t.raumschmiere - blitzkrieg pop
second album from marco haas since he teamed up with mute to release his own particular brand of fun filled extreme noise polluted electro-rock experiments. having had a breakthrough hit with 'monstertruckdriver' from previous album, 'radio blackout', i wonder if marco has realised that his destiny is to become a proper pop star, as this time around, he has decided to drop his own vocals across three of the thirteen tracks, with each appearance featuring such gloriously tongue in cheek sloganeering lines as 'hey are you sick like me?', or 'hey hey. there's nothing left to say'. admittedly, his vocals are a direct descendant of marylin mansons tortured soul act, and will probably be unwelcome to hardcore followers of the shitkatapult groove. however, i have to say that i love the guys style. his combination of industrial noise, dark humour and cutting edge fucked-electro is a blast of riotous fun. of course there has to be revisits to the glam beat somewhere, and on this album its in the form of the 'all systems go' which could be formed from exactly the same samples as the big hit, but when the results are as good as this, who cares? i for one, don't. as well as the self made vocals, there are appearances from current electro star, ellen allien, as well as several new names to me, quasimodo jones, sandra nasic, and judith juillerat. each giving their own styles as required ie a little aggression here ('a mess'), some moody goth-electro there ('diving in whiskey'), and some downright full blown dramatic pop, 'a very loud lullaby'.
as before with 'radio blackout, to go with the 6 songs are a set of instrumentals, consisting of subsonically enhanced distorted analogue paranoia interspersed with feedback and interference, sometimes these aural snippets are just precursors to the main event, whereas in others, they are distinct creatures of their own standing, as in the superbly forthright electrostomper, 'an army of watt', or the sinister piano domination of 'patridiot'.
for me, this album is a perfect clash of styles and grooves that have permeated various stages of my life. from the pent up hormonal rage of my teenage years (the industrial tracks), through to the dark and moody times (the new beat era), via the downright dirtiness for when life became a little more interesting. all of which makes this far too short 39 minutes, the best thing to have graced my jaded ears in a long time.
thank. you.
other stuff : radio blackout