Latex Records

Dismantled at Metropolis Records

On the 2010 season of American Idol we heard Andrew Garcia perform a wonderful acoustic version of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” during Hollywood week. However, back in 2005 in the EBM music scene, mastermind Gary Zon, the mind behind the band Dismantled, released a playful cover of the song on his EP “Breed To Death” on Metropolis Records. Having started as a Front Line Assembly sound-alike, this release was a fusion of 80’s, Electroclash, and Trance alongside traditional Electro elements and harsh synthetics. The title track was meant to exaggerate and stereotype the new wave of Electro, as well as balance the edge and complexity inherent in Dismantled’s music.

After seeing the American Idol episode, I just had to post something to help bring this excellent cover into the light! I’ve been a fan of Dismantled from the start and continue to enjoy the structural changes Gary has made with each progressive release. You can hear a sample of Dismantled’s version of the song as well as purchase a download copy by clicking the album artwork above.

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01. Babanla Iya
02. Come to Me
03. Consequence
04. Plague in Stereo
05. Ringer Pon Her Finger
06. Bitter Medicine
07. Ringer…(Death Knocking remix)
08. Come to Me (critical condition remix)
09. My Reality

Damask is Adedamola Lawal from Lagos, Nigeria. His music is in the ragga, or dancehall reggae style, and is influenced by artists such as Fela, Supercat, Barrington Levy, Peter Tosh and Buju Banton to name a few. Personally I hear a lot of Shabba Ranks in his overall style combined with the Buju Banton sound. While I’m a huge fan of reggae and especially dub I find some difficulties with the ragga sound as it combines very loose and unstructured raps over generally simplistic back beats and additives. It’s like a freefrom rap created spur of the moment and on the fly – at least that’s how it sounds. Vocally they tend to often not have the smoothness of popular rap artists and not ‘speak’ on key or necessarily in rhythm either. This is extremely evident on tracks like “Consequence”. That being said it is not all bad but mostly just not my taste. “Plaque in Stereo” is actually rather smooth, rhythmic, and holds a musical ‘key’. Generally I think this disc starts out mediocre then goes to bad but then starts to pick up with track four and build speed by track 5 which has ‘almost’ industrial rhythms to it. Track six has a slight bit of an ‘island’ texture to it. The seventh track “Ringer…” gets quite a bit experimental for ragga. Both of the “Come to Me” versions are not bad either for this style of music. “My Reality” reminds me slightly of Divine Styler which is truly and eclectic bizarre album I’d highly suggest to anyone who has not heard it yet. Damask on the other hand still needs quite a bit of work. Maybe some vocal training would be nice too. Damn I feel like Simon on American Idol. I wouldn’t recommend this disc as it’s simply poorly structured musically and not my style at all and I doubt any of the RhythmUS readers are into this stuff either. However, I suggest you make up your own mind (as always) and if you feel inclined to check it out or if you like ragga and think you might have a different opinion by all means check it out and tell Damask what YOU think!

© Copyright 2/2003 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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01. One Day
02. Secret Desire
03. Circle of Power
04. Big Man Star
05. Ghostlight
06. Haunted
07. Decades Fade
08. Completely I Fall
09. Trechery

The seven years between this and the 1994 black album had not damaged their creative output at all. But on the Whole this cd is far more fluid then their past recordings, and the tracks seem to flow together creating a seamless join. The guitar is much more to the fore on this album and it spirals quite nicely around the mix creating interesting layers that sit well with the atmospheric keyboards. Add to this some very creative drum programing which can be very dance oriantated at times. As with any Drama Asylum CD The influences are their for us all to point out. For the Gothic types you have a nice mix of The Cure, Joy div, and of course the Sisters. And for the industrial music lover you have Nin and Front Line Assembly. Then you also have Pink Floyd and the Orb and last but not least Depeche Mode. Add to this large quantities of spoken word samples and as always the result is undoubtedly Drama Asylum.

If they can get the right distribution of this CD worldwide I think they will make quite a few new friends.

© Copyright 1/2003 Mark Meakes. All Rights Reserved

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01. The Dawning
02. Ocean Without Shores
03. Innocence
Part I. Starfields
Part II. Innocence
Part III. Beloved
04. Cry of the Heart
05. Eternal Return
Part I. Unfolding
Part II. Enfolding
Part III. Return
06. Rites of Passage
Part I. Remembrance
Part II. The Calling
Part III. Serenity

Constance Demby is a trained classical pianist who uses her talents in conjunction with synth work to project the fervor and emotion of her sincere spiritual quest. Her emotion and intellect is evident in her music and has a spirit of love, light, and the deep awakening of consciousness. I originally heard her from an album of hers I bought in my younger days called Set Free and I still remember how captivating her music was, taking you emotionally and visually on a quest into the dark center of the self to burst forth with new found light and freedom. At least that is how her music made me feel when I listened in a nearly meditative state with headphones on my living room floor. Demby has since been known for such albums as Sacred Space Music and Novus Magnificat in the Space Music collective of the Hearts of Space label. Aeterna is no less inspirational with it’s rich piano melodies and symphonic synth orchestrations. Aeterna is inspired by the late-19th century romantics Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky however Demby’s use of electronics takes these inspirations into wholely new realms beyond the physical. Constance Demby’s music is always an excellent choice for anyone who desires to ‘lose’ oneself in music and let their creative mind take over. It is also an excellent choice for uplifting the spirit.

© Copyright 1/2003 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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01. Evensong
02. Hills Of Ireland
03. Love of Heaven
04. The Anchor Dream
05. The Blood Of Cu Chulainn
06. The Nightingale’s Song
07. Funeral
08. Dia Dha Mo Chaim
09. The Prayerstone
10. Moon & Stars
11. The Silent Sun
12. Iona

Mychael and Jeff Danna are a duo of brothers who both work solo and in collaboration. Some of you may have heard fo Mychael Danna from various film scores such as Hearts in Atlantis, 8mm, Girl, Interrupted, Ararat, Green Dragon, Kama Sutra, Bounce, just to name a few. To quote his website, “Mychael Danna has been scoring films since his 1987 feature debut for Atom Egoyan’s Family Viewing, a score which earned Danna the first of his nine Canadian film award nominations. Mychael is recognized as one of the pioneers of combining non-Western sound sources with orchestral and electronic minimalism in the world of film music.” His brother Jeff has successfully scored over a hundred television episodes and Showtime movies.

A Celtic Tale marked the first collaboration between them in five years and A Celtic Romance is a continuation of a growing musical reletionship. On this release they combine traditional Irish/Celtic musical elements and instrumentation with electronic symphonic orchestrations and monastic gregorian choral chant to create a melancholic mood and atmosphere. Not only does the Ritual Choir of The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene perform the gregorian chant on the album but there is a huge host of guest musicians and singers as well adding female vocals, dulcimer, flutes, whistles, harp, cello, and other orchestrations. Thus you have a smooth melding of both acoustic and electronic orchestral pieces creating a unique musical blend which follows the cinematic feel that these artists are known for. The album concept is based on a story by John Stuart Dick called “The Legend of Liadain & Curitheur” which is included in the booklet. The story is based on a 9th century poetic frament from “Comrac Liadaine Ocus Curither”. Together with the mythic and Celtic art and writings this is purely a work of art.

© Copyright 1/2003 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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Disc 1
01. On Skin (Assemblage 23)
02. Regret (Liar’s Rosebush)
03. Stimulate (Idiot Stare)
04. Reject(Control.org vs. C2)
05. Damaged (Count To Infinity)
06. On Skin (Andrea Bellucci)
07. Regret (Babel-17)
08. Reject (SMP vs. Static Engine)
09. Damaged (Codec)
10. On Skin (Spellcaster)
11. Put The Flesh In (Testube)
12. Stimulate (Headache)
13. Damaged (DJ Riot)
14. Reject (Babel-17)
15. Stimulate/Regret

DISC 2
01. Retaliate (Symbiont)
02. Reject (Monstrum Sepsis)
03. Regret (ML)
04. Retaliate (Moon Rock)
05. On Skin (Xyn)
06. Stimulate (We V.2)
07. Reject (Liar’s Rosebush)
08. Retaliate (Simulator)
09. Planet Earth (DEVO cover)
10. Reject (T.O.T.S.)
11. On Skin (Babel-17)
12. Damaged (Da Riot Squad)
13. Stimulate (N.N.M)
14. In My Shell (in_Fused)
15. Suspicion (Headache)
16. Damaged (We V.2)
17. Shivering Skies (9/11/01)

This is a double disc set of Diverje remixes by various industrial musicians and friends of DSBP label founder Tommy-T. There are many great bands featurd on this collection such as Assemblage 23, SMP, Codec, Testube, Ceoxime (Headache), Symbiont, Monstrum Sepsis, Xyn, and many others. I’ve always loved remixes as it give the listener a chance to hear songs with slight modifications and interpretations by other artists in the field. It also gives musicians in the industry an excellent opportunity to collaborate with each other as well as sample and tweak each other’s works. About the only negative thing I have to say about this is that there are not enough different songs from the Diverje music catalogue featured. There are a few mixes mostly of “On Skin”, “Regret”, “Stimulate”, and “Reject” as well as a few other tracks. There is also a Devo cover on disc two and a brand new track called “Shivering Skies” which will also be featured on the new Electro Age compilation produced by our own site in collaboration with Latex Records when it comes out.

For anyone into Industrial, EBM, Drum-n-Bass, or similar music styles with a dark flavor, fans of Diverje or DSBP records, or anyone into experimental electronic music – this collection is well worth the price. Priced at the value of a single CD it’s a steal! It’s really hard to pick favorites on this album and it’s definitely going into the changer in my car when this review is completed. Unfortunately to give a breakdown of each and every track would take way too much space and time so I’ll try to hit some highlights.

Personally I love the first track remixed by Assemblage 23 as I am a big Assemblage fan but I also love how Tom Shear smoothed out Diverje’s usually big-bodied ‘static’ sound to give it more of a modern EBM texture. I also love how Liar’s Rosebush played off the Drum-n-Bass beats of “Regret”. The fifth track mixed by Count To Infinity has a very clean almost techno-trance feel to it. I also really like Andrea Bellucci’s remix of “On Skin” as it tends to highlight various aspects of the original track, namely the vocals, in such a way as to bring forth that which was blended. It also has some great pumpin’ club EBM beats and other extras thrown into the mix. The SMP vs. Static Engine version of “Reject” is some wild shit. Then there is the Spellcaster mix of “On Skin”. Throbbing, pulsating, with some great ambient-trance elements. I’ve always loved Testube but I’ve actually only been exposed to their music and not their mixes of others. I love what they did with “Put The Flesh In”. They really made it their own. The Headache mix of “Stimulate” is very interesting as well. Headache has some weird way of manipulating bass rhythms and twisting the original track. DJ Riot takes “Damaged” and twists it with some rapid-fire Drum-n-Bass beats while distorting the rest of the track into oblivion. This track is damaged for sure! Love it. Babel-17 takes “Reject” into the outer limits and finally the last track is some wacked out beat tracks – not sure what to make of it. Okay I tried not to list all of them but it’s hard as there are so many great, interesting, unique tracks on each disc. Let’s go to disc two.

We begin with a mix by another of my favorite bands, Symbiont. I don’t remember the original but this mix includes some George W. Bush samples regarding the terrorist attacks on America. I love the how Symbiont edited much of the overall sound to sound like a Symbiont song with Tommy-T on vocals. Monstrum Sepsis utilize some twisty buzzing synth waveforms on their mix of “Reject”. It’s like Industrial, Noise, and Acid House colliding with a heavy crunch. Haven’t previously heard of ML but after hearing their bizarre subterranean remix of “Regret” I’m curious to hear more from them. The Moon Rock version of “Retaliate” is a quick-paced EBM track some clean rhythms and kickin’ beats. Another “On Skin” remix but no fear – it’s by Xyn and it’s so different from the original it sounds like something that could have come from The Orb or Fused with it’s heavy Trance stylings. I specifically like the vocal sample of the title which waves about like resonating metallic machinery. We V.2 take “Stimulate” and break it down to it’s bassest elements and then transform it Winterkalte style – Power Noise From Hell that twists and turns like an Acid House rhythm. Liar’s Rosebush completely transform “Reject” into a early Kraftwerkian affair. This is amazing stuff! Imagine if Kraftwerk were into Noise and had harsh industrial vocals instead. Simulator’s version of “Retaliate” begins with some rather ethereal tonality with the beats in the background. The new beats are brought in to create a rockin’ dance EBM rhythm. We can’t overlook the next track either as everyone loves DEVO! I never thought I’d hear Diverje doing Devo but here it is. I will say it’s not the best track on the disc but it is interesting to hear Devo done like this. The next remix of “Reject” is another Power Noise track with some really odd and body rockin’ rhythms. Da Riot Squad ad a bit of hip-hop to Diverje’s “Damaged”. N.N.M do a funky mix of “Stimulate” – only gripe is the vocals didn’t meld as well on this as they could have. “In My Shell” is a slower track for Diverje. The final mix of “Damaged” us heavy on the Noise and throbs mightily. Lastly is “Shivering Skies” a brand new track by Diverje which is a heavy departure from previous works. It is more of an ambient instrumental than anything else but has some disturbingly dark and even eerie tonalities to it.

Okay well I nearly covered them all anyway I guess. There are lots of great new and experimental mixes on this release that even if you didn’t like Diverje much before it would be worth giving it a listen as each remixer put lots of thier own flavor into each and every track so it’s almost like a compilation CD in some ways.

© Copyright 12/2002 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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01. Cobra Kiss
02. Look at the Musik
03. Clearfire for the Fallen
04. Secret Ceremony
05. People Next Door
06. Randy Road
07. Younglam
08. Untitled End

This is one psychotic yet hard hitting head trip collaboration between TKK’s Groovie Mann and William Tucker known mostly for his work with Ministry but also worked with KMFDM and Pigface. Groovie Mann’s photography is featured in the CD and as Underground, Inc. puts it, “instantly underlines him as a twisted agent provocateur. The photos form a crispy creme kocktail party of lust, decadence & indulgence.”.

This album musically is a strange mix of lounge, swing, industrial, rock, and psychedelica. Vocally it is somewhere in between TKK and RevCo with a taste of Daniel Ash at times. Big synth heavy bass carries many of the tunes and you’ll hear lot of the horn interludes similar to what you might hear in TKK only bigger and less ‘sampled’ sounding. This is a very dark album with a psychotic and sexual twist. Imagine several individuals an alone in their respective apartment rooms – lonely and half insane, not to mention likely a bit sex crazed. That might give you taste of the psychological tone of the album. Take that and amplify it to a Big Swing beat and Industrial technique and you might get an idea of the sound. No TKK fan’s collection should be without this. Amazing, I’ve always like Groovie Mann live and wondered what he’d do on his own and we finally have a taste of his own twisted toxic cocktail concoction.

A huge twist on this release begins when you get to “Secret Ceremony” which is more of a 70′s psychedelic rock tune with some Indian belly dance to it. I especially love the hysterical sample at the end, “This is no dream, this is really happening.” With this and the title track especially you can hear the Underground, Inc. influence with the Indian drumming and other sound structures combined with industrial experimentation. The title track vocally is nothing but samples which when combined create a practically mystical perspective – things like, “Open your mind to me”, “one spirit”, “come to me now”, “they have one mind”, “one will”, “you are the one”, “I am the way”, “I’m you and you’re me”, “the dark side”, “this is your eternity”. All of these come from a wide array of places like different movies and such – and are all chopped together and looped. Very cool!! I have to remember that for one of my next pagan broadcasts. “Randy Road” is a hilarious track because it’s all female samples saying stuff like “will do me a favor and eat my pussy for me please”. Oh and “Younglam” sounds like it is VERY T-Rex inspired – fuck yeah. This is just a fraction of the album. The whole thing is one crazy mind fuck!! You’ll love it and the last track will likely give you chills.

© Copyright 12/2002 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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Swarf
01. Drown
02. Sorrow

Dust
03.Mind
04.Wraith

Katscan
05.Stutter-Cut
06.008 Biology

Psychophile
07.Vice Girl
08. Illumination

Freudstein
09.Robots
10.Looking for Answers’ (Alternate mix)

Spray
11.I am Gothic
12.Child of the 80s

Interlock
13.Birdman
14.The Hold

Seventh
15.Icarus

Harmonic
16.Chains

Wasp Factory- Working with Children & Animals Vol.2 compilation is a must for those hungry for new sounds. All 8 bands appearing in Vol.2 are brand new acts with mind-blowing styles and sounds. The styles range from Electro Punk, Angry Industrial (Sabbath’s musical term: Loud, Fast and Angry), and Goth with heavy loud beats, not your average mellow Gothic sounds. All bands have contributed two songs each to the compilation that I think is unique since most compilations only provide listeners with one song per artist, even if the artist is not a well-known act. I am a huge fan of compilations because it exposes people to different bands and styles. A percent of all the bands I am personally listening to now have been bands that I have heard through compilations. Not all compilations are a must. I would strongly recommend Vol. 1&2 of this compilation to anyone looking to add new bands to their music collection.

© Copyright 11/2002 Sabbatha Black. All Rights Reserved

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Parkinson: Eden Hell
01. Eden Hell
02. Sch.Merz Vs Manson
[review]


Pan: Reluctant
03. Grey
04. Sewer
[review]


Rosewater: Magnetic Confinement
05. Condomat
06. Perpetual Dream State
[review]


Dead State 81: This Road
07. This Road
08. Walls of Rock
[review]


Here’s the second demo release by Mindwerk Records, a still young dark industrial label that has not quite gotten the attention it deserves yet. This release includes tracks from label projects Parkinson, Pan, Rosewater, and Dead State 81. The first song “Eden Hell” also appeared on the first demo disc and is a sort of dark industrial drum-n-bass with sampled metal guitar and darkly distorted vocals. I think this is a different mix from the other though as I don’t remember parts of it but that could just be me. “Sch.Merz Vs Manson” has some hard driving guitar samples and beats much in the vein of KMFDM’s Angst but darker and way more ‘metal’. The vocals are a sort of deep grovelly distorted demonic sounding thing. This would make a great backing track for a hard driving action video sequence. Well, that’s Parkinson and next up is Pan. The two tracks featured here are a bit slow going but the vocals strike a serious similarity to Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy when he’s doing that sort of squeeling, whispery angst-ridden yell and in-your-face speech style. Fans will know what I mean especially when they hear this. The backing keyboard work also sounds like it could’ve been done in part by cEvin Key himself with some parts obviously purposely slowed down on “Grey”. “Sewer” is a bit more up-beat with a sort of driving rhythm and vocal style like Skinny Puppy styled-rap (don’t get confused here) you’ve heard Ogre do it before and it’s not rap in the typical sense – it’s more like rhythmic talking. This track also has some ambient backing which gives it a bit more body. I love the metallic-grind bass beat that comes in later. Rosewater are quite a bit more harsh than the previous two and also more quick-paced, Noise oriented and modernized. “Condomat” is heavy Power Noise with an EBM rhythm, awesome! Vocally it reminds me of some of those gothic/industrial bands but with heavier distortion. “Perpetual Dream State” begins with a more ambient tone but soon becomes a quick-paced hard metallic pound. Now, with Mindwerk Records this is the band that always gets me every time. Dead State 81 sounds like Skinny Puppy perpetually caught in the Remission time period. This is a sound that personally I could ‘never’ get enough of, not even from Puppy themselves as they quickly moved on to different things leaving this unique sound they created behind. Though many will rant about copy-cats there is much more to this project as they delve into realms untouched by the industrial music scene or any music scene for that matter. The style itself is experimental and lends easily to greater creative experimentation with a sound that is darker than most goth music, harder than most rock, and holds the beginnings of EBM while at the same time influenced by such things as horror film and the atmosphere that surrounds them. Sound-alike or no you can’t help but be pulled in by the audio structure this band creates. I’m always left with a desire for more when I hear it!

© Copyright 11/2002 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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01. This Road
02. Walls of Rock

Now, with Mindwerk Records this is the band that always gets me every time. Dead State 81 sounds like Skinny Puppy perpetually caught in the Remission time period. This is a sound that personally I could ‘never’ get enough of, not even from Puppy themselves as they quickly moved on to different things leaving this unique sound they created behind. Though many will rant about copy-cats there is much more to this project as they delve into realms untouched by the industrial music scene or any music scene for that matter. The style itself is experimental and lends easily to greater creative experimentation with a sound that is darker than most goth music, harder than most rock, and holds the beginnings of EBM while at the same time influenced by such things as horror film and the atmosphere that surrounds them. Sound-alike or no you can’t help but be pulled in by the audio structure this band creates. I’m always left with a desire for more when I hear it!

© Copyright 11/2002 TG Mondalf. All Rights Reserved

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