Larvae
"Fashion Victim" CD
Ad
Noiseam
Genres: electronica, drum'n'bass
Ad Noiseam
c/o Nicolas Chevreux
Postfach 55 01 22
D-10371 Berlin
Germany
Dec 8 - 14 2003 |
Larvae's
Fashion Victim is a particularly accessible departure for Ad
Noiseam, everyone's favourite noise, industrial, and power
electronics label. While this disc's sound is frequently
abrasive in nature, there is also a very large focus on rhythm;
instead of being noise with an electronica flavour, it's electronica
with a noisy flavour. But that's all very deceiving, because overall, Fashion Victim
is a remarkably relaxing album. Larvae, aka Matthew
Jeanes, has created the perfect chill-out record using equal doses
of ambience, amazingly complex beats, and simple, short bits of
melody. "Tonystark" is the perfect case study; over a
windy, throbbing ambience, Jeanes works with an impossibly
complicated beat, melding it masterfully with a dark, gut-vibrating
bassline. The result is equal parts Aphex Twin and Plastikman.
Jeanes' noise background comes out in tracks like "The
Voice Collapse" and "Crazyeye," the latter of which
splices abrasive clippets of abrasion in with the beats to create a
fierce block of Venetian Snares-influenced pseudo-hardcore
mayhem. "Redline Version," meanwhile, could be the
album's best moment - using a simple field recording as its melodic
source, the piece is a complex, endlessly changing electro cut-up that
is as enjoyably listenable as it is powerfully rhythmic.
Fashion Victim is accessible, but not too much so. Larvae
straddles the line between daring experimentalism and listenable
drum'n'bass music. The result isn't as melodic as popular
electronica, but still a terrific, worthwhile album for fans of
electronic music. Given the chance, Fashion Victim could
be a permanent
staple of your listening diet.
88%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 10 tracks, distributed by Ad
Noiseam and Soleilmoon, released 2003] |
