This page was created on 06/15/00 for reviews of Electronic bands/artists that are not attached to a label.

Experimental/electronic music from France.

You really have to be in a mood for some unusual stuff to listen to this. It’s quirky and sounds as if Matthieu Joseph has created several different songs, then cut them into pieces and reattached them like Frankenstein into odd pieces. There are several neat melodies that come out in these songs, but they are juxtaposed between some jazzy and industrial pieces. Like I said, quirky. This is the kind of music that you hear on the soundtracks of independent movies, like  the Movie. It’s all electronic but I think there is a synthesized distorted guitar sound. It doesn’t really sound like guitar, but I don’t think it is meant to.

Unfortunately for me, I know so little French and cannot translate anything for you here. Everything is written in French, but occasionally an English word will come out, like "nothing" in the song "Ce qui devait devenir"; at least I think he’s saying "nothing". The overall impression I have is that this music is some sort of post-modern, post-structuralist electronic experimental music set to the artist’s poetry,

Address:

The word "artist" is very appropriate here. From the music the art work to the lyrics and the samples, Bryan T. Hughes has created a very strong Industrial effort that is thematic, like the way a movie company coordinates art, music and such to create an overall effect. "Take" is consistently political, social, and philosophical in all these areas. One feels as if one has stepped into a theater, you only need close your eyes to soak it all in. Song titles include: "the civilized man", "Ambulatory Meat Plants", "Zero-Conscience Parasites", etc. Musically, this album has a very STRONG resemblance to early Circle of Dust from the first two albums, especially "Brainchild". One might well think that Klay Scott was involved in this project, but he wasn’t. But the comparison should be seen as quite a compliment as Scott is an incredibly talented musician. Hughes is too, and his years of experience as a session musician is evident on this CD.

Bryan Hughes is a man with strong convictions. This is obvious. Most of his songs are like treatises on various subjects. For example, the song, "But They Do" is a very well founded criticism of the "Christian Right" as a political movement. The samples are very telling. I must say that, even though I am a Christian, I do not feel comfortable with the "Christian Right". Their emphasis on legislating Christianity makes me think of the medieval power struggles between the popes and kings. Other songs like "Clench Down" and "Mesopotamia" deal with America as a military power. Once again, the story is told by the samples and really accented by the cool Industrial Starsky and Hutch music. "Ambulatory Meat Plants" is a very humerous poke at animal rights groups, I think. Some of my readers will find the language offensive. The rest of things songs deal with similar and other areas of interest. The CD ends with a song called "Angels and Machines" which was inspired by an artist—sci-fi comic artist, I think—which is very impressionistic.

Let me say it again, this CD is an exceptionally good release and has the look, feel, and sound of a major label release. It’s good for fans of Circle of Dust and similar aggro-Industrial bands.

More Reviews to come soon.

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