Released
1997
Label
Invisible
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
Invisible Records
P.O. Box 16008
Chicago, IL 60616
USA
Visit
Last Edit/Update
24 March, 1998
Various Artists
DRUG TEST THREE
Track Listing
1. Bagmen -- Bosh
2. Brits Out Of America -- What I Want
3. DVOA vs Not Breathing -- Nord Hasp
4. Ammer Einheit -- Sprechmaschine
5. Lab Report -- Figure Q-75
6. Not Breathing -- Emprov Aceed Garbosh
7. Phylr -- Circumference
8. Pigface -- Burundi
9. Psychic TV -- Stick insect (Monitor Mix)
10. Riou -- Play With Sampler
11. Scorn -- Beat 2 Mix
12. Sheep On Drugs -- Life Is Just A Game
(Phylr Mix)
13. Test Dept -- The Drifter
For anyone not able to catch Invisible's
grand Lowest Of The Low Tour this spring, or, for anyone who does go, and
experiences a musical hangover the following day, Drug Test Three is the antidote.
This CD contains traks by thirteen of the bands presently signed to the label, and not
only do the individual songs, for the most part, find the artists at the height of their
creative powers, they have also been carefully selected, and arranged into a very smooth
and seamless whole. The compilation displays the many faces of Invisible,
from the experimental compositions of Ammer Einheit and Lab
Report to the bass and drum influenced music of Psychic TV and Scorn,
to the power rock 'n roll of Pigface and Brits Out Of America,
and finally the electro-ambient musings of DVOA and Not Breathing.
All of these disparate elements gel amazingly well on Drug Test Three, almost as if
all the different artist on Invisible at heart were one big harmonious
family.
The tracks included on this release
by DVOA vs Not Breathing, Ammer Einheit, Pigface
and Riou have already been covered in previous reviews by Last
Sigh, and I refer to these for further information. Not Breathing's
album Sangre Azul has likewise been reviewed in the past, and the track included on
this compilation does nothing but confirm the high standards of what was one of 1997's
most impressive musical debuts. "Emprov Aceed Garbosh" begins with a shock of
high-intensity vibrating harmonics that inadvertently cause a few beads of sweat to roll
down one's brow. Layers of racing percussions, feverish buzzing and incessant bleeps and
beeps constitute this stormy piece from beginning to end. It is certainly a track that
raises the anticipations for Not Breathing's second album due out very
soon.
Two other recent debuts on Invisible
-- Bagman and Phylr -- deliver equally exciting tracks. Bagman
(alias Lee "the bastard" of Sheep On Drugs) opens the
CD with a dynamic dance-floor pleaser entitled "Bosh." The track is
instrumental, with the higly accelerated beats typical of Sheep On Drugs,
and some very evocative Eastern atmospheres weaving in and out of the piece. Phylr's
track "Circumference" begins with a Middle Eastern call to prayer, and then
transforms into a fast forward soundtrack to an imaginary thriller. The song has all the
intense drum salvos, sweeping thematic elements, jazzy interludes and melancholy piano
passages that would comprise the aural side of a high profile Hollywood picture, except
here is not a symphony orchestre, but a single musician -- JF Coleman of Cop
Shoot Cop fame.
Also containing filmic elements,
albeit of a darker and more experimental nature, is Lab Report's
"Figure Q-75." Growling, pulsating noises underscore softly wailing sounds in
this excellent little sound sketch. The piece conjures up a foreboding atmosphere, as of a
shadowy figure moving endlessly through a nocturnal office landscape.
Psychic TV, Scorn,
Sheep On Drugs and Test Dept stand for some of the more
dance oriented material on the CD. Gleaned from the Towards the Infinite Beat
sessions, Psychic TV's 'monitor mix' of "Stick Insect" is very
bass and drums heavy. This groovy, instrumental piece revolves around a series of samples
from African-American protest speeches against the involvement of American forces in
Vietnam. Genesis P. Orridge has made his career a continuous excursion into the
unexpected, and while "Stick Insect" comes nowhere near the strangeness of his
contributions to the recent Pigface album, this politically charged
dance-mix with hip-hop undertones is certainly a more surprising musical mode to hear Orridge
explore.
Somewhat in the same musical vein
as the Psychic TV track, is Scorn's "Beat 2
Mix" (taken from Scorn's final album Whine). The track
features Mick Harris' characteristic bass riffs and dragging beats, with metallic
stirrings and the subtle chirping of owls and other birds adding texture to the music.
JF Coleman (Phylr)'s
remix of Sheep On Drugs' "Life Is Just A Game" retains much of
the original song, but rearranges things quite substantially. There are the typical
segments of over-accelerated tapping beats, nice pensive vocals and moments of sleepy
harmonies. The track is a whimsical little dance tune, not quite the typical Sheep
On Drugs song, but close enough to bear their unmistakable stamp.
The first taste of Test
Dept's new material sounds promising. "The Drifter" takes up where Totality
and Pax Britannica left off, with strong, layered rhythm patterns and cut-up
orchestral elements. Later in the piece, Test Dept adds some wandering,
joyful thematics and voice samples, and in general the song is quite close to the band's
other material on Invisible, although less foreboding in its mood.
Finally, Drug Test Three
also includes a song by Brits Out Of America -- a forthcoming band on the
label. "What I Want" is, together with the Pigface song, the
most acoustic piece on the compilation. The prominant percussions are very much in the
mold of Atkins' own, driving forward this power rock anthem, which is dynmically
sung by Dana Cochrane and Amy Larson. In itself the song is quite good,
although it is the one track that feels slightly misplaced on this superb compilation.