t.raumschmiere - radio blackout
i have filed this under dance music.
but trust me, this is anything but standard dance music.
the ingredients are all the same .. beats/samples/keyboard riffs/vocal loops, but the way that marco haas has put these tracks together reveals a true rock fan underneath the electronica sheen. can i use the term electronic punk rock without sounding too cliche. if you bought the hit single 'monstertruckdriver' then you know what i mean. huge gltterstomp beats and a simple riff that rips this track into playlists of any decent hifi for the next few years. a stunning track and makes for the centrepiece of this short album.
in fact if you bought both cd singles then you already have the major parts of this album, with the rest not meeting the same glorious highs of this track that is sp good it is featured twice (second version featuring electroclash goddess miss kitten). there are other highlights, the moody ambience, the dark paranoid atmosphere and the general intimidation grooves of 'a million brothers (blah blah blah)', and other tracks that have awful names to type ..
not only is the music unique (i'm sure you know of lots of stuff similar but i don't .. except maybe meat beat manifesto/nin/front 242 etc..) but the packaging is excellent as well. with sharp biting gloomy artwork that reflects the bitterness and anti corporate stance that the band have adhered to.
after all you don't name your set up 'shitkatapult.com' waiting for macdonalds to come along and put adverts all over your website do you ? thankfully mute have come along and made this available to all of us all over the world.
wonderfully noisy stuff, and yet still very enjoyable, cos that's the big difference between this and the more standard electronica based music. the tracks may be noisy and messy, but there is always a simple melody that hits the central nervous system and pulls all the right strings.
turn off the radio and spin this on a regular basis.
now.