Jonathan Hill

A Soapbox for Uninformed Opinions

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Laibach Spectre Review

General Information:

Artist: Laibach
Album: Spectre
Genre(s): Industrial
Subgenres(s): Electro-Industrial
Released: 2014
Length: 57 minutes (including bonus tracks)
Language(s): English, French
Label(s): Mute Records

Track List:

01. The Whistleblowers
02. No History
03. Eat Liver!
04. Americana
05. We Are Millions and Millions Are One
06. Eurovision
07. Walk With Me
08. Bossanova
09. Resistance is Futile
10. Koran
11. The Parade (Bonus Track)
12. Love on the Beat (Serge Gainsbourg Cover) (Bonus Track)
13. Just Say No! (Bonus Track)
14. See That My Grave is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson Cover) (Bonus Track)

Laibach Spectre Cover

Laibach Spectre Cover

Laibach Spectre Review

Spectre is the eighth studio album by Slovenian industrial collective Laibach. Released eight years after their last studio album, Volk, they have taken their music in another direction with most of it being in the electro-industrial vein.

Laibach have a history of using authoritarian political ideologies and themes in their aesthetics and lyrical content but any overt use it is largely absent from Spectre. The only explicit mention of politics is the Occupy Wall Street movement in No History. Other song titles such as The Whistleblowers and Koran hint at political themes (whistle blowers such as Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning and Islam in the West respectively) but the lyrical content doesn’t reflect this. In fact, The Whistleblowers title only seems to refer to the literal whistling performed throughout this catchy martial industrial track which immediately draws the listener in. Koran on the other hand is a quasi-ballad and as it picks up the male and female singer having a back and forth about a belief “in brotherhood, equality and freedom” and “happiness for all” to which the bass-level spoken response observes that “words are substance for tomorrow/they are weapons of our mind/words can take us far away/they will leave us all behind” as though to say that it’s a nice idea but in reality it’s not quite that simple.

On the inverse of this we have Eurovision, obviously named after the annual karaoke train wreck that plagues Europe, in which the band says that “there are crowds in the streets/they are crying to be heard” and that “Europe is falling apart” in the dramatic chorus. The second example of this is Bossanova, named after the Brazilian music genre Bossa Nova, which features a blend of raw authoritarianism and self-aggrandising nihilism in another booming proclamation of “I want torture/arms and corporations/no control, president or parliament!/feed my hunger with poverty/feed my anger with children/feed my lust with bikini food!/feed my ego with luxury/I’m having a good time/and I want my nation to break down!”

By using their history of political imagery and themes Laibach have simply put the shoe on the other foot to give the illusion of depth when in reality there isn’t that much to begin with. The music starts out strong with the first three tracks and then Americana is introduced as a slow burner to break up the pace in true pop fashion. The lyrics are overly repetitive here, as they are in other songs, but at the same time they offer some truth about activism and rallying people to your cause by saying that “if you wanna change the world/you’d better do it with a thrill/cos’ if you don’t – no one else will.”

Resistance is Futile is a seven minute sci-fi odyssey into Laibach itself and it’s impossible to tell if it is a tongue in cheek parody or a sincere use of Star Trek’s Borg collective theme between their use of laser beam noises, digitised voices repeating “we are Laibach/resistance is futile” and the familiar bass voice chanting “blitzkrieg” as there modus operandi to achieve assimilation. The song ends with a long, atonal industrial soundscape with digitised voices fading in and out which, to the bands credit, is executed well and gives enough breathing room to introduce Koran without upsetting the flow of Spectre.

There are also four bonus tracks available on most versions of Spectre and with the exception of The Parade, which features a trumpet that seems at odds with the rest of the track, they’re done in the lively vein of electro-industrial like Eat Liver is. Just Say No is an aggressive synth-driven stomper with a memorable mantra and the other two songs are covers. One of them is See That My Grave is Kept Clean by American acoustic blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson and aside from the lyrics it really doesn’t have anything to do with the original version and Laibach clearly aren’t wanting to mimic their inspiration here. Love on the Beat was originally performed by French musician Serge Gainsbourg in a funk-influenced new wave style and while it was sung in a low pitch with samples of someone shouting mixed in, it is Laibach’s unique reimagining that gives it a dark twist and really makes it into something else like it was always meant to be an industrial song.

In some ways Spectre is Laibach in pop music’s clothing as found in the inversion of their provocative image and lyrical themes so where it really counts, the musical content, the question is do Laibach deliver? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes despite some of the content being a little bit uneven in the middle with some overly repetitive lyrics thrown in because on most counts there is excellent content that strikes a healthy balance between accessibility and artistic integrity all while pulling on people’s strings in their own provocative way.

Performers:

Luka Jamnik
Matevz Kolenc
Milan Fras
Mina Spiler
Saso Vollmaier
Slavko Avsenik Jr.

External Links:

Laibach Homepage
Spectre on Wikipedia
Spectre on Wikipedia

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The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Review

General Information:

Artist: The Mad Capsule Markets
Album: Osc-Dis
Genre(s): Digital Hardcore
Subgenres(s): N/A
Released: 1999 (Japan), 2001 (UK and USA)
Length: 41 minutes
Language(s): English, Japanese
Label(s): Victor, Invitation, (Japan) / PalmRyko, Palm Entertainment (US/UK)

Track List:

01. Tribe
02. Out/Definition
03. Square Wave (Pulse)
04. Multiples
05. Mob Track
06. All the Time in Sunny Beach
07. Island
08. Restart!
09. Jag
10. Step into Yourself
11. Good Girl
12. Midi Surf

The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Cover

The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Cover

The Mad Capsule Markets Osc-Dis Review

Osc-Dis (shorthand for Oscillator in Distortion) is the 9th studio album by Japanese digital hardcore band The Mad Capsule Markets, who meld drum machine loops and samples with live percussion and their hardcore punk foundation. Not content with this combination already creating as much sonic mayhem as possible, all of the vocals are heavily distorted to the point where you often can’t tell where the English begins and the Japanese ends. However, this isn’t necessarily a negative because the lyric delivered in English haven’t translated that well so this mask of distortion plays right into their aesthetic and ultimately their advantage. Whether this is by design or sheer coincidence will never be truly be determined.

From the nu metal inspired Tribe to the gabber fuelled Restart! or drum and bass infused hardcore punk anthem Square Wave (Pulse), which is arguably their most well-known song in the Western world after being featured in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 video game, this proves that The Mad Capsule Markets influences are many and are still able to find a cohesive vision through all of genre mixing. The only time that the band properly slows down and takes things in the opposite directions is on the 10th song, Step into Yourself, which has the guitars playing more like a wall of static rather than anything with a discernible melody and features some quasi-rapped vocals, the monotonous chant of “step into yourself” and some more choppy drum machine loops that certainly creates a unique song although it doesn’t have the same appeal as many of the others.

With both English and Japanese lyrics clashing together alongside hardcore punk and an assortment of sounds from electronic music genres, Osc-Dis is where worlds collide in an undignified yet entirely gripping fashion.

Performers:

Takeshi Ueda: Vocals, Bass, Programming
Motokatsu: Drums, Programming
Toruxx: Guitar, Programming
Kyono: Vocals

Additional Performers:

Hirosuke, Yamada and Katsya: Additional vocals

External Links:

The Mad Capsule Markets on Wikipedia
Osc-Dis on Wikipedia

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Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2000) Review

General Information:

Artist: Killswitch Engage
Album: Killswitch Engage (2000)
Genre(s): Metalcore
Subgenres(s): N/A
Released: 2000
Length: 32 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Ferret Music

Track List:

01. Temple from the Within
02. Vide Infra
03. Irreversal
04. Rusted Embrace
05. Prelude
06. Soilborn
07. Numb Sickened Eyes
08. In the Unblind
09. One Last Sunset
10. Prelude (1999 Demo) (Bonus Track)
11. Soilborn (1999 Demo) (Bonus Track)
12. Vide Infra (1999 Demo) (Bonus Track)
13. In the Unblind (1999 Demo) (Bonus Track)

Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2000) Cover

Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2000) Cover

Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage (2000) Review

Killswitch Engage released their first self-titled album in 2000, which also happens to be their debut, and is much coarser than their subsequent releases. With nothing much in the way of melody Jesse Leach’s vocal style is mostly gut-wrenching screams that sound positively savage when paired with Killswitch Engages raw and uncompromising metalcore sound.

One needs not look further than the first few seconds of Temple from the Within to experience this and while he momentarily dips into a melodic refrain he’ll immediately revert back to the aggro like there’s nothing to it. There’s also the uncommon pairing of singing over blast beat drumming on Irreversal and death metal growls during the breakdown at the end of the song which shows a completely different side of Killswitch Engage in their earliest incarnation.

Underneath all of this are some positive lyrics dealing with individuality (In the Unblind) as well as on Soilborn which refers to striving for truth and integrity but it’s difficult to follow most of it without the lyrics written out in front of you unless you have a keen ear for it.

There’s already enough testosterone for it to start leaking out their ears but on the rerelease of Killswitch Engage there are four demo versions of songs from the album that are somewhat less refined, relatively speaking, and there are a few differences like the lack of whispered vocals and drum introduction on the Prelude demo. One Last Sunset is the second instrumental and final song on the original album which shows a willingness to experiment with an emphasis on atmosphere that develops over the first half of the song before the tempo picks up and it grows into a foreboding march before a few more twists and turns appear.

The first self-titled Killswitch Engage album is a worthwhile Metalcore album for fans of the genre as well as for those that want to hear what Killswitch Engage were like before having major mainstream success.

Performers:

Jesse Leach: Vocals
Joel Stroetzel: Guitars
Mike D’Antonio: Bass
Adam Dutkiewicz: Drums, Backing Vocals

External Links:

Killswitch Engage Homepage
Killswitch Engage on Wikipedia
Killswitch Engage (2000) on Wikipedia

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Lights The Listening Review

General Information:

Artist: Lights
Album: The Listening
Genre(s): Electronic
Subgenres(s): Synthpop
Released: 2009
Length: 43 minutes
Language(s): English
Label(s): Universal Music, Sire Records

Track List:

01. Saviour
02. Drive My Soul
03. River
04. The Listening
05. Ice
06. Pretend
07. The Last Thing on Your Mind
08. Second Go
09. February Air
10. Face Up
11. Lions
12. Quiet
13. Pretend (Reprise)

Lights The Listening Cover

Lights The Listening Cover

Lights The Listening Review

The Listening is the debut album of Canadian synthpop solo artist Lights. It is a low key outing that puts her voice, which is so sickly sweet that it could give you diabetes, at the front and centre of each song. This isn’t inherently a bad thing but the music itself can feel secondary at times and this approach leads itself into a by-the-numbers result when looking at this in the context of a full album.

Saviour introduces the listener to The Listening and sets the tone nicely while also making use of auto-tune software that isn’t necessary because Lights has a voice that should be able to stand on its own merits. It is also prominent on the title song and its use might simply be a by-product of the pop trend for auto-tuning voices that arose in the mid to late 2000s. All but two songs are under three and a half minutes long so their shortness will lend itself to a good amount of replay value on individual songs rather than as a whole album.

Both Pretend and The Last Thing on Your Mind take on a downbeat mood and feature an acoustic guitar which adds to the sincerity of the performance with the latter breaking out of the mould further by having a distorted guitar playing in the crescendo to the finale. This also has Lights singing far more intensely over a comparatively rapid paced beat and makes it a standout moment for the album. Being placed in the middle of the album, it is a good way to break up the pacing although it would have made for a better closing song.
Lights sounds rabid in her choppy delivery of the second verse of Ice and combined with the frantic synthesiser part that follows it, it quickly becomes a stand out moment like Pretend (Reprise), a reimagining of Pretend as a piano ballad that strips away all of the polish associated with the synthpop sound and gives a glimpse into another side to Lights.

Many listeners will undoubtedly be won over by Lights’ voice alone but since The Listening has Lights and her co-producers working within certain parameters and only ever tip-toe across the line, which is what yields some of their best results, it shows that there is room for growth.

Performers:

Lights: Vocals, production (all tracks)
Thomas Salter: Production (tracks 1–3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15)
Dave Thomson: Production (tracks 4, 7–9, 12, 16)
The Angry Kids: Additional production (track 15)

External Links:

Lights Homepage
Lights on Wikipedia
The Listening on Wikipedia