Music Reviews

“matera”

Matera

Same Here

Invisible

Thank God for the Chemical Brothers! I’ve always had to be a closet supporter of House and Techno music, while always openly expressing a certain personal disgust and suspicion of it. It’s not that there isn’t a lot of great raver music out there (there is!) but, let’s face it, for every ounce of good music, there’s a ton of oversimplified, minimalist snake oil that’s convinced a bunch of pierced escapist geeks that they’ve had some kind of epiphany huffing and listening to a mix of some “really intense” buzzes, clicks and beeps. Chemical Bros. have at least upped the stakes and standards of what’s good, opening the door for the semi-established likes of Mick Harris, formerly of Scorn and now of Matera.

Fans of Scorn are already familiar with Harris’ talent to layer sounds in creating dark and often disturbing moods and will be pleased at how distinct and clear these layers are on Same Here (Praise Allah for high-tech!). Although Same Here starts off in the same slow, dirgish, kinda ambient manner as Scorn, the second track, “Pure Realism” departs heavily from previous Harris projects and could be interpreted as some actually, real fine-ass danceable shit. (A far cry from Scorn’s more metallish roots.) “Old School” Harris keeps up with the rapid pace of change catalyzed by the Chemical Brothers and young digi-punks like Atari Teenage Riot and actually has a lot of his own brand of wisdom to boot. Invisible Records, P.O. Box 16008, Chicago, IL 60616; http://www.invisiblerecords.com


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