After "Mask" the AntiQuark girls Maren and aunt Ant (you might remember their names from interviews on Chain D.L.K.) are back with their new album "Neon H". As I expressed my honest (not too positive) opinions about their debut, which I didn't like very much, the two lovely chicks might expect me to be evil again, but this time around, although perfection hasn't been reached yet, they definitely got a better shot at it. Written, arranged, produced, recorded and mixed by the couple, based out in San Diego, California, "Neon H" is definitely an improvement over its predecessor. A layered structure of electronic music provides for soft grounds on which samples, strings and eccentric vocal parts are laid down in multiple tones and approaches, recalling memories and influences spanning from germaniac ebm to more american experimentation. You can buy this for very cheap off of their site. Eight tracks of this will accompany for a shy half hour and will prepare you for their upcoming remixes album.

SMP/Jason Bazinet has always had an aggressive sound but it's never been recorded so well as it has here in his latest release. I've always been a fan of SMP but "Crimes of the Future" is a stand out recording. The production is fantastic, the songs are varied and are consistently fresh to listen to. The CD covers some similar ground heard in past SMP exploits with a fusion of punk, industrial and rap elements tightly knit into a package much larger than the individual sum of it's parts. Only this time around Jason adds a heavier melodic element into the mix, significantly influencing the dynamics of the album, giving it a whole new dimension not heard in previous SMP releases. Stand out tracks: "This Perfect Day", "Three O'Clock", "Retro Human" and the excellent Agent Orange cover "Bloodstains".

Rasputin's first album DAS LEBERWURSTBROT has been a surprise for me, because it gathers old and new techno/electro influences by sounding like a crossover of old and new D.A.F. passing through John Foxx and Kraftwerk. Rasputin wants to keep his personality hidden and I don't know if the name has been chosen because of Grigorij Rasputin, the mad monk which coming from a modest family ended by being one of the most influential man of the Russian throne. I can't tell what the lyrics are about, because they are all sung in German but I assure you that Rasputin's music is rough and tense. Even if it contains a lot of melody, there's always a sense of controlled violence on the eleven tracks of the CD (the twelfth is only a eleven seconds noise track which divide the two parts of the album). The violence explodes into all its beauty thanks to the remixes made by Ambassador 21, Asche, CTRLer, Iszoloscope, Punch Inc and Hell G. Definitively this is one of the best records of this early 2005!!!

Jungle, ambient, breakcore and tons of coolness make of this EVERYTHING'S EXACTLY THE SAME a record you don't have to miss. Since the first song you'll realize that Chevron is a king at the creation of a perfect mixture made of ambient layers, breakcore rhythms, bleeping synths and thousands of other little sounds that enrich the tracks. I already listened to a live version of the opening track "Swimming lessons" downloading a live concert of the Reflex Records crew. Chevron's ability to mix past electronica with moder sounds is evident in tracks like "Optic realisation" where the ambience created by the synth pads make me think of an up to date version of Tangerine Dream or early J. M. Jarre. Electronic from the past isn't the only thing that Chevron made me think of, because on tracks like "Bathyscaphe" or "Rudi the techno pioneer" (a weird meeting of ragamuffin and techno) Chevron express himself projecting the music towards the future creating an original blend of sounds. The CD version has got fourteen tracks (the vinyl has got only eight of them) for fifty minutes of pure pleasure... try it!

With REVULSIVE Stefano Rossello's :Bahntier// reached its third album . Since the first listening the eleven tracks of the album show immediately an high concentration of tension and paranoia (see the distorted rhythms looped and the few sounds used on each track). Usually I do my reviews listening to the promos with my headphones, well, with this I had to take some pauses because of the sound: compressed, hypnotic and disturbing. Some tracks are based on this sound but tracks like "Cramp", "Entrapvoices", "Inauguration of doom" are more on the industrial/e.b.m. side (Skinny Puppy and Nitzer Ebb seems to be the principal influences on these tracks) while "State of gray" and "Inscrutable" are more dark ambient oriented. Even if it has been a disturbing listening, little by little I felt a sensation of sickness pervading through the room and if this is what Stefano was looking for, well, he succeeded! You have been warned...