Trite Permission - Review
This album is a sort of anthology for this band, covering tracks from 1999-2006 including some extra bonus pieces and even later versions (ie. 2007 versions of "Glass" and "Stranger").
With fifteen solid tracks spanning the range of electronic genres with a solid foothold in the synthpop arena, this is a dics full of goodies for fans to enjoy. The band has managed to make a quick name for themselves around the world, receiving praise from press and dj's alike with their club-friendly tracks and intelligent lyrics and programming.
As we dive into the album, it's apparent this band is influenced by many of the great synthpop and new wave acts of the 80's and 90's such as
Depeche Mode and
Information Society. With that said, I'll try to leave any other comparisons out and allow the readers and listeners to try to judge for themselves how they like this album. The first few tracks dig right into the club-friendly rhythms and song structures. "The Future" kicks it all off with some cool vocoded vocals and loops slowly building up to a moving mid-tempo dance piece with some heavy bass kicks and solid vocals over some simple electronic loops. "Glass" then picks up with a little more experimental edge in the bleeps and bloops in the electronic loops structure. The chorus is catchy for the pop scene, repeating over and over and mixes well with the overall song structure. As we get to "Stranger", I think we've hit the best structured track on the album with heavy dance-friendly beats, deep vocals and solidly layered swooshing synths and layered loops. These along with the german-language track "Totenplatz", "CyberChrist" and a few others make the more club-friendly part of the album.
Once we get passed the first half-dozen pieces, the experimental techno side of this band starts to come out with several instrumental pieces mixed in throughout the rest of the album. Most of these have a mix of various samples along with layer upon layer of different loops and driving percussion. One thing that comes out on these pieces and with this band and album in general is that there are few tracks where you just find the standard four-on-the-floor techno dance beat. It's usually mixed up a bit with heavy kicks, a few break-beats and other various percussion rhythm patterns that add some great variety to the album.
As we near the end of the disc, we're presented with a nice little treat that hails back to the band's heavy influence with a cover of the
Depeche Mode track "Strangelove". This is a nice cover and not done in a carbon copy fashion, but in such a way that the band's own unique style comes right out and is able to build on the solid foundation that was created so many years with the original. After this we're left with two more highly experimental instrumental pieces to wrap up the album. They've done a good job with this work and it's well enough that most fans of various forms of synthpop music will enjoy most of it, especially those that like a bit of experimental elements mixed in.
Rating: 4/5
Website:
www.apraxia.net
