L - Z Music Reviews from Electro to Pop to Hardcore and more

Lemon D - Jazz Is EP - Reinforced Records
Kevin King aka Lemon D is a jungle big hitter. For the last decade this British drum and bass figure has created some of the rawest and most innovative material of the genre. On the Jazz Is EP his work has become predictable. Sadly, my expectations were high I wanted to hear gritty beats and thumping basslines. On most of the tracks like the title track Jazz Is the trademark jungle beats erupt. On half of the 4 songs on the EP driving these beats are cheesy guitar/synth sequences. I stress that this is not a weak release but merely just okay or average. Fortunately you still can appreciate the intensity of what this genre can offer on "Give it to EM." This track is the strongest and features a gut wrenching bass line that by song's end is extended teasing even the laziest listener to nod in awe. Lemon is still a master of the genre while the beats tick he can make instrumental songs ebb and flow with ease. Now, if you are expecting "This Is Los Angeles", which he did with Metalheadz, I feel this release is not what you are looking for. "This is Los Angeles", the first song I heard by Lemon D is a thundering breakbeat romp showcasing sub bass grooves and poignant samples from the 1992 L.A. riots. To end I have to say that Lemon is moving in another direction which is not as distinct or powerful as his older releases. Check out the Reinforced Records site.

Review By Julian Rant
7.5 out of 10

Mochipet - Randibient Works 2002 - Btrendy Records
Mochipet hails from Los Angeles and this cd showcases fun hyper electronic music in the vein of Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Cex, and Cylob. This is a great listen because the music never is short of energy and drama. On certain songs like "The Adventures of Flamenco Boy" you hear sampled Spanish classical guitar lines, Middle Eastern sounds, and colorful cheesy instrumentation against breakbeats and drilling Aphex Twin-like drum fills. This cd could have used more editing and been shorter by a few songs because after 20 minutes the tracks start to blend into each other with the use of excessive fills, breaks, and similar noise effects. Despite a few shortcomings it's still a great listen and the future looks bright because there are still 3-5 great songs on Randibient Works 2002 that more than impress the listener with Mochipet's inability to sit still. The sounds, beats, and instrumentation are manic. For more information Mochipet's website is great with some of these songs like the fantastic "Dessert Search for Techno Baklava" (a melodic Arabic breakdown) free to download from Mochipet site. This Cd is for fans of Aphex Twin from 1996 recalling songs like "To Cure a Weakling Child" and especially "Girl/Boy Song."

Review By Julian Rant
8 out of 10

Psychological Bomb Factory - Reset - Severed Digit
One of the newest releases from the abused plains of Canada, is this 13 tracker of weird noise/beat experimentation. PBF's material borrows from a few different genres, ultimately falling somewhere between industrial, dn'b and digital hardcore alignments. Made with "computers and medication" these tracks play with vocal samples, rhythmic noise loops, odd keyboard lines, which all harshen up the mix just enough for it to be gritty and psychadelic, but backing it up or usually delivering in with a really straightforward beat to propel the momentum established. Some favorites are "Tell Her I'm a Speed Freak" which flirts with IDMish beats, and quiet tones, while other distorted breaks are worked and layered into the mix. "Gabberfuckhead"'s whispered voices (the occasional vocals throughout this disc are a welcome addition, I hope that PBF includes this in future material) and heavily maxxed-out bass and beats entice and compel. The results are great, when PBF consolidates his different styles on the catcy "Reset" (apparently a CD release of remixes of this is set to accompany this CD). If PBF continues this style of using these type of elements in such a way that distinguishes his material from others, I will look forward to hearing future releases. PS. Watch out for that hidden song of radio cheese that moonlights part-time as a remix of KNAR's classic "Braindead" track!

Review By Jason Smith
8 out of 10

Shadow: Hard Sessions - Various Artists CD - Shadow
This is a great drum and bass compilation from the Shadow Sound System. This CD was a total suprise for me because the jungle scene has been falling out of favor. I think not! The hard pounding beats keep your attention like the UK based Magentic track. The jumpy yet groovy array of beats are what typify most if all these tracks. The power of jungle and this cd is the strength of the hard hitting artists within the medium like Quentin's Ladder who does a dazzling intenese beat workout here called Divine Intervention. Some artists like ASC in particular go beyond the jungle expectations and marry a mixture of atmospheric melodic sounds, speedy off-time breakbeats, and vocals to great effect. The track by Forensic featuring MC Plague-Inferior is a combination of menacing beats/basslines with a rabid rap highlighting the hip-hop ancestry of drum & bass. A plus here is that each track/artist is described and summarized which is good if you want to discover new sounds. All and all this is a *very* enjoyable compilation. Check out the Shadow Records site.

Review By Julian Rant
9 out of 10

The Streets - Original Pirate Material - Pure Groove/Vice Recordings USA
The Streets!? To the uninitiated let me fill you in and say that the Streets could potentially be the Pulp or Smiths of Hip Hop/Garage/Two-Step. The Streets is mainly Mike Skinner of Birmingham, England. Original Pirate Material is impressive and refreshing mostly due to the immense insight and maturity of Mike's lyrics and social themes. Most guys in their early 20's sing about nothing, but Mike tackles urban decay, banal buying habits, hypocrisy of drug laws, and much more. Musically, most of the songs display two-step beats decorated with melancholy keyboards, orchestral samples, and synth noises. What makes this album nearly flawless is the amount of great songs on here like "Has it Come to This?" and "Don't Mug Yourself" that showcase intricate grooves and catchy/witty hooks. "Who got the funk?" is a DIY disco/hip hop party with a nursery school dance beat crashing with a sampled guitar hook. Mike voices again and again "Day in the life of a geezer" which permeates through the album. The rousing chorus on "Let's Push Thing's Forward" goes, "They say that everything sounds the same and you go buy them" regarding a hypocrisy on the part of the buying public that gobbles up mundane hip-hop glamorizing superficiality, money, fast cars, luxury items, bitches, etc... The mastery of this album is that these are crafty catchy songs that offer up a realistic view of modern urban life like you would find in lyrics by Jarvis Cocker or Ray Davies. Mike Skinner is a new voice offering new ideas in an old tradition, "Geezers need excitement, if their lives don't provide it they insight violence, common sense, simple common sense." Visit the official Streets site.

Review By Julian Rant
10 out of 10*
If it were possible an 11 out of 10!!

Tribeca - Kate 97 - Labrador Records
From the bands website: "Tribeca was spawned by rage. Sick and tired of bands doing it all wrong the only way out was to do it themselves." That's enough pompous crap to make me trash a CD without listening to it. Fortunately, I did listen to it and I have to begrudgingly admit that they've got a point. This is pop the way it should be. And if the masses had a clue Tribeca would be chart-toppers. The catchiness of the songs will stalk you for days. On the subway I blend in with the rest of the escaped mental asylum around me singing out loud to these pop songs in my head. The music takes a traditional music form but stays modern with a perfect blend of synths and guitars. The music is pretty Brit-pop with guitar flourishes that sometimes remind me of Suede but stay choppy enough to give it a harder edge. And tracks like "Teenage" definitely have a Different Class-era Pulp anthemesque appeal. The chunky synth lines put them up next to big electronic names as well. It's all pretty danceable pop and only starts to drag when it gets a bit sappy and saccharine. Thankfully, this doesn't happen to often and the album has enough bite to keep it from falling into a cutesy abyss. Tracks like "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and "Teenage" are my faves with great Swedish accents wonderfully on display on songs like "Jumpstart". Check out the Labrador Records site.

Review By Jan Smoothie
8.5 out of 10

Ultraviolence - Superpower - Earache Records
I knew that things started off on the wrong foot when my computer wouldn't even burn correctly the albums' tracks I downloaded. This happened 2-3 times, maybe my computer was protecting me?. I figured "What's the use?" considering what I had heard from a quick preview of the tracks and they didn't sound promising. And now that I think of it, "Killing God", UV's last CD, was moving in a direction that made me as uncomfortable as a [then] 'fan'. To add insult to injury I had read scathing reviews of it, so whenever I really had the chance to purchase it, I was a bit scared; now that I've heard it I know it was for more than ample reason.
The opening track of "Superpower" starts the festivities with hypnotic dancefloor clubrhythms and synths with a four on the floor beat, and house-style vocals that come in soon enough. "Sex" is alarmingly embarassing of a 'single' to the album, with it's corny "Sex! Sex!" sampled shouts and what I recognize as the chick who did the vocals on "Psychodrama" and later albums. This track is so bad it gives you goosebumps, once the corny beached-out calypsoing piano loop comes in; this reminds me of the house music FM stations that we quickly flip past when we're in the car and trying to find something to hear when the tape or CD player doesn't work. "Superpower" and "Airbreak" are both a bit more promising with their breakbeat malfunction-manipulatons, and remants of earlier day, as a quiet and subdued but persistently distorted gabber beat thuds in the background. These remants are hardly enough for me, as I continue track by track through the songs, desperately looking for something, ANYthing positive to say. I can't say I haven't been warned - Albums like 1994's concept album journey "Psychodrama" introduced female vocal elements and some degree of what was to come, but in a more creative and generally interesting approach than found here. "Race Face"'s hardcore fronting as part of 'TeamUltraviolence', a group who's membership I wouldn't be caught dead being a part of, is just sad, really, with it's sampled promises of "Fucking fast hardcore", which is not delivered. The remainder of the tracks are just the same, material that could be easily outdone by even the most inexperienced newcomer who has their own copy of Fruityloops, and knows how to sequence a predictable gabber drum that goes "Dun Dun Dun Dun".
Straight off, this is music for fucking @#!$!. Thank me that I suffered on your behalf so that you wouldn't have to hear this for yourself. If you already have this and like this, you need to email me and I will give you a list of CDs to listen to and try to set you straight down better paths. This CD is the tangible and realized manifestation of the old-age spirit of everyone who's liked a band and then disliked their later, more commercial sounding albums. Everything that made ULTRAVIOLENCE's debut "Life of Destructor" a hard-electronic genre-creating masterpiece of industrialnoise anger, innovation and "power", is long gone on this blasphemous joke of a release. MotherFUCK Johnny Violent and anyone who likes this album, the next release I won't even bother to download much less buy. Ultraviolence are now dead, case closed.

Review By Jason Smith
Negative 10 out of +10