Psyche - Re-Membering Dwayne

Artist: Psyche
Title: Re-Membering Dwayne
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 7th September 2010
Label: Artoffact Records



Album Review

Cashing in or commemoration? Darrin Huss releases an album with earliest material from his long-running project PSYCHE, which was back then a trio featuring his brother Stephen, and Dwayne Rudolph Goettel - most known as a key member of legendary SKINNY PUPPY and who died an untimely death in 1995. Among SKINNY PUPPY fans, Dwayne Goettel has a cult status, not just because of his early death but also as a primary partner of cEvin Key. Both of them shaped the multi-layered soundscape of SKINNY PUPPY, and during the time of Goettel’s involvement SKINNY PUPPY became the high-profile act we know today.

Before his involvement in SKINNY PUPPY (and some of its offshoots like DOWNLOAD, for that matter), Dwayne Goettel was a member of the first incarnation of PSYCHE in 1982/83. The album ‘Re-Membering Dwayne’ (nice pun, by the way) is a compilation of previously unreleased material from this era, plus a fistful of brand new remixes and the song ‘Fragility’, which Darrin Huss wrote in 1995 after Goettel’s death. A mixed bag, so to speak, and it definitely feels more like a compilation that a coherent album. If you love minimal electronics from the 1980s, tracks like ‘Torture’ or the noisy ‘Screaming Fire’ will surely please you. Best song in my book is ‘Krieg’, a track whose original version shows strongly which route PSYCHE would take in the following years. It is also featured as a “dub” version, though “high-speed version” would be the more appropriate name.

With ‘The Eye of the Hurricane’ and the ironic ‘The Porno Song’ there also two instrumentals which display early Synth experimentations from the 1980s with limited equipment - which is in fact quite interesting. Despite the limitations ‘The Eye of the Hurricane’ manages to create a haunting but beautiful atmosphere, and ‘The Porno Song’ sounds like a funny dig at 1970s porn music and dead-serious Synth pioneers like TANGERINE DREAM at the same time. All these tracks are featured in various versions including modern day remixes by the likes of PLASTIC NOISE EXPERIENCE or CONTROLLED COLLAPSE. One of the highlights is the DEAD WHEN I FOUND HER remix of ‘The Crawler’. The remix catapults the embryonic Synth pop of the 1980s original on the underground dance-floors of 2010.

PLASTIC NOISE EXPERIENCE’s take on the song is equally good though a bit more on the EBM side of things. Only real downer is ‘Cheated’, though admittedly not because of the song itself - which is quite good - but because of the really poor sound quality. Guess it’s there for completeness, and at the end of the day ‘Re-Membering Dwayne’ is a must-have for all PSYCHE and SKINNY PUPPY completionists and DJs should buy the album for the remixes. The release is complete with a nice booklet featuring previously unseen photographs from the band’s earliest period, excerpts from Darrin Huss' post-Dwayne diary, and an essay by Darrin Huss himself about the first musical steps with Dwayne Rudolph Goettel as PSYCHE. ‘Re-Membering Dwayne’ is a nice way to honour the legacy of a late genius and one of the leading pioneers of electronic music - which answers the question above!


Tracklist

01. Torture (Original Full Length Mix)
02. Krieg
03. The Crawler
04. Eye Of The Hurricane
05. The Crawler (Dead When I Found Her Remix)
06. Screaming Fire
07. Krieg Dub
08. Torture (Alternative Mix)
09. The Crawler Theme
10. The Crawler (Plastic Noise Experience Remix)
11. Eye Of The Hurricane (The Phantom Skies Remix)
12. Cheated (Imaginary Life DVD)
13. The Porno Song
14. Torture (Remix by Controlled Collapse)
15. Nightmare (Torture Remake)
16. Fragility (Tribute to Dwayne)


Line-up

Darrin Huss (vocals)
Stephen Huss (synths)
Dwayne Rudolph Goettel (synths)


Website

http://www.psyche-hq.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/psyche


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 7.5 / 10


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