CD, Hands Productions, 2011
http://www.incite.fragmentedmedia.org/
Do you dare to dance? Do you stand around the sides at the club, waiting until the dance floor is reasonably busy and a well-known song comes on, or are you up and dancing early on, as soon as you feel like it? Do you stand halfway back from the stage at a gig, politely tapping your foot, or do you bust some flashy moves down the front? Well, incite/ (lower case ‘i’ and slash helping them not to look like a hardcore band) are here to make you move! Judging from the live videos on the Hamburg duo’s website, plenty of people certainly do dare to dance when incite/ come on.
It was seeing these videos online that certainly raised incite/ in my estimations, as their live act features some very impressive visuals, projecting stylish semi-abstract films over a large screen and wide tablecloth, giving a much greater spectacle than the two musicians with their laptops. This visual strength is certainly to their advantage, as the music can sometimes seem one-dimensional, typically consisting of the same bass sound over some complex percussion. Other listeners might judge the tracks on “Dare to Dance” to have a greater depth, but as well as the limited drums and bass array of sounds there seems to be a lack of focus or development within each track. There are certainly plenty of things happening, showing definite programming skills, but the stop-start and constant changing can be infuriating. I would certainly like to hear more flowing tunes and, dare I say it, repetition, but without extra layers the frequent phrase changes are the requisite course of action.
Opener “Body” is my favourite track, containing both more atmosphere and melody than the rest of the album, bringing to mind some excitingly dangerous retro arcade game. “Glass” is another high point, certainly sounding as sharp and brittle as its name suggests, and involving another dramatic tune. A good contender for a club hit might be “The Avatars”, with its catchy, upbeat bass line, and “Fire” certainly gets off to a strong start with a pulsating undercurrent and intermittent harsh noises. There is definitely a particular character to this album, sounding different from contemporary acts, and repeated listening increases appreciation, but I stand by my earlier criticisms and hope that incite/ might inadvertently move some way in my preferred direction!
[6/10]
— Nathan Clemence