Label: self-released

Year: 2006

Idiot Stare's "Welcome To Babylon" was my pick for the best album of 2006. That's sort of a mixed compliment, given the fact that I didn't really listen to any CD's in 2006, but, comparing it to the variety of CD's that did make it onto other people's "best" lists, it easily blows the competition away.

Idiot Stare took steps to make this their best album ever and it paid off. Chad Bishop's band had always been enjoyable, but the songs previously lacked a certain layer that was added when, shortly after 2000, Insight 23's Blayne Alexander was brought into the fold as a vocalist. It filled out the sound and, with his vocal and lyrical bolster, catapulted the band up to the par of any of the best industrial-rock bands out there.

If there are any disappointments about this album, they are generated entirely in my head. Recording and writing for this album lead to demo tracks as early as 2002, with the "Ghost" single arriving in 2003. Further tracks were released in their component parts for remixing purposes... Between all these outlets, eight of the album's ten songs were out there and I had been listening to them for the better part of four years by the time the album arrived. Given that, I was shocked by how little new there was for me on the album, but for anyone who has never heard the album before, it is a beautiful step back to the days that industrial-rock used to be both well-written and enjoyable to listen to, something of a novelty now.

Living with these songs for so long and listening to them constantly over the years, it's hard for me not to be somewhat disappointed by the outcome, as there were no surprises for me, like a child knowing every gift they would receive Christmas morning, and I get the feeling that, having listened to the tracks so much that I can immediately spot where a guitar line or drum fill was changed for the final album, I know the tracks even better than the band.

Sure, I still think the demo version of "Porno" is better than the album version and I prefer my remix of "Mainframe God" over the album version, but this is one of the best albums to come out in years and tracks like the aforementioned "Porno" and "Mainframe God", as well as "Hold Me Down" and "Humiliation", will go down in the annals of industrial-rock history as some of the most fun and well-made songs of the 21st century.

The new listener will be immediately delighted by the styles and songwriting of the album, which delivers the industrial-rock of the 90's that now seems to be forgotten by today's bands, more intent on cranking out thier boring and self-obsessed electronic bullshit that has sucked the fun out of the industrial landscape until it seems that writing an enjoyable song is comparable to treason (unless it's synthpop, in which case its fluffy disposable catchiness is encouraged).

Thank god someone's willing to bring back the fucking bite of industrial music that made most people love it in the first place and, if no one else hears it, it's still a hell of an achievement to single-handedly be keeping a dying genre alive.

Kudos to Blayne, Chad, and the boys on putting together an album that does what most other bands of the past decade haven't been able to do: make music fun again.

Other industrial bands take note.

Discogs

Label: Metropolis Records

Year: 2007

16 Volt has done what I never imagined they could as I drove around listening to their CD's while delivering pizza in 1998: they've gotten boring.

The "they" in this case is really just Eric Powell. His technical construction is there, but all of the catchiness of his tracks has somehow dissolved in the long, hard decade it's taken him to create a new album. This decade has left the bodies of bandmates and tracks along the way, leaving us with an attempt to return to the guitar-industrial tone of "Supercoolnothing" with this release, adding in some of the melody of Ringer, his emo sideproject with Crazytown/Virus 23's Krayge Tyler, and stripping down the electronics of ye olde industrial days to leave more of a layer of programming coated with the metal riffs of "Supercoolnothing".

In fact, if anything, it feels like many of these riffs are just recycled from the last album, which he seems to have subsisted off the memory of for this last decade, young listeners preferring his almost nu-metal sound to that of earlier gems like "Wisdom" and "Skin", where he really showed his talent for song contruction.

The softer touches of the album and the recycling of the catchy "Suffering You" from the limbo of the past decade's songwriting still doesn't bring this album up to the par of any of his other work. The younger fans will love it, as it has plenty of rawk-ass tracks to get down to at the nearest date of 16 Volt's inevitable tour. The little moshers out there will appreciate half of the album, the more nuanced listener will prefer the other half, and many of the old-school listeners will just not get this assemblage of rock-industrial tracks. I think I may be in the third camp.

Discogs

Label: 23db Records

Year: 2007

I don't review my friends’ albums merely because they are my friends. Their music has to really had to stand out if I'm going to write anything about it. Take that how you will. Anyway, "Between Noise and Transmission" is a tasty little treat that should appeal to those into stuff like Melotron, Assemblage 23, Depeche Mode, Cleen/Cleaner, Battery and other bands of that nature. Though Tom Shear of A23 fame produced and mixed this album, I'd like to note that the only track that has a bit of that A23 sound is the first one, "Fallen", and it's good enough on it's own that it really doesn't matter if it's got the "Tom Touch" (that sounds... creepy... sorry, Tom) or not. By the next song, "Twilight", anyone will be able to tell that they're in for a real powerhouse of a musical offering. Seriously, kids, I didn't expect it to be THIS good. Really, it's just what I look for musically.

"Between Noise and Transmission" has got it all: groovy dance music; thought-provoking, well-written lyrics; a nice mix of vocal styles, especially with the female vox ("Untruth" standing out in that department; very cool); complex and engaging musical programming that doesn't seem sterile or boring; and it's memorable, which is a nice change for this musical scene. This album has a terrific team involved, so kudos to them all for doing such a wonderful job.

I've seen and heard places before regarding comparisons to Underworld. I can understand, kinda, but I sure wish Underworld was as interesting as SD6, then I might listen to them more (apologies to hardcore Underworld fans out there... I like them, a lot even, but much of their music I barely remember). Not that it's bad to be compared to Underworld or anything, I just think it's not wholly accurate.

All in all, this first SD6 offering is very, very good. Yeah, no new musical ground is broken as it doesn't scream with originality, but "Between Noise and Transmission" doesn't need to explore too much new territory. In a world where good synth-pop-EBM is dominated by European acts, it's nice to hear a band that can step up to the plate like Assemblage 23 and Imperative Reaction have and hold their own. 

I highly recommend this to all fans of fun, thoughtful and interesting 80's pop influenced "body music". No, really, go out and buy it. I did, and I don't regret a single penny. You won't either. Now, Brandon, Jess and Nicole... Get working on the next one!

Discogs