Various Artists - Jaded

Brand New Idol "Better Than You"
The Thought Criminals "Cyberslut (Edit)"
Subimage "The Rat Man (Cracker Denial Mix)"
Eurovision "Without You (I Just Don't Belong)"
Synthetik FM featuring Kiss The Star "Those Moonlit Stairs"
David Vesel "Rubber Raft"
Nruvis "Out Of Hand"
Scar Chemik "Renegade Light"
Neurepublik "Hidden Sanctuary"
Drug Of Choice "I Wanna Be Somebody"
Dominoeffect "Liquidate"
Virus Angel "Unrequited"
Morpheme "Inamorata"
Control Theory "Erase"
Tesseract7 "Cyberbia"
Unwoman "Cursing You"

This compilation has a long and sordid history I won't go into depth, but suffice it to say that there have been several times when it seemed this compilation would never see the light of day. Finally released in 2005 by Kiss My Asterix records, the compilation features 16 up-and-coming electronic artists of varying styles.

Brand New Idol open the compilation with the new track "Better Than You", which features Kris Heireth on lead vocals. BNI shows a more gritty side to their sound with this song, a pounding beat melded to the slightly sinister synthwork. This track shows a very interesting new spin on the BNI sound, and it should be interesting to hear further work from them in this vein.

The Thought Criminals are next with "Cyberslut (Edit)", and after the impressive cover they contributed to the Elektrokuted compilation, I was very interested to hear this original track. Well, This track does show a somewhat more trashy side to the band. But they can write a catchy melody, that's for sure, because they certainly did on this song.

Subimage offer here a exclusive remix of "The Rat Man", originally taken from the first Subimage album "Etoc". This mix of the song energizes the beat a little, and moves the music more to the forefront of the track, which serves to (for me at least) make the track a great deal more enjoyable.

Up next is Eurovision, with a track from their first album "On Fire" that was also released as a single "Without You". This is still a good track, in fact, Eurovision's best, and it's sad that the upcoming "Finale" album will conclude the band's history.

Synthetik FM's album "E=Mc2" is coming later this year on Ninthwave Records, but this is another early glimpse at that album. This track features the contributions of Craig and Meg of Kiss The Star on vocals. This is bouncy, yummy synthpop at it's best, with a sweet bassline and nicely squelched synths bleeping along. The vocals don't sound quite finalized, a little muffled, especially in the leads.

David Vesel's contribution is another track from his upcoming album "Your Mileage May Vary", "Rubber Raft". This is another very catchy track, with a easy to follow ebb and flow to the chorus. Every time I hear another new track from the upcoming album, I become more and more convinced that David V.'s going to have a album that will be one of the most impressive of.. whatever year it comes out. :)

"Out Of Hand" was the lead-off track for Nurvis' debut album "Un-Subferior", and was easily the best track from that album. While the rest of their album didn't quite measure up to this track's standard, this track is still excellent.

Scar Chemik with "Renegade Light" give us a beat-heavy track that thumps along hurriedly while the near-spoken vocals intone messages of dark foreboding. It makes for a very distinctive and interesting musical experience. I want more!!

Neurepublik are next with "Hidden Sanctuary", a seven minute track that seems to overload just about any subwoofer I put it up against. It's not a bad song, actually somewhat soothing, but it really needed to be trimmed from the 7 minute length into a more managable 3-4 minutes.

Drug Of Choice distort the vocals during the chorus of "I Wanna Be Somebody" nearly to the point of indecipherability. It sounds like the band was looking to blend Industrial influences into their sound for this track, and the new elements didn't blend well.

Dominoeffect finds Jeff Harper utilizing the low end of his vocal range along with some more electro-leaning synth work to create this very impressive track "Liquidate". This is a excellent track, reminding me of both mind.in.a.box and Diary Of Dreams. I'm really looking forward to a album from this project!

"Unrequited" is Virus Angel's contribution to the compilation, and it's more of a New Wave/Modern Rock hybrid track, but I really liked the vocal approach here. It sounds like the vocals have been layered just perfectly, with just a touch of harmony. There's no contact info in the compilation for this artist, but this is a quite impressive track, and I wish I could hear more from the band.

Morpheme follow with "Inamorta", a track that never really drew me into itself. I really didn't like the garish (at times) synth sounds used in the bridge, and the lyrics didn't make sense to me. Some may like this song, but I just didn't get it..

Control Theory are next with "Erase". The musical style here reminds me a little of System Syn, as this band also has a overall EBM style that is tempered with a good portion of melody. A neat song!

However, the last two tracks really don't measure up to the rest of the compilation. Tesseract7's "Cyberbia" is just difficult to listen to, and Unwoman sounds like she's trying to incorporate both Baroque and Industrial music influences into the song, and the blend doesn't work well at all.

Other than those two notes, though, this is a very good compilation, with plenty of promising new acts and exclusive material, and well worth your time and money. Recommended!

Added:  Sunday, August 21, 2005
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
Related web link:  Label's Website
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Language: eng