EBM IS DEAD! Or at least, so claims Neuroticfish in the
liner notes to the CD ‘Sushi’. Which makes me wonder,
what is this if it isn’t EBM? And what the heck does the
name ‘Neuroticfish’ mean anyway?
Essentially a collection of re-mixes, B-sides and unreleased
material, ‘Sushi’ is thirteen tracks of dance-floor-friendly
futurepop goodness. The collection features four different
remixes of Neuroticfish’s prominent single ‘Wake Me
Up!’, which are varied enough in their sound to ward off
sounding stale and boring the listener. Each remix has a
different sound to it, and if not for the vocal track you
wouldn’t know they came from the same song. A pleasant
surprise, seeing as most CD’s with more than two re-mixes
of the same song end up being a chore to listen to (‘Head
Like A Hole’ 10 track maxi single, anyone?). Considering
that Neuroticfish produced or co-produced most of the
remixes, it’s surprising to see so much variation in the
sound. Refreshing in a time when every remix of every
band’s song sounds like VNV Nation reject material. Also
included are two different versions of ‘Velocity’, the best
song you’ve danced to at the club without even knowing
what it is.
The best song on the collection is ‘Neurocaine’.
Reminiscent of the days when New Order were worth
listening to, the song has a definite early 80’s new
wave feel to it, especially in the deceptively simplistic
sounding synthesized drum track and retro-sounding
arpeggiation. ‘Neurocaine’ is the song you wish your
favorite 80’s new wave group would record with today’s
technology, if they weren’t too busy writing their new
acoustic indy rock or emo album.
Neuroticfish will appeal to the fans of bands riding the new
wave of new wave like Mesh, Beborn Beton and Seabound,
as well as current future-pop stars such as Icon of Coil and
VNV Nation. The sound on ‘Sushi’ is pretty tight and
coherent, well-produced futurepop that you won’t want to sit
still and listen to. These songs demand to be danced to.
Even the previously unreleased demo track ‘Rotten’ holds
up pretty well against other music in the scene today. It’s
surprisingly well-produced and competently composed,
though compared to the other songs on ‘Sushi’ it has a
more stripped down, borderline industrial feel to it.
Normally hesitant to recommend ‘remixes and B- sides’
collections, I have to give ‘Sushi’ its due and advise you to
give it a listen. It has a strong, consistent sound throughout,
with enough variation to stave off boredom and keep you
listening. – chris parasyte
Tag: Dancing Ferret Discs
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Neuroticfish – Sushi
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The Cruxshadows – Tears
It took me about five seconds to fall in love with this CD.
Here’s the break down for you
Track One: Tears
I really enjoyed the synth work on this, and the voice of Rouge is very pleasant. As well, the chorus is very uplifting. You’ll love it right off the bat (if at all) and it will continue to grow on you with every listen. Very goth-electro, very cool
Track Two: Tears (Apoptygma Berzerk re-mix)
There are still vomit stains on my carpet from when I heard samples of APB’s Harmonizer. Lucky for The Cruxshadows, APB pulled off a decent remix of Tears. It has the typical progressive layered build up for the first two minutes and the super synthy overdose we have come to expect from APB, but I didn’t add any more stains to my
carpet, so it must have been good.Track Three: Within
My personal favorite. As with the original version of Tears,
the beat is catchy and Rouge’s voice is soft and follows the
synth in perfect sync. This is a fantastic choice for DJ’s –
easily danceable. By now on the CD I notice that the lyrics
on this CD are very spiritual and very metaphorical, more so
than most lyrics I pay attention to. The violins in this track are a nice touch, they follow you throughout the song but just under the level of being noticed, at least at firstTrack Four: Tears (Robbie Tronco/Knobhead remix)
This begins with violins, the violins stop and synth replaces it. Then the violins decide to play along, and somehow the total effect gives a very Egyptian feel. This is my favorite remix of Tears – I’ve always been a sucker
for a violin.Track Five: Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky, which means basically gibberish, starts out with some thunder and a narrative from our man Rouge, and some creepy gothy sounds. I didn’t enjoy this track a lot, but still enjoyed it, I suppose I am a bit partial to Tears on this CD, but that’s just me. If anything this track is creative, but also very short, just under three minutes.
Track Six: Tears (Fictional remix)
Rouges vocals are teched in this track, some will like it, some wont. The synth beat gives off the same aura that APB’s remix did – good, but generic.
Track Seven: Heaven’s Gaze (acoustic tears edit)
I am indifferent to this, it’s definitely different from all the
others, mainly for it’s lack of synth. It’s goth, its got
pianos, and hard to hate. Wait, I changed my mind, the
chorus just came on, I like it! Yes, because of the violins.
Bonus CD Video Track: Tears Recorded Live (Artifact
Tour 2001 , Philadelphia, PA)
This was fun to watch, Rouge’s vocals were pretty good, and he wears one of those head set deals, which allows him to roam about on stage, and even off stage, he actually walked into the audience during the song, I found that very cool. -
Behind The Scenes – Homeless
German based Behind the Scenes has brought us a
fantastic release that is best described as Goth-Pop, or
Goth-Electronic. If you don’t like either of those titles, pick
the other one. It’s been a while since I have been able to review a CD with so many memorable tracks, so bear with me while I attempt to express my passion for Behind The Scenes’ “Homeless” I first encountered BTS through their label, Dancing Ferret Discs. DFD has some great gems, Neuroticfish, Paralyzed Age, The Cruxshadows, and of course, Behind the Scenes.
Behind the Scenes has a fantastic blend of guitars,
electronics, and vocals. The guitars play a great part in
contribution to the overall character of each track, the
electronics compliment the character of these tracks and
the vocals give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. I really
enjoyed the vocals of BTS – it always seems like there is
more than one man singing, this is most likely done with a
slight echo effect, but regardless of the technical work, it
does have an emotional response for me.
Each track has it’s own distinct flavor, but the great part is
that once you are a seasoned fan of BTS, you will recognize them right off the bat when hearing them in a club.
Every track has great appeal, but to narrow it down, the
tracks that stand out the most would be Human, Protection, Plastic Love (a great track for clubs) and Dark Agression.
– Azriel J. Knight
