2nd Gen
Irony Is
Novamute
Nightmares come in all shapes and sizes. Just ask industrial terrorist and former Fun•Da•Mental bassist Wajid Yaseen, the diminutive, Muslim-bred Brit behind the hydra-headed beast known as 2nd Gen. On his debut long-playing manifesto, Irony Is, Yaseen finds a contemporary in Kevin Martin (who offers a guest remix here) and his Curse of the Golden Vampire and Techno Animal projects by charring up some of the most mind-numbingly violent mind-fuck dub ever unleashed upon the law-abiding populace. Alternately funky and slammin•, 2nd Gen lathers onto his beatbox apocalypse more than enough digital distortion and EQ destruction to make the DHR fans foam at the mouth, but underneath it all • way underneath, but I wouldn•t recommend trying this on headphones •less you want to end up in a coma • run various subtly muted samples and frequencies that only gurgle up when the volume•s way past 10 (see Godflesh•s Pure for similar results). And at 45 minutes, the album is just the right length to escape overkilling tedium. If Tricky•s Pre-Millennium Tension was just that, perhaps Irony Is should be re-named Post-Millennium Tension: More cogent than Curse of the Golden Vampire, more multi-dimensional than Techno Animal, 2nd Gen and his un-ironic opening shot should appeal to adventurous metalheads and hard-drug-lovin• trip-hoppers alike. •Musicians Are Morons•? In your (head)case, Mr. Yaseen, •fraid not.
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