Released
1998

Label
Hymen

Reviewed by
Christopher D. Jones

Contact



Last Edit/Update
01 May, 1999

Beefcake

Polycontrale Contra Punkte

         
Track Listing

1. ?!
2. digilog
3. ego-23
4. soak (mirror)
5. enjoy the silence
6. beefcake
7. in uns-hope
8. phenylethylamin
9. sein
10. close your mind
11. wake up and believe
12. ensflare
13. +/-
14. vergangenheitsbewältigung
15. worum es eigentlich geht

    Let me start of by saying Hymen has to be the premiere label out there right now for new and exciting music. They have only released three things on CD and you can't go wrong with any of them. Beefcake was one of them and it is an original drum & bass/ambient/techno/industrial influenced masterpiece. They hail from Germany not far from the Haujobb location and have exchanged mixing each other's music for remixes already. The second track on this CD even samples from the Haujobb "Solutions for a Small Plant" era track and it is used excellently.
    This is the second Beefcake release on Hymen with their first being an LP that was quite a freshman effort. This current release finds a bit more of a mello and melodic mood in parts with flowing melodies and cascading keyboards that remind the listener that there is still some great new music out on the horizon (almost literally in this case).
    The first track starts with a spoken word sample that is in the old style proper German, as I was told by fellow Last Sigh contributor Stephanie. This first piece starts off the mood of the CD quite well with the efficacy of the programming and the seriousness of the Beefcake nature to bring you the best music possible. "Soak (mirror)" is a stand out piece with tripped out, fast paced, rolling drums in a style that other drum & bass artist could learn much from. It takes a break for some intriguing samples and atmosphere before cranking it back up again. "Beefcake" is very good with a funny use of the voice effects in the beginning. Quite a good bubbling track as well.
    "Hope" is by far my favorite track. At 1:40 it gets a bit minimal and lush. At 1:56 the female vocals fade in and repeat the emotion making for a very lovely song. It brings back memories of the mountains Switzerland with snow falling and my love at my side doing the craziness of making snow angels.....*sigh*. Is this release industrial, you may ask? Well no, not in the strict sense. It is more drum & bass for sure, but a cut above the rest in the genre. It is also quite more melodic than the rest of the stuff in that scene.
    To round out this release, the packaging is done by S.alt so what more could you ask for. Some CDs even include a sticker in the booklet, however if you order it through Metropolis distribution, they take the sticker out I have found.
    A final summary: If you like breathing, you will like this. I can't recommend this CD enough. If you want noise thinking this might be like ant-zen since it is a side label then you are going the wrong way. If you want something creative, lush and just plain good, this is the new CD for you.