SYNTHESIS Issue #4

LFO ALERT!!The UK's leading bass advocates LFO are back with a brand new album and a whole lot more....! Over four years after the release of their debut album "Frequencies" comes the followup "Advance", which although varied in sound is said to hold together more solidly than the first one. Following the release of the album is a new LFO single called "Ultra Schall" featuring Laetitia Sadier of the group Stereolab on vocals. A couple of new side projects are also just out now -- Gez Varley of LFO releases an EP as G-Man called "Spartacus", while LFO's Mark Bell releases the "Lofthouse" single under the name Clark. Also, look for LFO's remix of Bjork on her new single "Hyperballad".

The Aphex Twin has embarked on releasing a new series of EP's under his AFX guise called "Hangable Autobulb" on the Warp Records label, with two volumes out so far.... Aphex Twin also contributes a mix, along with the above-mentioned G-Man and ambient artist Locust, to an EP of remixes for the song "Deep In Velvet" by Philip Boa.

J. Saul Kane emerges again with two new releases -- from his sample-tastic trip hop act Depth Charge comes the single "Queen Of The Scorpion" on his label DC Recordings, and from his more electro incarnation as The Octagon Man comes the full-length album of "The World According To..." on his Electron Industries label.

KMFDM besides being one of the biggest names in the industrial dance scene have recently been in demand on the movie soundtrack circuit as well.... First, their song "Go To Hell" appears on the soundtrack for the film "Hideaway". Then, their "Juke Joint Jezebel" track is included on the "Mortal Kombat" soundtrack and is also tied to the anime (Japanese animation) film "Patlabor - The Movie" released in English from the company Manga Entertainment. But that's not all, because Manga Entertainment also brings us another anime film "Streetfighter II - The Animated Movie" with a redone soundtrack including some interesting tracks such as KMFDM again with "Ultra", Intermix with "Mantra", and In The Nursery with their Enigma-like song "Hallucinations?". (The single for "Hallucinations?" is quite a nice item to have in itself actually, featuring a good house/ techno version of this cut.)

Orbital contribute a new original track called "Petrol" to the soundtrack for "Wipeout", a videogame for the Sony PlayStation, and of course it also appears on the soundtrack/ compilation album of music from the game as well. Other techno artists take part in this project, but the only new selection here is the one from Orbital.

Richie Hawtin who is known for his Plus 8 label activities as Plastikman and F.U.S.E. (among others) gets a chance to showcase his DJing talents utilizing some of his favorite tracks along with his own material on a new mix CD, an entry in the "Mixmag Live! Presents..." series. The CD is available in the U.S. through the Moonshine label.

Technohead (Lee Newman & Michael Wells), who has also put out material as GTO, Church Of Extacy and a number of other names, releases a new album called "Headsex" on the Dutch hardcore label Mokum. This will likely be one of the very last Technohead releases (at least as we've always known them) due to the unfortunate death of Ms. Newman, who was definitely one of the techno fringe's leading pioneers.....

HARTHOUSE UPDATE!! The latest list of releases from the U.S. branch of Harthouse/Eye Q Records:

Alter Ego - Decoding The Hacker Myth CD
B-Zet - When I See CD
Cygnus X - Synchonism 12"
Resistance D - Echoplexing 12"
Sven Vath - Touch Themes CD

Bjork releases her single "Hyperballad" with an impressive range of remixes spread across various CD singles. The first disk contains mixes by Howie B, LFO, Fluke, Outcast Productions (aka Beaumont Hannant & Richard Brown) and Todd Terry. The second version contains an LFO mix, along with the Carcass Remix of "Isobel" and the Plaid Remix of "Cover Me". Also look for more versions with production work from David Morales and Deee-lite's Towa Tei.

Front 242 releases an album compiling some of their 12'' remixes, reshapen by some familiar names, called "Mixage Mutage". Along with the "Gripped By Fear" remix by Rico Conning are mixes from The Orb, Underworld and The Prodigy. The Prodigy themselves have a new single out as well, featuring the tracks "Fire Starter" and "Come Correct".

Recording act Indiens, a project combining native American Indian music with danceclub grooves, has issued their "Sacred Spirit Dance Remixes" which features remixes by William Orbit, Howie B, Dreadzone, Utah Saints, The Grid and C.J. Bolland.

Japanese electronic group Softballetforms have an album of remixes on the SSR label (who brought us the Nav Katze remix EP, also of Japanese origin). Entitled "Remixes For Ordinary People" it contains mixes by Carl Craig, Autechre, Ian Tregoning, Plaid (a Black Dog spinoff group), Global Communication and Greg Hunter (a sometime Orb/ System 7 collaborator).

The Chemical Brothers have a new EP called "Loops Of Fury", featuring a Dave Clarke remix of "Chemical Beats" and three new tracks -- the title cut, plus "(The Best Part Of) Breaking Up" and "Get Up On It Like This".

Moby releases a mix album based on his "Everything Is Wrong" LP featuring a wide variety of different versions of these cuts from remixers such as Josh Wink, Westbam and of course Moby himself. The new album is entitled "Everything Is Wrong - Mixed And Remixed And Remixed And Mixed".

After a lengthy delay, Sven Vath's remix album "Touch Themes" gets a U.S. release on Eye Q Records. This CD features remixes of cuts from his album "The Harlequin, the Robot and the Ballet Dancer" as redone by Hardfloor, Speedy J, Underworld, Alter Ego, B-Zet and Aural Float.

REVIEWS

MEGALON'S REVIEWS (#4)

Astral Pilot - Electro Acupunture (on Harthouse) ---- U.S. release

The debut album from Astral Pilot is actually a collaboration between two veteran artists in the German trance scene -- Stevie B-Zet (of Vernon and Odyssee Of Noises fame) with Harthouse/Eye Q label head and world-renowned DJ Sven Vath -- and this six track collection touches upon a few different styles during the course of things, but with a consistently trancey feel. The title track "Electro Acupuncture" is a happy-go-lucky affair with a mid-tempo galloping beat, like a less acid-sounding Hardfloor. "Skin Probe" and "Needle Drama" are straight hard-trance, beginning quite minimal and building toward more wigged out sounds, while "Into My Brain" is just plain wigged out from the start.... "Kuku Session" has more of a house flavour to it, and is an especially strong one for club play. "The Day After", a longer ambient piece, closes the album. If you like trance of the more repetitive variety in particular, this slick and skillful production should definitely fit the bill.

_1 ) Electro Acupuncture
_2 ) Skin Probe
_3 ) Into My Brain
_4 ) Kuku Session
_5 ) Needle Drama
_6 ) The Day After

Cygnus X - Hypermetrical (on Eye Q Records) ---- U.S. release

Yow!! Hot!! Extremely solid trance of the highest possible quality, this has to be considered one of the best album releases of the past year! From the haunting and deceptively mellow intro, it soon rips into a total hard-trance stormer in part two of "Kinderlied" and the excitement seldom lets up. There are two lighter acid excursions in the form of "Deliberation" and "Indakasa", while the rest of the tracks are pure pulse-pounding trance, stomping yet cerebral at the same time. There are a number of cuts which have also been released as singles, including a remix of their hit "The Orange Theme" (adapting the theme from "A Clockwork Orange"), but it's all equally good. The product of one A.C. Boutzen, this has 'classic' written all over it and is highly recommended to any and all fans of the trance techno sound.

_1 ) Kinderlied Part 1
_2 ) Kinderlied Part 2
_3 ) Hypermetrical
_4 ) Deliberation
_5 ) Turn Around
_6 ) Synchronism
_7 ) The Orange Theme (RMX)
_8 ) Indakasa

TRIP HOP ROUND-UP:

Various - Headz (on Mo Wax) ---- UK release

From Mo Wax, currently the best known trip hop label around and one of the original pioneers of the genre, this is the album that defines the cutting edge. This double CD set contains 18 full-length cuts built over slow, sparse and true to the school hip hop rhythms and featuring a mixed bag of hazy, lazy jazz vibes alternating with abstract washes of sound and samples. The mellow and cerebral approach of these selections make it ideal for late night listening at home, this album being more of a toe-tapper than a dancefloor stormer, and is an obvious essential for the serious followers of the trip hop style. Highlights include (on CD 1) "The Inside" by R.P.M., "Lowride" by Autechre, and Olde Scottish with "Wildstyle"; also, (on CD 2) "Lost And Found" by DJ Shadow, "Destroy All Monsters" by Skull, and U.N.K.L.E.'s "The Time Has Come".

CD 1:

_1 ) Patterson - Freedom Now (Meditation)
_2 ) Attica Blues - Contemplating Jazz
_3 ) Awunsound - Symmetrical Jazz (Flapper Till 5am Mix)
_4 ) Nightmares On Wax - Stars
_5 ) La Funk Mob - Ravers Suck Our Sound
_6 ) M.F. Outa' National - Miles Out Of Time (Astrocentric Mix 'N' Beats)
_7 ) R.P.M. - The Inside
_8 ) Autechre - Lowride
_9 ) Olde Scottish - Wildstyle - The Krush Handshake

CD 2:

_1 ) Dj Shadow - Lost And Found
_2 ) Skull - Destroy All Monsters
_3 ) 'Deflon Sallahr - .....Don't Fake It
_4 ) R.P.M. - Zood
_5 ) Palm Skin Productions - Slipper Suite: i) Jeremy's Velvet Slippers
___ ii) Moonraker iii)Unspeakable Acts
_6 ) U.N.K.L.E. Vs The Major Force Orchestra - The Time Has Come
_7 ) Howie B. Inc. - Head West - Gun Fight At The O.K. Corrall
_8 ) Tranquility Bass - They Came In Peace
_9 ) DJ Shadow - In Flux (Alternative Interlude '93 Version)

Various - The Trip Hop Test - Part Two (on Moonshine) ---- U.S. release

This is a good collection of upfront trip hop, and although it contains a certain amount of variety it tends toward tougher and more solid grooves, with some in-your-face sounds and an emphasis on danceability. In contrast to the jazzier and more subtle approach of some artists, the strong points here have more to do with penetrating sounds and high-impact beats which are very club capable, and works as well as anything else out there. This makes for a great introduction to the trip hop scene, especially for those into the harder and more techno related style of bands like The Chemical Brothers who appear here with their cut "Let Me In". Similar highlights include "Furvert" by Stepdisk, "Oh Zone Layer" from Dark Side Of The Shroom, and The Crystal Method's "Keep Hope Alive".

_1 ) Red Snapper - In Deep
_2 ) Chemical Brothers - Let Me In
_3 ) Stepdisk - Furvert
_4 ) Hip Optimist - Anafey
_5 ) Primal Scream - Give Up But Don't Give Out (Portishead Remix)
_6 ) Dark Side Of The Shroom - Oh Zone Layer
_7 ) Cirrus - Superstar DJ
_8 ) D'Cruze - Cruzin'
_9 ) Danny Saber - Indian Summer
10 ) Supersoul - Moments Of Bliss
11 ) Strata 3 - (It's Not) A Man's World
12 ) The Crystal Method - Keep Hope Alive
13 ) Zen Cowboys - Mad World (Stepdisk Remix)

Various - Techno Trip Hop (on Javelin/Fairway) ---- French release

The title on this compilation is a bit of a misnomer.....yes, it's definitely trip hop, but the techno element (though not entirely absent) is not very high profile like it is with the Chemical Brothers strain of the genre. However, what it lacks in electronics it makes up for in bass, putting a very dub-oriented slant on it with a solid dance appeal. There are some mellower moments too, but it generally stays on the funky side and is good quality all the way through; plus, it contains a bonus track of isolated rhythm loops designed for sampling in order to help you build your own trip hop numbers. Any ambient dub or drum & bass fans would probably also find this particular album to be of interest. Highlights include "Fallen" by Ape, "Janine" by Pronoia, and DJ Food's "Freedom".

_1 ) Up, Bustle & Out - The Hand Of Contraband
_2 ) Ape - Fallen
_3 ) Pronoia - Janine
_4 ) Kushti - Realidad
_5 ) 9 Lazy 9 - Brother Of The Red
_6 ) La Chatte Rouge - Fabulous Place
_7 ) DJ Food - Freedom
_8 ) Up, Bustle & Out - Ia Qui No Ma!
_9 ) Pronoia - E' Rotisi
10 ) Strata 3 - (It's Not) A Man's World
11 ) Dead Beats - Humdrum
12 ) Loops & Bass....

-- (EDITION #1) --

CHARTS

Electro-Shock Therapy Top 10 for February '96:

_1) Waiting for God - Waiting for God
_2) Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired
_3) Aleixa - Honeylake
_4) Veer Chasm - demo
_5) Hate Dept. - Omnipresent
_6) Crocodile Shop - Crush Your Enemies
_7) Indian Rope Burn - The Big-Bang Payoff
_8) Skinny Puppy - The Process
_9) Cage - demo
10) Mortal - Mortal

Electro-Shock Therapy Top 10 of 1995:

_1) Industrial Heads - The Fear and the Anguish at the End
_2) Battery - nv
_3) Cyber-Tec - Cyber-Tec
_4) Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired
_5) Aleixa - Honeylake
_6) "The Digital Space Between Vol. 2"
_7) Voice Industrie - the anatomie
_8) "Chaos Compilation"
_9) Argyle Park - Misguided
10) ATD Convention - Cyber Relations

Electro-Shock Therapy main feature: