Ah my friends, this is music to dance to, a wardance, indeed! Junkie Kut is an odd name and is of an artist who dabbles in high electronic psalms, forged for the disenfranchised and downtrodden in society. This is music for rebellion and not so much for a jilted generation but for one who have had enough and are not going to take it any more. JK has previously made some material available on underground net labels and brought out debut single ‘Pixel Picture’ late last year. Many of his past work can be heard and downloaded for free on his website so if this sounds like your sort of thing go and check it out now. He has also worked with the likes of Alex B of Leech Woman and Inebrious Bastard (who kindly put him in touch with me) as well as Schizoid and has performed at many electronic music events.
This new album is a real fist in the face and anti-establishment to the core. Using electronic music as a weapon Junkie Kut kuts and pastes a distempered furrow through sinister secret societies and those that are controlling us in a way that is Orwellian in the extreme. This is a society where cameras watch every move, everything we say and do is covertly recorded and there to be used against us, a society where resistance is futile and incarceration and punishment is swiftly dealt out. Does it sound like a vision of the future dreamed up by a science fiction writer? Not any more.
There is a lot to digest on the hour long album and despite the subject matter there is lots to enjoy about it too as the songs break out and get through to you. You could go out and club your oppressors or just go out clubbing and have a good pogo to this. The title track has a robotic voice warning you what is going on and how you are being enslaved before ‘Wormz’ flies in at a hectic pace that encompasses far too many beats per minute to keep up with. This speedpunk blasting frenzy is backed up with vocals that are not so much sung as chanted and at full force it pretty much takes your head clean off at the neck. With some melodic piano work this short sharp shock is not all about destroying you with Ultraviolence but the full on gabba beats of next track ‘Secret Society’ is. This is the sort of sound I just don’t listen to enough, hell I thought it had disappeared back into the Dutch subculture it sprang up from and it is great hearing the full bass drive of the beats flowing through this. The vocals by now are a little bit reminiscent of Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre, which is no bad thing at all and some spoken samples perfectly accompany everything else going on.
I like the way that the press releases have had to cite the likes of The Prodigy, early Pitchshifter, Enter Shikari, Mad Capsule Market and Atari Teenage Riot no doubt simply as people may be familiar with them. With the exception of perhaps the latter though, this is far harder, faster and more extreme than anything from any of these artists and it stands very much alone stomping up and down on the heads of its competition. ‘Pixel Picture’ pulses like a massive laser cannon on a video game literally obliterating all that it hits and the track manages to retain a good balance of melody along with the extreme annihilation of this and the jagged guitar riffs. “Kill, Kill, Kill” comes the order on ‘Gatecrasher (We Are One Tribe) job done with extreme prejudice, move up to next level!
Ever mutating the music keeps coming thick and fast and flattening you with increasing degrees of heaviness. By the time we hit the severe soundclash that is ‘Battlecry’ things are so intense it is close to making your ears bleed (or perhaps I just have it cranked up a bit loud). Some moody keyboards give this one a real futuristic twist and with a heavily repeated chorus the chant takes over arming soldiers with everything they need to take the streets and smash the system. There is absolutely no way you are going to press play and nod off anywhere during the duration of this and it unfolds a bit like a concept album allowing you to follow it along. There are some voodoo sounding rap vocals accompanying JK on ‘We Are The New Control’ apparently from Luke Griffin of Hideous Miscreation, adding even more diversity.
I have to say this was a bit of a breath of fresh air for me as not much in this vein turns up even if musically it is a style I like and feel I know quite well. I got sent a CDR of the album quite a long time before the release date which has allowed me to come back to it at various times and it has not only really grown but offered new dimensions on every listen. That said you are still going to have to wait a little while if you fancy picking it up as in the true spirit of rebellion it is released on May Day, the 1st May. Arise!
(8.5/10 Pete Woods)
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