Graveconcernsezine.com reviews MATAMACHETE BLIPVERT

ARTIST: Matamachete
ALBUM: Tanin No Kao
LABEL: D-Trash Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 2-10-09

With their mixture of hard drum 'n' bass beats, aggressive guitars, and punk-inspired shouts (often in Japanese, no less), Swiss group Matamachete are one of the more interesting things to hit the industrial scene of late. "Modus Operandi" opens their newest album with a violent blast pummeling breakbeats, chunky metal guitar riffs, and atonal yelps, something like what you'd imagine Mindless Self Indulgence would sound like if you replaced the juvenile humor with some real punk nihilism. Title track "Tanin No Kao" is brutal but funky, Japanese lyrics barked through a vocoder over gargantuan guitar chords and a rumbling hip-hop rhythm, and "Greed" can't quite decide of it's sexy or angry, pairing a throbbing bass and dirty synth sequence with mean guitars and throat-tearing shrieks. For all its intensity and barely controlled rage, this album has its lighter moments, too. "Brand of the Beast" and "Count Me Out" cross new school metal grooves with hip-hop breaks and a cleaner vocal delivery; they're big and brutal, but there's a funky vibe that's infectious and fun. "Freedom of Choice" actually slows down the electronics to a tempo approaching mellow, though the staccato vocals and sharp guitar riffs give the song its requisite edge, and "Few Things to Share" is one of the album's slowest tracks as well as its darkest, vocals snarled over a languid but oppressive rhythm section. With an aesthetic that draws on aggressive breakbeat and jungle rhythms as well as unapologetically metal guitar riffs, this is an album that manages to appeal in equal measure to drum 'n' bass and hard rock fans; it will especially appeal to fans of the new breed of industrial metal represented by groups like Rabbit Junk. Check out Matamachete online at www.matamachete.com.

ARTIST: BlipVert
ALBUM: Stop:Skronk:Explode!
LABEL: D-Trash Records
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 2-10-09

BlipVert is the solo project of Will Redmond, who also plays in a number of other projects, including experimental act Cartridge and minimalist dub act E. Priest. Redmond's solo material runs the gamut from video game music to drum 'n' bass to ambient, but all uniquely spliced together and sped up into a frantic and punishing blur of ever-changing sounds and rhythms. Dub music is just about the last genre anyone would ever describe as frantic, but Redmond manages to make it happen on the first track; as "Peace with Ummem" segues from flute trills and footsteps to studio buzz and drumbeats, the rhythm turns into something fast and distorted but nonetheless possessed of an instrumental reggae flavor. It sounds like Lee "Scratch" Perry getting pulverized by a runaway freight train. "Big Boy Slip" is all abrasive distortion and sudden tempo changes, and "Barbwire Girls" slips seemingly at random between high-BPM hardcore techno and washes of ambience. As if the frenetic nature of his music wasn't enough, Redmond also makes several of his compositions extra creepy with what sound like disturbing playground rhymes, as on "Couch of Soob" and "Tao to a Feel." While Redmond is certainly capable of moving into mellower territory, as on the purely ambient outro "Georges" or the Art of Noise-inspired "Bye Judy, Don't Make 'em Sad," the pure unpredictability of this release is enough to drive a typical techno listener to self-harm. Noise freaks, on the other hand, will eat this up. Visit ww.synapsecompound.com for more information on BlipVert and Will Redmond's other projects.