First live recording ever from the sexsational industrial disco act. Features classic Wax Trax-era club hits, like "Kooler Than Jesus", "The Days of Swine and Roses", "Cuz it's Hot", and "Sex on Wheelz". One of the things I've always loved about TKK live is that they 'always' play variant mixes of their music from those on the releases. Thus if you want to hear cool remixes of TKK tracks just check them out live. I've done this no less than at least four or five times and I have never been let down yet. This album is no different and it is the first time for them to actually record them and produce a live album. Just check the tracklisting and you can see that there are some great tracks included here. The whole album is total TKK Mindway and though some of the mixes may production-wise fall slightly short in rare cases the overall sound is not nearly as raw as you'd expect. For a live album it's quite well produced. Also, I like how you can hear the words better on many of these as well such as on "Nervous Xians". The original is so hard to comprehend. "I walked through forests with ugly spirits, kissed their feet and found them calm, calm, calm...". Fans will also note that this is also the same song with a different name as "After The Flesh" from The Crow soundtrack. I just think that Buzzy shouldn't sing over the samples so much though. This is a great release for those who are still in love with the 'old' TKK but also like the newer sounds as well. This is a psycho-sexual head trip back to the late 80's underground of harsh dance-industrial with a taste of disco. Fans will also note that the mix of "Swine and Roses" used here is more like the KMFDM remix than their own. I'm amazed at how well this album captures the live sound and experience (minus the visuals of course). So, even if you already own all the TKK CDs with all these songs you still have to get this as they all sound 'very' different and totally reach out and grab you live. So come'on Sexy Sucker and Ride the Mindway!! Also, if you wish to continue your Mindway experience be sure to check out the brand new TKK side projects Cherrie Blue and Darling Kandie.

Their ‘Copycat" video I saw a while back took the word ‘awful’ to new heights, with it’s big hair and high kicking about in a underground crypt, all over some very stereotypical metal schlock. With this one, they have grown a deal, but still have a ways to go. At least the clichéd metal and big hair are gone, though the singer still can’t really sing above an Oasis-like nasal whine (in German) and bang out a guitar line that I’ve heard in every teen comedy ever made. Track 4 is the only one that really has any redeeming value to it, with it’s violin lines, though it still harbors a quasi-dance rhythm and that ‘’Stefan-Ackerman with Down Syndrome" German drone on it. This CD may be progress for them from the pits of their past laughability, but goddamn do they still suck bad. They pretend to be metal and the metal element is not there at all. They pretend to be goth, and all the goth there is in this is their clothes. And their classical element they tote so much is in short spurts no longer than 20 seconds. I’m hoping their full length is better and that this is just a bad mistake for a song, but I’m kinda doubting it. I was wrong on the one part, Track 5, the remix of "Not Every Pain Hurts" is the only redeemable one, getting me safe away from that German whining, and is actually quite skillfully done. And it took Sabotage’s remix of that to save it! Well, we can only hope on the next one... ... ... ... Rating: 2. For metal/goth/classical stuff save your money and get My Dying Bride.

First outing by the mastermind behind Thanatos, Patrick Ogle. The CD is a very interesting mix of drones,accoustic guitar, and semi-industrial beats, all with a humorous tongue-in-cheek outlook. It's kinda what you get if you took the Swans (latter era),Snog, and Death in June (ala "She Said Destroy") and mixed them together. The highlight on htis one would have to be track 6, "Drop the Dime", with it's gentle guitar line flowing over a soft ambient soundscape, recalling to me the Swan's song "Song For Dead Time" minus the female vocals. A strong release overall, and something a little more humorous in my collection for a change. Rating: 9.

This is my first taste of Gridlock’s new sound since their bone-crunching, dark masterpiece, "Further", which took the fine line between industrial and drumnbass and sledgehammered it into the psyche.
The first track, "Uh4.17" is a trancey effort with it’s subliminal keyboard lines and that classic Gridlock beat we all love slamming away in the back. And when the beats subside the beauty of the track is undeniable, leaving in it’s wake a very melancholy atmosphere. Then comes the title track "Further", which is just purely haunting, it’s lingering sounds in the back accompanying a bass beat from the darkest corner of the mind. This track and the whole "Further" CD is a trip through the mind of a machine suddenly ready to commit suicide at any second, like the ghost from ‘Event Horizon’ if it could play music. Track 3, "Burn" is from their debut CD, "The Synthetic Form" which won them such acclaims as "the new heirs to the industrial throne" by Industrial Nation, and rightfully so. Another hauntingly beautiful track, ".0002" follows, with the same dreamy formula now incorporated into their new sound, though it is still quite unsettling as it is beautiful.
The entire CD is simply Gridlock, which is the highest compliment you can possibly give them, as they have truly through the years paved out their own sound and have mastered it thoroughly. They mastered industrial and now have moved onto to a unique mix of that and IDM, all with pure emotion and atmosphere. Pure fucking genius, what else can I really say about them?
Rating:10. This CD is limited to 250, so I highly advise getting your copy ASAP!

Second volume of Detroit Electronica Coalition samplers, devoted to the promotion of the Motor City electronic scene. 17 tracks, 72 minutes, and an inner sheet with information about single artists. Let's say the projects and bands cover most nuances of electro, techno and EBM, from melodic to noisy and obsessive - plus a few outsiders, like Silvercord (more dark-wave in a Projekt vein) or Smitty and Tek Meister (sort of d'n'b + noisy loops). Interesting to notice how Detroit electro-EBM acts sound very akin' to their European colleagues. I guess the compilation will work if you're into the genre, and tracks like Jealous of Frank's "Future folk" do have their appeal. But I just find most artists not that challenging, with some totally mainstream ones like Esion or Heterosonic which could suit MTV, but not my poor ears.