mrph | Yet more CD wibblings...

More new(ish) music...

Psychophile's new album, Illumination. It's good stuff, but I still can't help feeling it should sound better than it does. The songs are consistently good, and new tracks like Vice Girl are certainly catchy. But... well, I'm not in any way a music techie, but it sounds like they've been hitting problems with post-production. In the quieter moments, mostly on tracks like Visions, Images and Dreams, the vocals sound great - a pretty accurate reflection of how they sound live. But for tracks like Vice Girl and Never Had a Face they sometimes sound almost muffled, lost in the mix. The energy comes through, but the clarity's not always there and you sometimes have to struggle to hear the words - which is a shame, as some of the lyrics are viciously sharp.

The Sepia's promo sampler. A four track demo that they've been giving away at gigs (not that I've actually managed to see them yet, as time and cashflow have been conspiring against me...). Hmm. I dunno - the bits I've previously downloaded from their website (especially the Polaris-D snippet) sound a bit more interesting than the promo. It's synth-based bleepy stuff, with very little in the way of vocals. Not at all bad, but it doesn't manage to grab me by the throat... Forever Lost is probably the high point, as the samples add something a little different to it...

Tri-State Killing Spree's PXC (they've just renamed themselves 3SKS, I gather - but this album was released before the name change). Yay, more good AmeriGoth. I'm trying to think who they remind me of, and failing. The vocals are a bit reminiscent of Robert Smith, though. But that's not the important bit. It's slow, moody and atmospheric as hell. Good stuff, although not likely to fill any UK dancefloors. This is goth music to play at home when you're in an almost-but-not-quite tranquil mood. They also do a very atmospheric (and almost unrecognisable!) reworking of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time.

Action Directe's Cognitive Dissidents (not new, just something I've not managed to write up before now). This got an utterly appalling review in Meltdown, which I'd have to disagree with. Yep, it's definitely unpolished/imperfect - but it's certainly not uninteresting, and it'll be interesting to see what they mutate into with a little more time. It's harsh, punky, political and not short of attitude - in short, it captures their live performance rather well. It's another one which gets a little short-changed by the production process though, I think. The mix may be flawed, but the essentials come across, though. And there are plenty of nice touches in there, including the use of the infamous Reagan "we begin bombing in five minutes" sample to open Bullet. Strong points are token quiet track Gattaca and the rather stompier Home, with its bitter and cynical "In England..." refrain.