Slowdive "Kisses (Remixes)" (2024)

The highlight of last years Everything Is Alive was undoubtedly Kisses! A warm, dreamy track, serine and blissful in its innocent Shoegazing goodness. This EP stitches on three similar length remixes. Surprisingly, they do a decent job furthering the magic of this song. An opening electronic mix trades in walls of Ethereal noise for classic sine wave pulses, a stripped back rendition adding retro flare to the music.

Daniel Avery's remix drops in a pacey Drumstep loop to energize the temperament with stealthy Liquid Drum & Bass vibes. Additional glazier synths accompany too, replacing vocals for the songs later half. A collaboration with Ambient legends Grouper claims the highlight. Dialing up its rumbling ambiguities and retreating percussion entirely, the music becomes washed up in a haze of reverberating clouds.

Ending with the original composition affirms its excellence. Somehow spinning this over a handful of times doesn't tire such a beautiful song. Totally worth a listen if you vibed with it in any capacity. I would however critique a lack of daring to stride in search of new terrain. These remixes played it safe and straightforward, which works.

Rating: 3/10

Killing Joke "Lord Of Chaos" (2022)

Its been seven years since the mighty Pylon. Now forty plus years deep into their career, Killing Joke deliver two new songs on a four track EP boosted by a couple of disposable remixes. Although enjoyable for a fan, there is little new hear to be heard. Title track Lord Of Chaos is the grittier of the two Its rumbling textural base guitar throws back to the aesthetics of their early days. Its a typical exchange of meaty groove and dystopian atmosphere they have done over and over at this point.

The second track Total also stems from their 80s output. This one is moodier, with its nightly unease tone drawing from eerie synths when the guitars drop out. When they come back in its with an almighty roaring momentum. Jaz's singing reminds me of their Night Time album. Point being, its good but all has been head before.

The Big Buzz remix brings 90s electronic club music vibes to the Pylon song. Its reasonable but the bass kick thud is rather incessant. Delete In Dub pushes a Drumstep beat through a loose fitting of sound experiments and disjointed noises. It amounts to very little with Jaz's occasional voice the only thing tying it to the band. Ultimately, these two add a little fluff to new music that lacks any originality.

Rating: 2/10

Grimes "Miss Anthropocene" (2020)

With a substantial five year gap, Canadian singer & songwriter Grimes follows up her alarmingly bright and uplifting Art Angels with a project similar in tone yet gleamed by compositions that adventure deeper into darker imaginations. With many breaks for her defined artsy Pop pleasers, the gaps between delve into avant-garde themes with esoteric dexterity. They arrive with an enjoyable regularity. Last time around just a fraction of the music explored these stretches of creativity. With much of the songs residing comparatively in the sweet spot of appealing fuzzy feelings of goodness.

The slow and sleepy awakening of its opening track lingers in Ethereal shadows, setting a sombre tone for darkness to come. Darkseld slides into the dystopian as Grimes rapidly spurts her alien words over the droning thud of a descending and rigidly monotonous baseline. Its hypnotic, the chemistry is ripe. Violence lingers in an ambiguity between moods as its Downtempo drum groove marches the dreamy track onward. 4AM takes the biscuit as its unassuming intro of meandering high pitched singing paves a diversion for a party synth and Drumstep beat to propel the music to another planet. Brilliant! as is much of the layering vocals and reverb abuse to come.

The tracks around these significant moments don't come with as much flair and cavalier but have held up well over my many listens through this record. Its doesn't pack the same punch and might disappoint some but I thing the less obvious tracks have depth. Grime's lyrics and compositional experimenting stand strong and paint slow begrudging atmospheres with a lot of beauty emanating. The slower tempos tend not to grab attention in the same way, yet as an album of subtleties, its full of them. A really great record with plenty to come back too. Its got me looking forward to more!

Favorite Tracks: Darkseld, Violence, 4AM, My Name Is Dark

Rating: 8/10

Arks "Twins / Interface" (2018)

I was searching for the new Tesseract album but happily stumbled onto a record label based in the UK, distributing Drum N Bass music and just the sort I like! There is little to known of Arks but this two track release delves into the atmospheric side of the genre, dabbling with ambiguous spacial, glitched and industrial noises between the hard mechanical jive of the fast tempo beats. It comes together with an astral vibe fit for the mysterious night sky and all the wonder the stars may evoke, however it leans into the cold and heartless reality of the vast voids between sytems.

 Both songs are structured similarly. A hard backbone of tight crunching drum loops pop and snap on repetition as they set a cruising pace for an assortment of sampling to flavor the scene. Between the two a stiff baseline rumbles and both songs go through phases of build up, then dropping out the drums in the mid section to bring it back with the same set of accompanying samples. It ultimately feels rather linear and one dimensional with a lack of flair or oomph on its return to the main structure.

Its atmosphere building samples are devoid of melody. Shimmering noises flicker in and out of existence in a web of intricate sounds with an industrial edge, the likes of glass smashing and mechanical clicks and clanks, sparks and zaps paint the picture of foreign technologies. The main sounds are warping, morphing synths that rattle like a voice and on occasions sound similar to Dubstep wobbles. Its a decent pallet and approach for the vision it encompasses but with just two songs the repetition is a little nauseous. Great music, would prefer to enjoy it in a longer session of tracks.

Rating: 4/10

Front Line Assembly "Warmech" (2018)

Fun fact, on my way to a Plini gig I arrived at the wrong venue. These Canadian Industrial veterans were playing there, I wouldn't of minded watching them too. Its been many years since I last checked in with FLA. I remember them as having the classic synthetic, Electronic, Gothic leaning Industrial sound which I grew to love through the likes of Frank Klepacki. In the 90s they flirted with Industrial Metal after Ministry laid the path, just before its commercial peak with Antichrist Superstar in 96.

Being out of the loop, I was unaware that Warmech was the soundtrack to an RTS game called AirMech Wastelands on Steam. That might explain why this record wasn't what I expected. The Industrial sounds I anticipated linger beyond a solid core of modern Electronic and EDM styles that aim to build atmospheres with music that's not in your face yet rich with synthetic instruments coercing an environmental approach that draws in the meditative vibe VGM requires to let the player drift in and out of focus from the soundtrack. At seventy three minutes its a long listening stretch clearly, better suited to its intended purpose of semi-distracted gaming sessions.

Considering these are old, experienced minds at work I did not expect to hear the sub wobbles and drops of Dubstep working angles on the music. Their seasoned selves showed as the drops refrain from being overly bombastic and obnoxious, resulting in a crafty execution of trendy techniques. With hard thudding kick and snare grooves the songs often cruise into EDM territory with some faster percussive loops leaning towards Drumstep. Like with Metal, Electronic music can so easily blur many lines and show influences. Whatever may be on display its composition holds onto that craft for detailed arrangements of instruments and industrial sounds that give the atmosphere conjured a depth of field. Better yet this detail extends into the musics progression as the songs make shifts and breaks with animated sequences of sound that often play like machines firing up their gears and getting into transitional motion.

Across its seventy plus minutes a healthy amount of variety unfolds however it does suffer a little when exclusively in focus, slow tempos and drawn out melodies show a desire to not be intrusive. The best way to enjoy these songs is when focused on a task, then it becomes meditative and helps one focus while creating vivid soundscapes. As a result of that tone its most ambitious melodies and epic synth chords get pushed back in the musics attention as that and a lack of vocals never try to steal the show from the game it was made for. If not for the soundtrack some adjustments and vocals could of made this a great traditional record too.

Rating: 6/10

Enter Shikari "The Mindsweep Hospitalised" (2015)

Remix albums are rarely a favorable listening choice for me. Seeing one of my favorite records of 2015 remixed, "The Mindsweep", I didn't get particularly excited. Enter Shikari have always filled there discography with EPs, remix records and mini albums that rarely have more to offer than the full lengths. With strong electronic influences in their sound its no surprise they turn to a host of different electronic artists to dissect and rebuild their tunes. Drumstep, Dubstep, whatever you want to call it, a few distinctive elements of the Mindsweep songs are reassembled into new entities.

Most of the songs here consist of high fidelity, temperate drum kits hammering away between atypical dance grooves and more intricate arrangements. Decorative synths and un-intrusive melodies fill the void above the thick baselines and occasional dub drops. On there own the songs hold up well, but feel over-shadowed by the deliberate inclusion of samples, mainly vocal, from the main record. It feels like a forceful tie and the memorable lyrics and delivery style of Rou have the originals playing out in the mind. With each listen the better aspects of the record began to show but as a whole this felt like a collection of mediocre Drumstep stitched to the original record with little inspiration. I could of enjoyed this much more without the needless inclusion of sampling to tie it to a great record.

Rating: 4/10

Enter Shikari "The Mindsweep" (2015)

For me, Enter Shikari are no normal band. They were once thee band in our local scene, playing at our schools, pubs and clubs we saw this band grow from the back garden to headlining festivals. Back when they were the unsigned hype in the UK we all knew where this band were going, they had heart and charisma, a sound they could call their own and a determination to live out their dream. I have an immense amount of respect for these four friends who started the band while still in school back in 2003. Through relentless touring and commitment to their music they have built a large audience across the world from the ground up with a DIY ethic, creating their own record label to release their music on and touring constantly, playing many clubs and venues across the land. Eight years on from the release of their debut major release Shikari have matured as musicians and this, their fourth, is their most structured and diverse record to date.

The record start of with a familiar feel as Rou gives another rousing speech regarding the state capitalist society and the problems we face with the need for social awareness, the music steadily builds intensity before breaking out into rocking riffs emphasized by sporadic synths and climatic melodic vocal leads. A warm opener for a record that got a lot to offer, Shikari's diverse sound is know for pulling many elements together, Alternative, Rock, Post-Hardcore fused with Techno, Trance, Drum N Bass and even tinges of Dubstep. The group are not afraid utilizing electronic club sounds alongside their traditional instruments. More so than ever we hear a dynamic fusion where the glistening synths and noisy glitch sounds compliment the core of the songs, giving them a rich musical dimension that never falls short to deliver delight. Whether rocking a guitar heavy breakdown, a moving rock ballad or slamming drumstep break, they find cohesion between the diversity of styles and write effortless music which further incorporates raps alongside the scream and clean vocals, even a Symphonic element is present with some soft strings dropping into particular tracks.

The albums production is classy, with so many instruments at working its great to hear them meld effortlessly, aided greatly by the production from Dan Weller of Sikth. Beyond the flush sound, the music itself is positive, upbeat and full of good vibes as the album courses through tracks that focus of the best of their diversities. Each track feels characteristically different from its predecessor and all of them are pack with musical moments you look forward too, whether a melody, riff or hook every song is filled with something to enjoy and despite being such a varied record is flows effortlessly. Its the first time I had listened to them and not yearned for something like the old classics "Sorry Your Not A Winner" etc. Shikari have matured, but here it really came together, firring on all cylinders. There was only one downside to this record, the lyrical content. Not much resonated with me, or even grabbed my attention, but that is no fair critic as words and lyrics often go right through me. Its been great to see the band progress, but here I hear their flame grow strong, a terrific record that sets them on a path for great things.

Favorite Songs: Anesthetist, The Last Garrison, Myopia, The Bank Of England, There's A Price On Your Head

Rating: 9/10

Monstercat "018 - Frontier" (2014)

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of dubstep. Theres much i like about it, for example the aesthetics of the grooving bass wobbles, squeaky clean production and in general the flexibility of electronic music. However most dubstep i have listened to as felt so stale and limited, i would call it "skrillex worship", mainly mimicking the techniques used in his records with not much artistic intention. This record is certainly not that, which was what i expected when it started of with a poppy tune with an uninspiring drop, however as the songs progress through compilation there is a nice variety of dub styles and some very enjoyable tracks with the occasional swing into the drum step genre. What was enjoyable for me was the variety and presence of true musicianship in a genre plagued with amateurs using VST presets. There are a couple of darker tracks with some distorted guitar too, something i always gravitate to. Overall this listen made me feel like I've been looking in the wrong places for electronic music.

Favorite Tracks: Moving On, Breakdown, Night After Night, Gunmetal Black

Rating: 4/10