The reason why “Misfire” falls short comes down to its chaotic nature. That said, it is still lots of fun, and a great party record, but works better in a shuffled playlist than as a stand-alone album.
Hioctan / Ascii.Disko / Prospective / Absurd Minds
A grab-bag of last year’s dance-friendly EBM and electro with the latest releases by Hioctan, Ascii.Disko, Prospective and Absurd Minds.
Nin Kuji – Sayonara
It is on this album that Nin Kuji steps up his game and leaves behind the realm of electronic music production, entering into that of composition. “Sayonara” has gone far past simple sample manipulation and sequencing.
5F-X – Flight Recorder 5.0
From the very first kick, the sound reverberates and builds into a full-body experience that is as much felt as heard. Enough to send endorphins racing to the scene of the trauma and spilling over into massive adrenal release and heightened oxygen intake – definitely something every connoisseur of electronic music should experience at least once.
Iszoloscope – The Edge of Certainty
Leaping wildly from hypnotic atmospheres that resonate uncomfortably inside the psyche to pulverising onslaughts of merciless percussion, punctuated with some unexpectedly soft melodic constructs, all narrated by the archetype of evil genius vocal sampling – the kind that’s telling you to relax, this won’t hurt a bit, while all your instincts are screaming at you to run like hell…
Yen Pox – Blood Music
A great retrospective look at a long career within the genre. Stylistically, their sound hasn’t changed much – brooding drones with incidental stabs of unexpected nihilism, sparsely populated with unexpected, chilling textures, and steering well clear of such archaic conventions as rhythm, melody or time signatures.
Tzolk’in – Tonatiuh
The broad spectrum of sounds created by Tzolk’in on “Tonatiuh” will appeal to followers of industrial, ambient and even some psytrance; it’s a wonderful illustration of tribal sensibilities, executed in a contemporary, cutting-edge electronic medium. Powerful, stirring stuff, indeed.
Lucidstatic – Symbiont Underground
Despite the fluid shifts in mood each contributing artist brings to “Symbiont Underground”, this double album is a pleasure to listen to, gathering influence from a broad spectrum of genres and laying it all out over two CDs of what remains, in essence, pure Lucidstatic nastiness, made all the more offensive via distillation through the ears and machines of some of the most talented collaborators in the evolving industrial community.
Phaenon – His Master’s Voice
Sadly, “His Master’s Voice” doesn’t quite bring anything new to the table in terms of genre advancement. It’s just more of the same ambient that 50 other producers are generating. So there’s no denying that it’s clever stuff, but that’s about its greatest drawcard.
Mikroben Krieg – Final Cut
Mikroben Krieg fills the gap between the drum’n’bass-styled IDM of the likes of Squarepusher and that of the more dance-oriented IDM of Haujobb, even going so far as to border on EBM.