Title: Cloned - Other Side of Evolution
Artist: Disharmony
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 29th April 2008
Label: Tympanik Audio
Introduction
The birth of DISHARMONY can be dated back to the year 2001 and after a small phase of experimentation and exploration, they released their first material. Today, the Slovakian duo, whose real names remain unknown, can look back on five regular albums. The most recent work ‘Cloned: Other Side of Evolution’ released by Chicago based label Tympanik Audio is a vast collection of their best remixes +2 new tracks. A new album called ‘Evolution’ is already in the making
Members
Ryby
Sauron
Website
http://www.disharmony.aliens.sk/ / http://www.myspace.com/disharmonydarkelectro
Track Review
01. Idealism (Original by Polygon) - 6:46
A dark thunder storm is approaching and the sound of poring rain welcomes us to the first track. A dark mood is built up and speech samples from a late-night radio talk show come in. This dark mood is maintained over the course of the whole track yet it gets a touch of melancholy and wistfulness from the use of multi-layered strings. The rhythmic section isn’t less interesting. There are swapping beats, tight glitches and hidden under the surface there’s so much more, everything that cheers the heart.
02. MutantX (Original by Grandchaos) - 5:15
There’s an analogue synth melody, shimmering in the dark and gloomy ambient textures are drawing close, just to vanish in the background again. Something’s clicking and then we get torn out of this deceptive calm by massive, echoing beats, bound together with distorted percussions. The sinister atmosphere gets more and more threatening, the strings are alternating and also the rhythmic underground is changing more than once.
03. Stir Up The Dust (Original by Anhedonia) - 4:03
The title couldn’t be more fitting for this song, but it won’t only stir up dust, it will make the earth quake. The distorted beats kick in with an uncompromising harshness and they won’t give you any time to calm down. The exact opposite comes in with the dreamy ambience, made of wide layered soundscapes, providing a wonderful counter point to the mentioned harshness
04. Apocalypse (Original by Pecadores) - 4:00
These sustained tones at the beginning are giving me the creeps and I think I’ve heard them somewhere else before. In some way they’re reminding me of a scene from a horror movie, when clouds of haze are gathering in the dead of night and someone’s getting followed by a dark creature. Back to the music. Clean fast beats are dominating the tune, broken by a sudden outburst of distorted brutality in the middle and enriched with driving sequences. The voice which is presenting the vocals sounds cold and full of hate.
05. Tuistoz Herz (Original by Burzum) - 5:41
Strings open the gates to ‘Tuistoz Herz’. Despite the rhythm patterns being complex enough to please the ears of electronic music lovers, one should focus his attention especially on the beautifully crafted melodies, reaching orchestral heights at times and through the use of polyphonic choirs deliver a feeling of unlimited depth and room, captured inside nearly six minutes of sound.
06. Alone (Original by Empty) - 4:51
One of the trademarks of the original track by the Australian formation EMPTY is that it pretty much gets along with only few beat injections. DISHAORMONY turned the whole thing around, mostly, but isn’t that what remixing is all about, putting a song into a new costume, giving it another direction and so this one’s sounds pretty different, it actually has more structure due to the razor-sharp industrial beats, moving under the surface of a more subtle ambient theme.
07. Suspection - 5:04
This is one out of two exclusive new tracks on this release and only now you get a real impression how DISHARMONY sounds, how good both artists are able to blend the beautiful melodies and the complexity of very elaborate rhythms into one another. The sad sound of a violin seems to waver in the middle of a wide room, surrounded by translucent shades of ambience. The listener’s getting another surprise when the strong beat with its many layers enters the scenery and one gets impressed by how those two profoundly different elements interlock in that track.
08. Bar Code (Original by Flint Glass) - 3:36
Now it’s getting dark, extremely dark to be more precisely. Like the future vision of a science-fiction author, black sonic scenery is building up, pervaded with samples, dying away into the distance to get replaced by new ones. The beats are almost jumping; get glitched and disturbing noise effects have been applied on them.
09. Immortal (Original by Deadjump) - 4:19
A remix that is very much focussed on the rhythm work compared against the others. It clicks and crackles on every corner and it isn’t a simple construction yet it doesn’t sound too intricate. It has just the right balance. I spoke of the focusing on the rhythm work but there are those ambient doses, which always spread their melodious wings, when it’s time to do the chorus.
10. Nautilus - 4:29
Honestly, I had to think of that track from THE KLINIK with the exact same name. But the title reflects the mood and the atmosphere very good. It’s like diving into the sea to enter an underwater universe imbued with sounds; it is a very unique feeling that embraces the listener, taking him on a journey. Smooth, reverberating melodies surround him. While the rhythmical underground stays a bit more complex with the elaborate drum programming.
11. Zeit Zerstört (Original by Mnemonic) - 5:08
Being a fan of piano sounds for a log time, I was pleased to hear the intro in which you’ll hear a reverberating speech sample which is accompanied by melancholic piano lines and I was already preparing for a ballad when the piano suddenly died away but luckily the mood it spread stays inside the song all the time, captured within wide ambient veils. Only the rhythm is different than I expected, getting a faster pace, more fidgety with a rather experimental approach
12. Earth (Original by Sara Noxx) - 5:06
I recently had the chance to review the single, where a new version of the ‘Earth Song’ was of SARA NOXX was included and that one was quite club-orientated in marked contrast to the DISHARMONY Mix. The rhythm is more brooding, the beats a bit delayed and in addition to Sarah’s distinct vocals, the guys added some own vocal lines resembling an angry outcry with the heavy distortion effects. The mood and the basic melodies remained untouched but they’ve been created with different synths this time.
13. Like Falling Crystals (Original by Stendeck) - 4:23
The mood of this song is substantially different from the others. While there was an underlying current of darkness and despair in the other compositions, this one’s virtually sun-drenched with airy synths, floating and liquid like water fuse with bells and beats, sometimes clean and unaltered, another second they come around with glitches and a slight distortion.
14. Synove Svetla (Original by Tabor Radosti) - 6:01
Again a piano melody, but this time it’s there to stay with us and become sort of a leading melody for the track. If you listen closely to the song, you’ll get the impression to deal with a narration with musical accentuation. The voice is distorted and is telling us a story instead of singing. The mentioned piano line creates a wistful mood, a mood inhaling the breath of a goodbye. Beats are used very subtle at first, casually dripping out of the synths, getting more numerous a t he song progresses.
15. Kasida (Original by Fractional) - 4:40
Like the very first song on ‘Cloned’ this one’s introduced by rain and a thunderstorm, crossed by a dull layer of soft melody in the background which is getting company by broken, intricate industrial beats. The emerging of orchestral strings marks a turning point and veil of sadness descends on the composition, but also the rhythm and the tempo change. New sounds emerge and the song becomes faster. One of my absolute favourites because the string arrangement are so deeply touching and you don’t sense the quite harsh beats to be disturbing. They just fit in perfectly. Brilliant stuff!!!
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
Conclusion
This record was my first contact with the music of the Slovakian duo and now I think I’ve missed something. This is how good Dark Electro has to sound like for me. Not strictly aiming for the dnace floors, integrating other influences as well. Honestly, I don’t know most of the originals, but the remixes gathered on this CD are top notch. They’re melodious and they have something, compositions of many other acts of this genre lack: A genuine atmosphere. With the two new tracks ‘Suspection’ and ‘Nautilus’ the listener’s also get an impression of how DISHARMONY sound aside from the remixes. Thanks to Tympanik Audio, this duo will now get much more attention and they deserve it.
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