Various Artists : 4-Way Split LP
In the 6 or so years I've been
reviewing underground electronic music, D-Trash Records has been one of the few
labels that I've received material from consistently, and it's been rather cool
to track the development of the label. My opinion of their records is often
varied, but I have a ton of respect for them and their aesthetic, and it's rare
that I don't like at least a few parts of each record.
This recent offering from the label comes in the form of a 4 way split album,
all more or less breakcore/ digital hardcore themed. To the best of my knowledge
this is the first time I've heard from any of these artists, but I definitely
want to hear more.
The anarchistic fiesta begins with 4 tracks from Belarussian project Clip, who
have a nice and harsh style, by far the harshest sounding of the four projects
here. There are some nice guitars and distorted sample usage to accompany the
spastic ADD beats, which is nice. The overall focus seems to be raw power via
distortion, and that is definitely achieved here. Good stuff for sure.
Up next we have 4 tracks from the brilliantly named US project Midi Fister,
which take us in a comparatively more polished, glitchy direction that is
definitely enjoyable. The breaks are very much still emphasized here, but there
is a ton of stuff going on, with lots of nice textures and cut ups thrown into
the mix. At times I can see elements of Contra at play.... By far the best
produced effort of the projects here, and possibly the most diverse.
Russian noiseters Distonn are up to bat in the third round, offering yet another
set of four tracks is a pretty straight forward breakcore style, with the
addition of punk guitars and various sample abuse/ plunderphonics, at times a
bit grindcore influenced. At times the material is more raw, at other times,
more polished, but the beaks and samples are in from most of the time. I wish
there was less emphasis on the samples, because some of them just aren't that
strong. I enjoy the usage of the foreign pop songs, but I don't really need to
hear a high pitch Papa Roach sample over and over. Overall it's good stuff
though.
Disbreakz close the show with their 4 tracks, and this Croatian project
continutes in a similar vein as their predecessors, only with even more emphasis
on samples, again in the form of foreign pop (which likely isn't so foreign to
them, maybe.), and less guitars. The samples are used a bit more effectively by
this project, but I do think it's a bit of a crutch. The beats are nice, as are
the other sounds used, and it's definitely okay stuff.
All in all, this 4-way split is pretty solid, and it offers up enough variety to
please most anybody who digs good breakcore. If you dig you beaks fast and
broken, check this sucker out! I definitely recommend it