ToolBox Records

We can't say how many good comments have been done about this compilation that issued in 2004. But to make it short I'd say this is the contium of that Mail Art, fandom, Hometaping movement (Etats Des Stocks, Human Flesh) in a nawadays verion (Ripit, Planetaldol...) with some crossing with Free Party Movement experimentations (Cortex, Tzii)... Fresh !

A Mcd for the CD'js One track bang the hardcore like you ever dreamed about, and the other one gives a massive Breakcore drum & bass dancefloor kicker !

mimetic is the solo project of jerome soudan - a drummer for european industrial and experimental bands such as von magnet or column one. his classical background is best seen by his playing of orchestral percussion and computing pieces for contemporary music performances (with art zoyd & kasper t.toeplitz). he has also composed music for dance companies like ndt2 in the netherlands. in france, he wrote a pre-thesis about industrial music for the university of lyon (1993). also while in france he contributed to the industrial music scene by organising festivals and concerts in paris. in addition he developed a network for musicians in europe and he continued this network while living in berlin. after several releases on various european labels, mimetic has released his first dvd via a collaborative effort between ant-zen and parametric. 'sacred aim' feeds the eyes with a big collection of video clips that combine small scripts, visual effects, flashing colors, black & white pictures, moving puppet animations and more. this dvd follows mimetic's recent big tours in europa, u.s.a., canada and japan, in addition the dvd features bonus material - including an interview, a documentary about his eastern european tour, two concert tracks from canada, and some other special surprises. if you are familiar with mimetic's powerful mix of electronica and beats, symphonic textures and incredibly well-placed samples then you now have the opportunity to stimulate your aural senses. if you are not familiar then go discover an artist who is something else - a fine addition to the audio & visual world of ant-zen.

if hypnoskull's recent work could be defined in a word then 'diversification' would be the word. he has always been an open minded human being and who collaborates with musicians of all genres. Patrick stevens has moved far beyond the 'hardcore' corset he is still associated with. stevens' self-concept doesn't care about 'boundaries' of any kind. 'panik mekanik' perfectly displays that there are no reservations whatsoever in p.stevens' work. on this album you will find a large variety of styles, ranging from heavy breakbeats and drum'n'bass to dark hop and even ambient and soundtrackish tunes. but in each and every note you recognize that it's the unmistakable hypnoskull. fast break-attacks like 'the self detonation device' and 'in thee air' - that's patrick as you might know him from his' high-energetic live performances. 'mekanodruggembryo' or 'basement alpha mission triggerz' show the dark, moody hypno-side - and these tracks only show a few facets... it took a long process of selections, queries and adjustments to finalize 'panik mekanik', but as always the effort was worth it - the end result being a fantastic piece of work. this is undoubtedly the best hypnoskull album so far - now it's your turn to evaluate!

hiroshi hashimoto started releasing music twenty years ago as contagious orgasm. right from the beginning listeners knew that there was something very unique and special about c.o.'s sound - differing from the typical japanese 'industrial scene'. the initial aural transformation of track and release titles were soon replaced by something quite different. themes became more abstract and surrealistic; influences came from various collaborations and often seriousness was undercut with a wink... as on previous c.o. releases you can hear musical and stylistic sources from many cultural areas; for instance on 'ripple' you can hear indian chants, dub bass, electronic clicks/cuts, gongs, a piano, even straight beats and minimal sequencer grooves. styles range from free form to dance music to idm to noise and to ethnic sources. in hashimoto's works these ingredients cease what they were before - they are now transformed into coherent music (without being a eclectic cliché). an example: often many artists use voice samples in their work, to explain or to engross thoughts. hashimoto's usage of samples take the 'instruments of speech' out of their initial contexts - used in c.o.'s metaverse they entirely lose their initial intent and function. if we go further and think about 'rhythms', 'melodies' and 'textures' instead of 'voices', we might have a key to c.o.'s self conception. this album should be experienced with all senses wide open. enjoy this anniversary and look forward to the next twenty years of a great artist.