Lords Of Acid - Little Mighty Rabbit.

Lords Of Acid’s latest single Little Mighty Rabbit goes beyond an ode to one of the most popular sex toys on the market to become an anthem of sheer sexual indulgence. As the lead single off the EP of the same name and touting a rather graphic music video(NSFW) in its wake that can only really be described with the phrase ‘as close to porn as you can get on YouTube’ all that can be said is ‘Mucho macho love’ indeed. This single and its remix are delightfully rhythmic and deliciously dirty with some catchy chants. Its easy to believe that this may be the very song that saw the bands recordings interrupted earlier this year by a police raid, called out to investigate reports of hedonistic chanting lodged by disgruntled neighbours. The rest of the EP features similar fare, including KMFDMs slowed down choppy ‘Smell-O-Kitty mix’ with occasional bass stings reminiscent of the Lexx series score among a number of more atmospheric mixes to the sudden kick in the teeth that are the hard electronic beats in the latter half of the ‘Christopher Lawrence’ mix. Appropriately enough, on the ‘Dirty Dub Dildo’ mix you can practically feel the vibrations from the added dub warble track that chugs and slides just like an extra bass guitar line, making for some almost metal-step drops in its midsection. The most original take on the track is the ‘DJ Micro’ mix which from its outset feels like a completely different song. Focussing on the almost unrecognisable lyric “It’s so fun, he’s always at the party” before launching into a slightly more urgent electro beat driven mix. The ‘Krack Bunny’ mix adds a little distortion to pot for a marginally more sinister take on the song than the ‘Dirty Dub Dildo’ mix but wholly in the same vein and arguably with more bass drops. The echoes, stuttery ‘Radical G’ mix plays the whole down and dirty electronic drum track with all the power and feel of a typical Combichrist mix adding a lot of attitude to the song but failing to make a significant enough change to warrant lasting 8 minutes. The desolate back alley drum beat of the ‘Suburban Secrets’ mix and emphasis of the songs opening chant help break some of the monotony towards the end of the album giving a sort of Pigface feel to this distorted electronic mix. Disappointingly the Tweaker mix shows little variation from the KMFDM ‘Smell-O-Kitty’ mix but is definitely more powerful darker, and with a rock sensibility lacking in other tracks. The two genuine b-sides of this release, ‘Sole Sucker’ and ‘Drowning In Ecstasy’ are almost as entertaining as the lead single. ‘Drowning In Ecstasy’ is the more savage electro industrial ditty of the pair while ‘Sole Sucker’ is an assertive, graphic account of foot fetishism.
On the whole, while the lead single of this release is undoubtedly destined to be a sleazy dance-floor hit, and though there is some variation among the mixes, an unhealthy amount of the EP feels unnecessary or underwhelming. Looking at the single itself, well, It’s a Lords Of Acid song. Reinventing themselves recently as a part of the EBM/alternative electronic scene a greater focus has been put on the beats than the overtly sexual lyrics that have always been the mainstay of L.O.A’s work. At the end of the day this is an exceptionally catchy song about a sex toy, carried out in a way that fits everything that comes with that idea and works well, but as I’ve said, doesn’t quite work over the course of so many mixes.
Lords Of Acid – Little Mighty Rabbit is available now via Metropolis Records.

Contagion: An Outbreak Of EBM/Industrial Anarchy This September.

This September, right on cue to carve its own niche in the university crowd, infectious Goth, EBM and Industrial night Contagion lands in Teesside and is set to hit harder than freshers Flu.
The brainchild of long established local club DJ Evil Eye Bri, Contagion is set to take place in legendary, dark, dank Middlesbrough club Basement (formerly known as Blaises) which itself has a long standing reputation as an alternative music venue. As wholly new dark club experience in Middlesbrough we asked DJ Evil Eye Bri just what is going to go down at the debut event.
“What can you expect from a night at Contagion? Well, as far as music goes we’ll be playing a mix of goth/deathrock and EBM/industrial. On the goth side of things we’ll be playing plenty of the old classics such as Bauhaus and Alien Sex Fiend along with newer up and coming acts like O Children and Berlin Black, and there’ll be the big name cyber/industrial bands like VNV Nation and Combichrist played alongside bands that are currently making a name for themselves like Deviant UK and Uberbyte.

Freebies are on hand for the most eager Contagion goers.

We’ll have ‘stuff’ to give away on the night including badges, stickers and a one of a kind T-shirt. And I’ll be dressing the venue up a little but you’ll have to wait for the night to see what that’s going to look like. Hopefully this will all come together to create a great atmosphere that everyone will enjoy and if enough people show up and have a good time we’ll be looking to do more nights in the future”.
Open 10pm to 3am September 16th, Entry is £3 on the door with an assortment of goodies lined up for early attendees.

The Birthday Massacre - Imaginary Monsters.

Imaginary Monsters, the brand new EP from The Birthday Massacre features 3 brand new songs and a smattering of intense remixes.
While essentially holding on to the tried and tested Birthday Massacre blend of 80′s electro pop with gothic rock and metal sensibilities EP opener ‘Forever’ is softer than some would expect. Never fear; the punchy bass riffs of O.E., incendiary drumming of Rhim, dual guitars of Falcore and Rainbow, along with heart rending chimes of Owen on keys and the versatile bitter sweet voice of Chibi are all still in perfect balance. Forever thankfully takes very little time to kick in but may need patience on its first listen. Burn Away is immediately heavier and sings the pre-emptive feelings of loss and separation felt as you lose sight of a future with the one you love. ‘Its only forever for a day, tomorrow is burning away’. Left Behind is a brief but touching track that crumbles and crashes amongst hammer strike drums and guitars that eventually dwindle to samples of distant squealing children, a sound tying together these three wholly original songs, cowering at Imaginary Monsters.
The Kevvy Mental mix of Pale adds swirling synth tones to a slightly slower brewing version of the Pins and Needles track. Strangely, these elements draw out the rockier side of the song which truly comes into its own in its latter half. Tweaker takes on the charging Control and somehow makes it sound more like The Birthday Massacre than it did before, augmenting their sparkling chimes while adding bassy synth in just the right measure. Also packing a much rockier wallop are the added vocal breaks and creaks of Combichrist’s mix of Shallow Grave. Shallow Grave is a surprising mix for Combichrist, packing shades of 80′s electro and guitar breaks in lieu of their typical gravelly drum machine driven mixes, not that there is anything to complain about in the outcome. The immensely heavy guitars of the Pins And Needles Skold mix do nothing to diminish the emotive brooding of the song but exceptionally typify the rockiest of The Birthday Massacre, almost splicing Blue into Pins And Needles.  Taking the opposite approach,  Assemblage 23 pick out and patch together the synths of Shallow Grave to create a beat filled, club friendly hit that stays true to spirit of the song.
These well packaged mixes wrap up a brilliantly balanced EP from an act who’ve built a career out of melding together some seemingly incompatible sounds to touching and earthshaking effect. Imaginary Monsters teases with its three new songs and pleases with its retouched reminders of last years brilliant album Pins And Needles. Imaginary Monsters sets up a solid theme for its three new pieces, all of which execute it delightfully well while assuring us all, there’s still life in The Birthday Massacre and certainly much more to see after this release.

“Imaginary Monsters” will be released on August 12th via Out Of Line Music.