Artist : Wasteland
Title : All Versus All
Genre : Electronic
Year : 2006
Date : Dec-01-2006
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 09
Label : Transparent
Source : CDDA
Length : 43:15 min
Size : 65,2 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.(Intro) Foxhole 04:08
02.Enticer 05:59
03.Himmel 05:31
04.All Versus All 04:12
05.Radicalized 05:17
06.Mavericks 05:36
07.Technology 04:29
08.In Strenght 03:55
09.(Reprise) Hold Out 04:08
-------
43:15 min
from Dusted Magazine :
Illustrations of treachery are not much fun to listen to. All
Versus All is a weirdly refreshing antidote to the twee
pseudo-commentaries of complacent rock that dominate much of
independent music's landscape. Instead of making the end times
happy times, Wasteland is making appropriate music for a world
that looks darker with each passing day. And, in a way, it's
comforting to know that someone is stepping up to this
particular plate not with depression, but with a strong sense
of controlled anger.
It's a very mad sound, hard to take at first. Layers and layers
of offensive snippets cast off long ago and relegated to the
likes of early-'90s Skinny Puppy are ubiquitous. The title
track casts a spell of boiling torture-chamber echoes across
the sound field, inducing terror and forewarning just how bad
things are going to get. When they spin at clubs, the members
of Wastelend û i-Sound and DJ Scud (New Yorker and Londoner,
respectively) û are a bit better-known for their dark dubstep,
but this is something completely different. While sublow
frequencies and the slow, deliberate, cracking pace of dubstep
are definitely here, they serve mostly as abstract templates
for a handful of songs. Darkstep wobbles float around simple,
sinister drum machines on cuts like "Technology," but unlike
much of the UK's originators in dubstep, All Versus All feels
like it's working only for itself instead of concerning itself
with a certain audience, be it the dancefloor or the
headphones.
A key element of the album is the construction and interplay of
dark palettes of noise; most of the sounds are toneless and
scratching. "Mavericks" paints a big, abstract picture with a
rusty brush before it becomes structured via surreal and out-of
place kick drums. The solid elements are quick to disappear,
and the song leaves you in the company of chaos soon enough. At
times, you feel a hint of a bassline kicking in, but it's few
and far between, leaving you hungry for structure but sucked
enough into the narrative that you feel obligated to see it
through.
Perhaps the most challenging part of this already tough listen
is the lack of closure; instead of wrapping up what has gone on
throughout the course of a track, Wasteland tend to fizzle out,
simply stripping back layer by layer what has been placed on
the soundstage. In the end, nothing remains. In some cases (see
"Radicalized"), Wasteland turn to deconstructions or
introductions of foreign sounds to close out the song. The same
can be said for the album as a whole û after something of an
intense buildup period, the album lacks a climax. It might be
an understated exclamation point, though û despair brought to
full fruition, so that the end doesn't bring any answers to any
of the album's questions. But what is there really left to say
after the apocalypse?
By Trent Wolbe
http://www.isound.info/index.html