Week Of 10/18 - Industrial, Rock, Gypsy, Trip-Hop

New Releases:

Kidneythieves - The Invisible Plan
Label: self released
Released: 10/18 2011
Genre: Industrial/Trip-Hop
The 5 Track EP is Kidneythieves in top form, always getting better. Pushing the trip-hop style from the 90s up a notch into something bigger and better. The first track, Never And Me, is on my I Can Put It On Repeat For Hours list of songs, it's just amazing, strikes a chord deep down. The kind of song that belongs on the Insomnia At 0300 playlist. The whole EP is good, it doesn't overburden itself with remixes, which is a nice change from the modern EP format. Instead it's five new tracks, all of them excellent material. If you pre-ordered then you also got the Acoustic version of Floating Angels. It's not quite industrial heavy, but feels like it could easily swing that way with the addition of some extra bassline.

Adding To The Collection

Army Of The Universe - Mother Ignorance
Label: Metropolis Records
Released: 2011
Genre: Industrial
Italian Industrial duo Army OT Universe come out with this debut album, and it really spins the genre around a little. A little more rock, and little less concerned with 'club hits' and definitely showing a lot of glam-rock through the heavy beats. With a better-than-the-original cover of Bjork's "Army Of Me" on it, the album never misses a beat, and keeps on rocking. These guys are going to do nothing but get better and better, their debut here kicks some serious ass.

16 Volt - Letdowncrush
Label: Re-Constriction Records/Cargo Music
Released: 1996
Genre: Industrial
Early 16 Volt seemed unencumbered, raw, and very guitar driven. Letdowncrush is a perfect example of 90s Industrial-Rock, and stands the test of time. It's a great piece of crunchy music, driving forward, and not getting caught on itself. It's not particularly hard, or heavy, very much teetering on the edge of Industrial and Gothic-Rock, either way it is a very cool album. With the exception of the final track that's noise behind the rantings of a radio caller, I really find it annoying when bands add five minutes of some strange person ranting on a radio talk-show/interview. Luckily it is last and easily skipped past.

Lemon Drop Kick - Lemon Drop Kick EP
Label: self-released
Released: 2011
Genre: Rock/J-Rock
LA Based Japanese/American rock band, this 4-track EP is their first offering up of a professional (or semi-professional) nature. I've seen them live and they put on one hell of a good show. On disc, though, they're simply pretty average rock, nothing bad, but nothing that really truly stands out above and beyond. Maybe I'll check back on their next release and see if they've acquired a sound that's less generic.

Rough Guide To Hungarian Gypsies
Label: World Music Network
Released: 2011
Genre: Gypsy/Folk
Another Rough Guide, another look at Gypsy music from Eastern Europe. The one thing I like about these Gypsy compilations is that it shows a massively varied selection of musical style in a relatively small area of the world, especially since they all tend to use the same or very similar instruments. I think this might be my favorite Gypsy compilation of all, it lets vocals shine a little more, feels a little more open, and whirling about. If you need a collection to start with for Gypsy musics, start here.

Bonus Tracks
Korn - Narcissistic Cannibal
Label: self-released
Released: October 2011
Genre: Dubstep
Korn offered up this free track from their upcoming album, and they have done nothing but gotten better over the past ten years. This little track they went way off their typical field and into the Dubstep arena, enlisting the help of Skrillex and Kill The Noise they produced a heavy, crunchy, guitar driven piece of dubstep madness. If this is a sign of their upcoming album I'm hooked.

Next week I cut back, and load up a small stack of compilations I've had lying around for a while now - world music, punk rock, and the new Tom Waits are all being loaded and listened to...