Various Artists - ElectroCulture Sampler Volume One

Mona K & The Alphabet Girls - I Am Sushi
Tristraum - Shiver (ESH Mix)
Afterchain - Burnt Fuel
Intricated - It Matters
Vo1D - inSECURITY
Color Theory - I Stand By My Mistakes
Q Chapter - Flies
Empire State Human - Hand On The Gun (ESH Wire In The Blood Mix)
Purveyor - Falls
Furnace St - Attila
Macondo - Live Life To The Min
Caustic - Decadent Tongue
Minus Field - Zeitgeist
Dekoy - Your Heart
David Vesel - Numb
In A Sense - Passion In Your Eyes
Scar Chemik - Chains

Here is the first in a hopefully long-running series of samplers from the ElectroCulture forum site. With many a useful and sometimes useless arguement as to the state of Electronic music (synthpop being a dirty word to some...), the powers that be decided to bring together some diverse acts to showcase the various sub-genres of music that could be collected under the EC banner. Many of the bands are regular contributors over on that forum, although there are a few that I'm not that sure about.

The highlight of this disc is undoubtedly I Am Sushi, a fiendishly catchy tune from a London-based artist who will gain a lot of fans from this track.

Following the pack in my view are the tracks by Color Theory, David Vesel, In A Sense and Scar Chemik. What makes these tracks stand out for me? Well, I'm a big fan of melodic synthpop and these just do it for me every time. Brian Hazard (Color Theory) just does what he normally does and showcases a typically strong track with his usual brand of lyrics. There is a bit of crazy electronic free-styling in the middle that is quite unlike him, before an air of sensibility overtakes him once again. The In A Sense track is a familiar one to me and probably the best track from their demo EP, very melodic synth. I am aware of Scar Chemik only through their presence on the forum, Chains is a cracking and uplifting track and I hope to hear more from them at some point. The big surprise for me was the David Vesel track Numb as I've never heard any of his music and am now left wondering why. This track is very strong and reminds me so much of Cosmicity - and I can think of no higher compliment to pay here...

For those who also prefer some guitar mixed with their synth (and I'm a little partial to this myself), there are some good tracks to catch your ear here. Q Chapter mix heavy percussion and synth with some crunchy guitar. The vocalist has an almost dead-pan delivery that is so well suited to the music. Furnace St produce a guitar-driven synth fest, that I find eerily reminescent of Eighties-era Killing Joke.

Macondo remind me of another English group, Spray. Very strong bass and humorous lyrics with a pleasing mix of male/female vox from Vickie and Wayne.

The Minus Field track is a bit of hybrid, being a solo project by Aunia Kahn of Afterchain (who also contribute a track). It has a Happy Mondays kind of vibe, whilst musically it also reminds me of latter day Numan minus the guitar. A very good combination of bass and percussion with some nice chord changes, this track is only let down by the vocals which sound a bit messy and over-layered.

OK, so whilst the above are my highlights of this disc, I should remember not to forget everyone-else. Purveyor lay down a simple yet effective melody for their track Falls while Dekoy knock out a thumping track with vocals that did initially sound treated, although I am assured that they are not and upon further listening is actually an interesting layered vocal. Intricated combine good rhythm and melody, but fall short with a weak chorus. Tristraum provide an ESH remix of Shiver for this sampler, and I'm a little confused as to why there isn't an original piece on here. The remix is good, but the female vocals are set a little low in the mix imho so can be a little incomprehensible at times. Speaking of Empire State Human, this group also provide a remix, but as it's their own work it is probably closer to the original. This track is well-structured with some tight programming and a good sense of melody and rhythm.

Vo1d use imaginative beats that remind me of The Prodigy (although I'm not a real fan of theirs by any means). The vocals are strong, but would sound better without so many effects. I'm not overly convinced by this track yet, but I suspect it will be a grower. It is rather long though at 7 minutes, and so some time in the editing suite wouldn't go amiss.

The Caustic track Decadent Tongue seems more like an experiment in noise than anything-else. It has thumping bass and some very interesting percussion, but doesn't really go anywhere. Limited appeal here I think, but it would probably be quite effective as either TV or film soundtrack music.

Lastly, the Afterchain track is my least favourite on this CD. As with the Minus Field track, the vocals just sound quite messy with far too much over-layering. It doesn't help either that the beats are mixed quite heavily, which got a little confusing on my ears. I'd still want to listen to more of this group before I write them off, mind.

One of the problems with this sampler is that at least 50% of this artist roster need to spend some time editing their tracks. Some of them go on far too long and some take far too much time between verse/chorus or verse/verse. Undoubtedly it sounds good to the ears of musicians, but you need to think a little more about keeping the interest of the listener.

So, is this sampler worth getting? Well, it's effectively a CD-R with 75 minutes of music on it albeit with some unnecessarily long tracks on it. For the price, however, you just cannot complain about the breadth of music presented here or the format it's presented in. Anyone who wants to explore parts of the Electronic Scene unfamiliar to themselves could do no better than to start here. A good solid collection of music and a good start to what I hope are more samplers from ElectroCulture.

Added:  Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Reviewer:  Si Wooldridge
Score:
Related web link:  wwww.electroculturemagazine.com
hits: 2110
Language: eng