Aesthetic Perfection - Inhuman.

From now until the 31st of January Aesthetic Perfection are running a video competition on YouTube, where, simply put, fans are invited to dance and “win crap”. Fans are asked to dance to any track from the latest album ‘All Beauty Destroyed’ for a chance to win anything they want from the official merchandise store. In the official Aesthetic Perfection newsletter the band also spelled out the tantalizing prospect of a prize only described as “SOMETHING SO AWESOME WE HAVEN’T THOUGHT OF IT YET” anyone who reaches the staggering heights of 30,000 hits by the deadline.
Entrants are invited to be as crazy and inventive as they can, and above all, have fun. At the same time they are also invited to spam their friends like crazy with their endeavours, so if you receive a clip of somebody stomping along to ‘Inhuman’, be a dear and pass it on.

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.

Uberbyte - NFY.

Previews of tracks from Uberbytes upcoming album ‘NFY’, scheduled for release September 5th, have begun to surface and are decidedly club oriented. Judging by the titles alone on this release the focus is all on oontz, hardcore beats and a self explanatory attempt at Evil Trance. Uberbyte have in the past played with the many niches and clichés of the industrial and EBM scene with pounding beats and powerful vocals from front man Richard Pyne constantly present in their work.
While these first few tracks are issued as a DJ pack it is possible they are not fully representative of the new album, but, granting the exceptions of ‘Hardcore Industrial’ and ‘Moneyshot’, they mark a distinct swerve towards a more mainstream dance sound. In the case of ‘Gott Mitt Oontz’ the deep booming industrial archetype vocals of Uberman Mr Pyne are balanced against the warbly altered voice of Keyboardist and backing singer Charleen which sit squarely in the vein of acts like Scooter. A cynic could read this as a parody of the well publicised remix the dance act released as a B-side to the single version of Rammstein’s ‘Pussy’, though the short punchy bursts of crowd samples and slightly more sour sounding synths on Evil Trance point more to an homage than hilarity. Evil Trance, though a tad repetitive packs the sinister aggression that is often so effective in modern EBM while retaining this touch of mainstream influence.

Uberbyte gig goers may likely have already heard ‘Hardcore Industrial’ and ‘Moneyshot’ performed at a number of past dates, with ‘Moneyshot’ receiving a limited free release last year. Moneyshot is a fast paced pounding track with a beat for beat breakdown of porn that has constantly proved popular, while ‘Hardcore Industrial’ is another club banger in the vein of ‘Gott Mitt Oontz’ without its Scooter soft spot. A lot more accessible and much more varied ‘Hardcore Industrial’ can, and has gotten whole rooms bouncing along every time I’ve seen it played. Maybe It’s just personal preference but I like EBM and industrial to have that bit of bite that ‘Hardcore Industrial’ seems to have in abundance. The filthy electro beats of ‘MOwr FOcking COwbell’ would be deliciously sleazy if it weren’t for the almost comically perfect cowbell loop behind the positively silly lyrics  along the lines of “More fucking cowbell. Hit me with it. I love that shit”. In another preview, available via the band’s soundcloud page a snippet of new track ‘Like You Don’t’ clearly stands out. A surging EBM Synth loop punctuated with eerie key stings plays out before the line “I know you love me, but fuck me like you don’t” all of which play together into a sense of savagery and sexual deviance which always goes down well within the industrial scene.
These previewed songs make up just over half of the new album and have me torn. While I love ‘Moneyshot’, ‘Hardcore Industrial’ and ‘Like You Don’t', tracks like ‘Gott Mit Oontz’ and ‘Evil Trance’ play a little bit too far out of what I could comfortably call the boundaries of the scene. I have no doubt that these songs play to another niche and carry on Uberbytes tradition of keeping all bases covered, but could best be described as musical Marmite in that you’ll either love or loathe these tracks. What I’m even more unsure of is whether these songs represent the overall direction and voice of ‘NFY’. A release for the album explains that ” Indeed some of the styles utilised can only be described as unexpected. You’ll find nods to underground hardcore acts like Neophyte mixing with mainstream techno influences and even trance. ” but also reassuringly states that “fans of Nachtmahr, And One and Combichrist will also find familiar themes”. Uberbyte are right, taken together these previews show NFY to be anything but two dimensional and sounds that challenge and perhaps offend always pave the path of progress.
NFY will be available september 5th 2011 via Crunch Pod Records and Pray Silence Records. The band will also be touring twice this Autumn; Once in a headline slot and again in support of industrial act Aesthetic Perfection.