Various
Artists
"Red Box Records" CD
Red
Box Records
Genres: experimental, electronica, hip hop
Oct 21 - 27 2002 |
First
off, this sampler is free. There is no reason for you to avoid it.
Simply go to www.redboxrecords.com,
enter your name and address, and a copy will be shipped to your door.
If you don't like it, you can give it to a friend. If your friend
doesn't want it, you can give it to an enemy. Either way, there's no
real justification not to get it.
But is it any good? I mean, it's free - it can't be good, can it?
Well, think about it this way: no record label would give away free
CDRs of complete crap, now would they? The whole point is to get
people interested in their music. And while this sampler may seem a
bit disjointed at times (hip hop, noise, and industrial rock on the
same CD??), there's a lot to be enjoyed.
The collection starts off with a nearly twelve minute piece by Departure
From Royal that starts off with a dark, pounding rhythm and then
evolves into a synth melody interspersed with bouts of harsh noise.
Eventually the piece brings in some industrial elements and finishes
off on a harder, fast-paced note. Psiv Abludyms' "Mahoganie's
Plan.nets," meanwhile, is an enjoyable, moody trip hop track that
brings to minds elements of Portishead (sans vocals), The
Theivery Corporation, and even a bit of the Sneaker Pimps.
Their second piece, "Glitched In Jupiter's Denile," is also
enjoyable, and vocals are even incorporated in the last bit of it,
lending it a very trippy sound. Nitwit's tracks are also fun
little experimental romps, but feel as if they would be better if
placed in the context of an album.
After all this comes a series of bizarre tracks from System
Syntax, The Lyric District, and Engove. Some of it
boasts some nice features, but much seems unstructured and silly. A
nice, yet explicit hip-hop track comes in at track number eleven
presumably from The Lyric District (the track listing only goes
up to song ten, though, so we can't be sure). It features a pleasant
turntable background, but its lyrics are excruciating immature (they
rhyme gonorrhea with diarrhea, okay?)
Altogether, this sampler suffers from numerous problems, but still
manages to be a fun, enjoyable time. And it's free.
73%
Matt Shimmer [Vitals:
49 min 59 sec, 12 tracks, distributed by the
label, released 2002] |
