl from the same imprint. White vinyl 10“ this time and the` 21st and South` track stands out as the better track. Cold sounds and big clean breaks take you on a deep deadly east coast sub way ride and its strong enough to stand an empire state building above a lot of other similar sounding records that are clogging the streets these days.
bf

Dylan
Witchcraft / Virus
(Dropping Science 12)

Massive drum and base sounds here and well able to contend with the recent Chrome and Renegade Hardware releases. `Virus` is a very stormy track with the ivories being tickled before the base breaks loose. Hard enough to mash up into a hard techno set for maximum noise on all fronts. `Witchcraft` track is a more stealthy and calculated affair and a good prelude to the reverse. Serious speaker abuse guaranteed.
bf

Marc Mac and Swift
Shadowboxing/Feels Good
(Integral Recordings)

Two tunes from two old-skool junglists. Shadowboxing by Marc Mac uses a light snare sound over a bassline which develops into a deep wall of noise, intense but never angry (like the Shaolin master). Feels Good doesn’t really go anywhere but if you like to dance it feels good.
The Reverend

Decoder
Twister/Quake
Tech Itch Recordings

Twister opens with a hollow metallic sound and then the bass hits you hard. There is no let up as this tune twists its way into the middle of your centre of gravity. Quake is a bit more laid back and rolling but equally excellent. This isn’t futuristic, it is right now.
The Reverend

Majistrate and Agent K
Let it Off/Imagine
(Splash Recordings)

If you like to really jump around when you dance then Let it Off is a track to go mad for. The bassline is alive and the breaks chop and change to keep up with it. The other side is a similar style: basslines and breaks, nothing else.
The Reverend

Grooverider presents:
The Prototype Years
(Prototype)

This compilation of various artists is very good. There are three tracks from the great, the Grooverider, two tracks by Dillinja and many other treats. Locust by Ed Rush and Fierce (and Nico) is reason enough to put this LP on your shopping list. Sony Music – consume – obey.
The Reverend

Photek
Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu
(Science)

A much vaunted release whose atactions seem to diminish on repeated listenings. It works a lot like Autechre’s recent single in that everything is where it should be, it’s compositionally interesting, the sounds are vaguely intriguing but it can’t help but summon up a kind of flatness in the listener despite claims (from some) that this is a move into more ‘harsh’ terrain. I’ve heard it said that this is “too good” and from others that it bears all the marks of “intelligence”: overly calm, calculating and with a tendancey towards dissemblance. Too well adjusted?
Eddie Miller

Cybernet vs. Genetix
Programme 3
(Emotif)

Two tracks here coming from a tech-step direction. Both Programme 3 and Cyborg Two are quite clean but their attraction lies in tinkering slightly with the formulas. The latter has a very melancholic synth-strain running throughout that offsets nicely with the choppy ragga bass-notes and backward cymbols that mark time. This mood is cut-through by the mixing in of a rougher, more emboldered ‘surrogate’ track. On Programme 3 there’s a lot of dark synth layering going on and it is this and a drilling-bass sound that takes the anchoring role rather than the normal full-on percussion which is here a lot quicker and more flighty than would be expected. Definitely grew.
Preston Lancashire

Rubber Johnny
JamRolyPoly
(Warp91)

4 track 12” featuring abstracted multi-speed techno-drum-and-bass. Two strategies to note here: firstly that Warp cleverly employ their limited edition, low-key, ‘who is it?’ mystery approach that they used for last years excellent WoodenSpoon and Mira Calix releases, and secondly that Warp are apparently trying to recover ground lost to local Sheffield turf stealers who put out the cool ‘7 Hills Clash’ compilation. This CD broke new ground in steering breakbeat onto new directions (the follow up is due very soon) and Warp obviously want a piece of the action. The fact that these 2 strategies contradict each other is by the by.
Autotoxicity

Centuria
Backlash E.P.
(Zero Tolerance 007)

The D’Arcangelo twins back in action with a four tracker comprising of a mixture of punishing beats,tribal rhythms and surreal soundscapes resulting in an absolutely massive E.P.,as well as the stongest release from Zero Tolerance so far.
Kovert

Integer
(Zero Tolerance 008)

After the excellent Centuria release ZTR continue in a mid-paced techno-noise vein, opening with a traditional 4/4 beat overlayered with rhythmic patterns, the second track is more broken up simplified metallic electro. The second side opens with a short noise piece of self-destructing meandering de-loops followed by the longest track, slowly building up through drummachine tone repetition. Another shade of experimental techno that restrains itself a bit and doesn’t go as far as it could and should, except on the short opener on side 2.
CF

World Crime Tour EP
(Zero Tolerance Recs. 009)

Mysterious 5 tracker from Z.T. opening up with monstrous disturbulence care of Heist, followed by the equally monstrous stompfest supplied by Avid Fan and endingup with `Hogs` from the Pigmen whichis a deep throaty episode of cyber-4play. B side hosts a cool, calm and connected slice of Neuroviolence topped with some bitter programming on the final track. Various tools here to equip every fine ,upstanding,law breaking motherfucker
bf

Laura Grabb a.k.a. Machine Bitch
Dust Storm
Audio Illusion Recordings

Just when you thought the genre of industrial acid had breathed it’s last acrid breath Laura Grabb a.k.a.Machine Bitch pops up and smacks you in the head with an oily exhaust pipe.The most recent release from London-based nihilist nutters AIR is a pleasantly(if “pleasant” can be used in this context)surprising,moody,powerful excursion into sandpaper-lined tunnels,reminiscent of C-Tank at their dirtiest and most grinding.If you’re familiar with Yank producer Laura Grabb’s material on Industrial Strength and her own label Cipher you’ll know what to expect.Moody,powerful,post-apocolyptic trance.Bloody good basically.
Delinquent

Information Overload
(Loop 9601)
Current 909
(Loop 9602)

In the totally analogue vein of his Analogue Terror release on Drop Bass Network Information Overload continues in the vein of 909/synth abuse Loop is renowned for; these are two long soundscapes of a harder description largely avoiding 4/4 or acidcore stereotypes, but all in all not reaching the level of intensity of the classic Violent Shit (Loop 004 by Pure & Ec8or).
Current 909 is again by DJ Pure, both very long tracks, one in a monotone doom vein while the flip is in a laid back sombre mood with a slow hip hop type programmed 909 beat. This second release will be recut with a remixed version so this review can only be an approximation. The first one is out now as a limited edition of 500 on colored vinyl.
CF

Intermission
Strongheads
(Link 002, Belgium)

This rather sinister and calculating record has been around for a while but its transparency has hidden it from general scrutiny. Minute, dry high hats spin with the sound of a well oiled bicycle wheel over a flat, humourless base drum cushioned by a deeper rumblingpattern. Adjustments to the loops are minimal and psychotically ordered; nothing is left to chance in this vacuum. The slightly lower sound quality(clear vinyl) reinforces the suffocating atmosphere and it puts me in the mood for strangulation every time.
bf

Zenith
A Journey Into My Hallucination
(IST 020)

Very usable trips here on both sides with good strong kick drums and eerie sounds. A side has more varied patterns and maybe for playing later at night when s(k)now falls are heavy and drifting is likely to occur. Black Alienation on the B side is harder and more dynamic with a long intro of fairly theatrical hocus pocus. Excellent tracks for mixing and preferable to much of what the parent label is releasing these days.
bf

Delta Plan
Spherical Perpesctive Remixes
(Nova Zembla 077)

Belgian 4 track which is at times slightly Spiral sounding but the beats are a bit more solid and the sound quality is nicely rounded. Favourite episode here is the Proponic No. 2 mix which has some subtle touches and would sit comfortably with the Planet Hooligan groove. Worth checking.
bf

The Bioblaster Autonomy
(Blaster 001 Planet Hooligan)

Some strange and quietly confident sounds are oozing out of Rotterdam right now care of Planet Hooligan. `ALWAYS 33 DO NOT +` are the label instructions and ignore them at your peril. Bioblaster deliver three ominous grooves of straight doom-laden techno that make you want to dance on your favourite grave, the best being B1 which is the most serious and direct of the three. Other releases on this label include `HOOL` and `Satans Grooves` and you shouldn`t be seen dead without them.
bf

Droid Sector
10,2037 EP
(J Com Recs)

Swiss acid on blue vinyl from dj Terrorist with two very good long tracks of pure clean programming on one side and two slightly more commercial tracks on the reverse. The kind of thing that DBN would trade all their 303`s and smiley badges for in fact. Echoes of the `countdown` series from PCP can be heard here and dj Terrorist proves that he can deal with the korrekt sounds like an adept. Anymore of this out there?
bf

Speedy J
Public Energy No 1
(4 track album sampler)
(Novamute)

Whats going on here then?Broken breaks, various sound levels and odd noises…from Speedy J? Regardless of the motive for making this record, there are still some interesting sounds here. `Drainpipe` is the preferred choice here and ideally the listener should be chemically snowed under in order to get the drift. Remaining tracks are okay but sound a bit derivative after a few plays. Whatever next?
bf

Wacky Race
(K.G.B.5)

4 tracker from french techno label. The best track is dense, warped breakbeat techno. The 3 remaining tracks are more typical ‘NTW 23’ style minimal funk.
Delinquent

R-Zac
(Zac 02)

Somewhere in that grey area between broken break-beat and conventional techno lives R-Zac 02.A driving sparse bass burping monster that chugs along at a steady pace while being spattered with hi-hats,almost inaudible tweaks and a metal cable whipping in a hurricane.Pretty awesome at dangerously high volumes yet doesn’t go quite as far as it could/should .(The other side is a terrible housey thing that is unbearably less than mediocre.)
Delinquent

Isotope 4

My personal favorite of a recent batch of NTW 23 associated releases. Similar in style to SP23’s Force Inc. record, i.e. hard swooping bassline surrounded by restrained, crystalline loops. A little dated but cool all the same.
Delinquent

Elegal Electronics

Containing two low profile bass driven pieces this 12” is distinctly non anthemic .Deep analogue repetitive loops operate in synchronicity at an incessant 170 bpm,stripped down to the bare essentials for maximun mixability.After a winter of ludicrous 303’s Elegal Electronics prove that when it comes to trance less is more.
Eun

Rumble Tum Jum

A re-issue of a Squarepusher release from ‘95 – deserves a mention. Quality tough, mechanical acidkore.
Delinquent

Esoteric
(Crowd Control 05/06)

What can you say about these?CC05 is two trax of driving techno designed for the dancefloor.CC06 is in a similar vein but with the added bonus of a breakbeat injection.Two cool records from the ubiquitous Curley.
Delinquent

Mononom

It appears to be quality and not quantity that is the priority for Dutch Free Party crew Mononom,with two releases in as many years.This white label features one very long,fast,minimal track with a kik and a half.The flip side is more on a spooky acid tip-”Strobe Jams”style.Excellent record,shame about the pressing.
Delinquent

The Infiltrator
(Underground Resistance)

The resistance continues…,and the cut to go for here is “The Extraction”,a deep pulsing electro fueled dive into dark atmosphere. Quality of sounds and production throughout as is usual with U.R. releases.
Kovert

Interr-ference:
Fucking Consumer
(Bunker CD)

Drawing together tracks from I-F’s recent Viewlexx releases with various unreleased tracks and others recorded for American labels like Drexciya’s Interdimensional Transmission, I-F takes us on a journey through a ‘narco state’ into the indiscernible terriories of the sub-conscious. Th accen t of most of I-F’s tracks is on a melding of spacious electro funk rhythms to semi-tonal melodies (at times subliminal, at times reminiscent of The Residents) that create their own sinister, meandering dissolutions of ‘music’ with repetition undermining and gnawing away at uniform and adapted responses, If calling tracks like these ‘techno’ ws the beginning of the end then what we have here is somekind of aftermath which, in some weird relay, links up to sounds with a pre-identity prior to ‘techno’!

One of effect of all this is the variety of approaches and angles I-F has at his disposal without needing to waver into utilising break-beat or becoming to self-consciously clean and arty (Evvolute and Staalplaat). This means that ‘dirty’ mind-fuck, psychopharmalogical (11) tracks like Sarlacc and Bosvariant can sit with the ghetto-funk of Suck The Box and Minimal Fuck can sit with the cinematic Brown Elbow can sit with the electro-clank of Elektromagnetic Atmospheres can sit with the melodious, almost perverse, subverted electro-pop-kitsch of Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass that demands to be played over and over again, again, again.
Flint Michigan

Unit Moebius
(KK promo dbl pack)

This wicked album comes from the occasion-excellent KK imprint (check last years Ra-X releases).It gives the Den Haag crew space to explore their weird/wired sounds to maximum effect.The sixteen tracks on board are among the most focussed that they have produced, thats not to say that they loose any of the disjointed funk of other releases. Each track operates like cogs within cogs,loops activating loops.Hypnotic but a long way from any “trance”ritual.
Eun.

The Operator-EP
(Djax up-beats)

Solid phuture electro from the producers of the Urban Electro series(also on Djax).There are none of the retro sounds that often limit records in this genre on this E.P..Four tracks constructed of complex arrangements of whirrs clicks and bleeps overlayed with dark strings and textures,all underpinned with ultra low sub-bass.
Definitley worth checking.
Eun.

Michael Dearborn
Possessed
(Majestic)

I read somewhere that Dearborn had stopped DJing and withdrew back to Chicago to set up his own label. This could be his first release (?) though the label art makes it look like some 70s northern soul record while the sound and structure is vintage Dearborn minus the acid. Possessed is a strange track: just as it could be a classic from the early 90s it works in an uncompromisingly funky way to maintain the edge that Dearborn always had – his version of ‘house’ was always visceral and pumped and on Possessed he comes up with a wide angle bass riff and sharp beats that hold its own against the intensity of tech-step tracks. Into the spaces of this mid-pace shuffle Dearborn goes apeshit by adding a high frequency loop of frantic and controlled tone-feedback that alternates in pitch/speed.
Flint Michigan

DJ Controlled Weirdness
EP
(Unearthly 002)

Second release from Controlled Weirdness’ Unearthly label sees him add momentum to the first release. From the darkened mood setting of the Waxhead Perverts Intro track to the merging of ‘primitive’ Gang of Four drums with the manic sax of Albert this EP continues to add twists to an all too easy ‘Detroit’ labelling. Live in Berlin with its analogue overlappings and Groovin in SE1 with its minutely meandering drum loop may conjour up Detroit for some but this EP has a fresh urgency that recent Detroit releases have lacked.
Flint Michigan

DJ Controlled Weirdness
EP
(Unearthly 002)

Take any Jeff Mills/Jaguar record, inject 20 ml of Ketamine & this is what you get. Unearthly, minimal, controlled weirdness with a large helping of funk. Fuck Detroit, here’s South London.
Delinquent

Le Car
Autofuel EP / Autograph EP
(Monoplaza 1+2)

Le Car being I am led to believe an extension/splinter of the Dataphysix Engeneering project, taking a full dose of raw analogues and electro styled beats with a cheeky sense of humour in places – showing that the rawness of analogue, in an era where the complexities of sound are created by the new sampling technologies, is still relevant, and when used in this way can be both groovy and entertaining.
Kovert

I Borg
The Borg Collective E.P.
(Battle Trax 002)
Bass Junkie
Bass, Below and Beyond
(Parallax Records 002)

Dark mutant electro with a Star Trek obsession and an infusion of analogues from the man who produced the Dark Forces records on Audio Illusion in 4 mixes.
Also from Phil Klein is the Bass Junkie records that’s more on a pure electro tip, clear and competent.
CF

Underdog
Attic Tapes Vol.2
(Bite It)

A mini LP of stripped down minimal hip-hop instrumentals. All sharp beats to keep you awake and no pretensions to musicality that keep you searching out the noises. High points here are the bass-glurgs underpinning the beats on Nite Moves and the cut-up rap/double bass interaction with an off-beat snare on Close to the Edge! What it lacks in experimentation it makes up for with a buoyant sub-funk.
Flint Michigan

Speedy J
Ni Go Snix
(NovaMute 53)

Multiple surprise here: Neither Speedy J nor NovaMute would necessarily be expected to be taken on board the Datacide-recommended selection of noise abusers, but there you go – almost overlooked (who in their right mind checks 12”s with 4-solour covers?), but a lucky find for sure. Minimal fucked up noise-beat morphs along nicely on the original edit, the following snix edit goes furthest in its pursuit of noise, getting suspiciously quiet a few times just to come back more penetrating. µ-ziq remix on the other side starts o.k. before sinking into the swamp of nasty/wooly ‘intelligent’ (remember that?) wank. Like A Tim-remix returns to the cutting attitude of the originals in a bit starker fashion. Favorite remains the snix edit with its clean distortion and gentle double speed hints – i.e. try mixing it with speedcore!
CF

H8A – Approval Required (Test)
(Preminition Permission)

Human behavior magnified, reducing all to ‘image’ only. An impression of a predetermined ‘reality’. 54 tracks in 6 sections. The A side begins whimpering in an infectious kind of ‘Guina Pig 2”way, whereas the B side is pure ‘Faces of Death’ . Astoundingly varied, grity realism meets exitential irrelevence in a contrast of context where there is no context. The ‘El Topo’ of perceptive definition.
Nomex

Decay – Eternal Opuscule #100
(Post Contemporary)

Are you with me? A society reduced to symbols? In the midst of a designer combat trouser packaged rebellion (where no one has heard of Molotov cocktails) / Star Wars revival comes this commodity comment – “This object is designed to decay. The flexible record is succebtible to folds and creases and is therefore the ideal format for eternal Opusculer #100 . As the needle slips into the locked groove (weak crap) the music will play infinetly. The more it is played, the more the sound will evolve as your stylus wears through the soft, thin vinyl and carves its own groove (get a life).

This jacket is made of photosensitive blueprints and, in time, will also decay. If left in the sun it will become faded, brittle, and will tear easily. The mediums are already transforming. The details are beginning to erode. Soon it will be a mass of carbon and polymers, destined for landfill like most of our civilisation. Cycle after cycle, all things decay.” – Shame it sounds like shit (or is this a comment also?)
Nomex

AUBE
Cardiac Strain.
(Alien 8 Recordings, Canada. 1997)

Akifumi Nakajima presumes to introduce himself as” Aube”. Take the sound of the heartbeat as the source; apply modulation, delay, distortion etc., to produce unfolding intensification that removes itself into rhythmic noise terrorities of a body in total prosthetic freedom or cyborg domination, all “virtually” in your armchair of course.

The CD is a tight structure that moves toward the colossal last track, in which a vast sound carpet is pulled out beneath your feet, but wont let you fall. Each track is meticulously structured avenues of possibilities explored and pushed to the limit, the conflict between the basic beat of the heart, and the noise,
[which is also a direct product of the beat], creates an intensity that is akin to having your own heart ripped out and placed pumping into your hands.
Japanese noise to many is just Merzbow, Aube shows other possibilities based on an entirely different approach. Pace makers and contact mics free with with the first 10 copies. Check also Magnetostriction
Peter – Tunk Systems

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