Artist: Various Artists
Title: A Strange Play - A tribute to the Cure
Genre: Dark / EBM / Synth Pop / Electro
Release Date: 7th November 2014
Production : Alfa Matrix
Album Review
Alfa Matrix proposes a new tribute album. This time, the cult New Wave band THE CURE is the centre of the project. It's of course a typical Alfa Matrix, with some of their home band and some outside guests. I'll be honest, on most of those tracks, I'm absolutely not qualified to “judge” this style and I generally refuse to review those kind of sounds because it's not fair to the bands... BUT, I'm qualified as fan of THE CURE and New Wave and this view maybe interesting as more than a fan around will certainly have the “curiosity” to listen to it. JUNKSISTA starts with a funny version of ‘The Lovecats’. Feminine voice brings a big change, especially since the singer allows herself some nice variations. The all structure and melodies are identical but obviously, with a 100% synths. LOVELORN DOLLS picks up ‘Just Like Heaven’ and succeeds in bringing a new rhythmic approach, still danceable but slower, cool indeed. KANT KINO is loyal to its style. Featuring Mari Kattman, they deliver a clubby ‘Charlotte Sometimes’ - but a bit boring after a while despite some very nice vocal
‘Anniversary’ by AESTHETISCHE contains some pretty nice synth pop arrangements, but problems comes with the voice, almost off tone sometimes. ‘Disintegration’ by AVARICE IN AUDIO is a real torture to me as it's probably one of my favourite CURE track ever... The mixture of trance style and distorted vocals is pushing my open mind a bit too far. ‘A Strange Days’ by AIBOFORCEN feat MONDTRÄUME is also a bit to trance club to me and their second cover that we find at the end of CD1 (without MONDTRÄUME), ‘All Cats Are Grey’, sounds much more interesting. Maybe because there's no aggressive vocal to waste it or/ and because it's a much more ambient / middle tempo approach full of analogue sounds? STAR INDUSTRY's ‘The Walk’ is to me one of the most terrible effort to endure. Sorry can't make it, next. ‘Lullaby’ by CYNICAL EXISTENCE is the same torture to me as AVARICE IN AUDIO's ‘Disintegration’. ‘Burn’ by ESSENCE OF MIND is remarkable, may it be by the orchestration and by the vocals. A really successful cover where the band appropriates totally the song and you forget about the original pretty quickly to focus on the new arrangements.
Sebastian Komor's version of ‘Love Song’ is... a Sebastian Komor version... What did you expect? Despite the style of vocals, I like it enough to listen to it entirely. Not sure I'll keep it afterward, but yeah, interesting metal electro version. ‘In Your House’ by ALIEN VAMPIRES starts really on a good feel with the mix of bass/ guitar and machines. Until the moment the voice starts, but I want to make clear again it's only me toward this genre. ‘Prayers For Rain’ by HALO IN REVERSE is very interesting despite being very (too?) close to the original but embellished with strong synth basses and dark layered synths. ‘Pictures Of You’ by DIFFUZION is interesting. With slow tempo, atmospheric, almost trip hop and of course, the feminine vocal offers a totally different approach and most of all, avoids any comparison with Smith's. One of my favourites. Having METROLAND covering CURE is a bit like if KRAFTWERK would have did it let's be fair. And ‘Close To Me’ is suddenly a Techno Pop song to listen to on the “Autobahn”. There's also a natural connection with OMD (that METROLAND remixed and supported on tour) and the use of Human Vox machines. One of most original song of the tribute.
Disc two starts with I:SCINTILLA who picked ‘Fight’... and it's probably one of the most adventurous version of the project. Of course some may not like the approach, but it's risk taken. Feminine vocals on those big guitar riffs works fine, nice piano/ vocal intro... well done. Funny though there's a 2nd cover of ‘Burn’ (just like there was not enough songs to pick in); this time by HELALYN FLOWERS. And unfortunately for this one, there not only the natural comparison with THE CURE's... but also with ESSENCE OF MIND's version. Not that bad but the rigidity of the beat wastes a bit the spirit of the song. But most of all, it doesn't match with the interesting vocal part which sounds more gothic alike (i.e. Siouxsie) and more subtle than this rhythm. The contrast can work or course (COVENANT for instance cultivate this strict beat approach vs. sensual and subtle vocal) but fails here which is really too bad as it could have been a real interesting one. KANT KINO is back again for ‘Jumpin' Someone Else's Train’. This time it's more a synth pop song full of bips and blups. Funny, but not the most memorable work.
COSMIC ARMCHAIR brings ‘Friday I'm in Love’ a bit too far on the dance floor to me. God I hate those “rave” alike sounds and all that dance shit from the 90's. The all thing sounds just like an AQUA song... next. MARI CHROME runs into ‘A Forest’ for a high voltage version. Straight on to the Dance floor and it works fine and the big choirs gives a dark dimension to hit. SCHWARZBLUT covers ‘The Figurehead’ and turns it into a... SCHWARZBLUT-KRAFTWERK alike style with the robotic vocoder over some multiple synthetic layers. A nice one. ZOMBIE GIRL makes a hard choice with ‘Fascination Street’, a track so driven by this cult bass line. They offer a much shorter version than the original and let's be fair, the all song is driven by a great vocal performance (another feminine one). Then, it's TECHNOIR who picked up ‘The Drowning Man’... and I have nothing to say about it. Neither I like, nor I hate... It just flows and passes. Another cover of ‘Prayers For Rain’ follows, this time by REGENERATOR. Totally synth pop club with nice girl voice. Works for me.
MONDTRÄUME is back again and performs a more obscure track, ‘Lament’, and take it to the Trance Club Zone and I must admit it's not really my cup of tea... ARMAGEDDON DILDOS vs. BEZIRKO2 have a funny and poppy approach for ‘Baby Screams’ (good choice too). Ok, bad luck for PLASTIC NOISE EEXPERIENCE; ‘Why Can't I Be You?’ is probably one of my favourite CURE tracks. I've stopped it after two minutes. A question of style. XMH turns ‘A Night Like This’ into another soulless dark electro stuff thing. ‘Sleep When I'm Dead’ is covered by NEIKKA RPM and the return of my “favourite” distorted voices. The least we can say is that it's adventurous... but the spoken vocal is a bit boring after a while. ‘Cold’ is covered by TOTEM OBSURA and this is where I find the limit of those massive “Tribute Album” project. 31 tracks and 2h30, especially when it's mostly some obscure bands with a lot of them playing in the same league is really too much for me. So, when comes a track like this one... the skip button is close. ACYLUM chose to cover ‘Trust’ which is an interesting choice. And despite the vocals it kept my attention 'till the end.
To sum it up, as I said earlier, most of those band are absolutely not the style of music I like. Alfa Matrix fans, and in general, Dark Electro / EBM stuff fans will certainly enjoy it. But I'm not convinced at all it will appeal to most of the CURE fans. Oh, one last word for the label, Alfa Matrix, which is probably the last on earth to put their damn “This Is A Promotional Copy” twice per track (62 times in total!): we are independent reviewers, working for FREE and spending an awful amount of time on top of our day jobs to review your productions. The least we deserve is a highly encoded version (with correct tags such as “track number”) of the retail version. We're not the ones leaking the albums we receive on torrent or Russian sites. And on top of that, it's absolutely not paying respect to your artist as it really ruins the listening pleasure... which is not the best approach to encourage a good review. It's the last time I EVER review an album with those cuts. You're free to do it, I'm free to refuse.
Tracklist
| CD1 101. Junksista . The Lovecats 102. Lovelorn Dolls . Just Like Heaven 103. Kant Kino Feat. Mari Kattman . Charlotte Sometimes 104. Aesthetische . Anniversary 105. Avarice In Audio . Disintegration 106. Aiboforcen Feat. Mondträume . A Strange Day 107. Star Industry . The Walk (club Edit) 108. Cynical Existence . Lullaby 109. Essence Of Mind . Burn 110. Sebastian Komor . Lovesong 111. Alien Vampires . In Your House 112. Halo In Reverse . Prayers For Rain 113. Diffuzion . Pictures Of You 114. Metroland . Close To Me 115. Aiboforcen . All Cats Are Grey |
CD2 201. I:Scintilla . Fight 202. Helalyn Flowers . Burn 203. Kant Kino . Jumping Someone Else's Train 204. Cosmic Armchair . Friday I'm In Love 205. Mari Chrome . A Forest 206. Schwarzblut . The Figurehead 207. Zombie Girl . Fascination Street 208. Technoir . The Drowning Man 209. Regenerator . Prayers For Rain 210. Mondträume . Lament 211. Armageddon Dildos Vs. Bezirk02 Feat. Denise Kanka . The Baby Screams 212. Plastic Noise Experience . Why Can't I Be You 213. Xmh . A Night Like This 214. Neikka Rpm . Sleep When I'm Dead 215. Totem Obscura . Cold 216. Acylum . Trust |
Website
http://www.alfa-matrix.com / https://www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 6
Sound: 8
Total: 7 / 10
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