To commemorate its 12th year in existence, Hymen, the more "conventional" step-child of the Ant-Zen label, releases this massive two disc compilation of its roster, and it is packed with the electronic, IDM, and occasionally pop elements of the label that we’ve all grown to know and love.
When I say "packed", I mean it: both discs clock in a bit over 79 minutes each, and there are a total of 33 different artists present. Anyone familiar with the label’s roster will know what to expect from this. Artists such as The_Empath combine quiet electronic textures and flanged rhythms with the traditional IDM percussive skittering. However rather than just sticking with what’s expected, there is a late appearance by guitar that takes the track into an entirely different realm. Dryft’s "Vector Step (Elimination)" is similar, pushing lush electronic synths over hushed breakbeats that are more textural than rhythmic.
The sound veers towards dissonance at times, and in a fascinating way. Label stalwarts Somatic Responses gives "Takayama (Another Day)" a raw and grinding electro rhythmic edge upon which old school synth sequences show up, all of which leads to a beautiful extended ambient closing. Deru’s "Between You and Me" combines old school hip-hop beats with a decidedly minimalist synth setup, instantly bringing me back to the days of Front 242’s Endless Riddance material. Lowfish’s "Wreckage" takes a similarly old school electro direction, adding in deep synth pulses to the otherwise tightly sequenced sound.
Mid-period industrial influenced stuff is here too, notably in the layered mechanical beats of Millipede’s "Concevoir (remixed by Aphorism)" and the distorted rhythms of "Phoenix" by HPC, coming across like a stripped down take on early Skinny Puppy material. Defrag’s "The Old Growth" and Wisp’s "The Bard" go a more pop direction with the industrial, the former throwing in the requisite dialog samples, but giving it more of cut up vibe to it, and the latter sounds like it’s longing to be back on the dancefloor.
The more "out there" tracks are a mixed bag. "The End of the World (Intimate Mix)" by the better known Snog is the only vocal track, mostly untreated voice with backward synths and just a bit of distortion cropping up at the end. While very different, it is also a bit pedestrian and too blandly EBM. Bit Shifter brings the chiptune scene with "Easy Prey," being focused on old Nintendo sounds, but thankfully uses more conventional drum sounds rather than the shit white noise impulse that 8 bit consoles relied on. The most 'out there' contriobution is End’s "Jailbait Rock," which can only be described as rockabilly glitch metal. It's sort of like if Ministry from 1990 were playing with the Reverend Horton Heat while Autechre does the production…that’s about as accurate as I can get.
Over this near 2 hours and 40 minutes of electronic music, there are a lot of diverse genres represented. Some have distinctly fresh and cutting edge sounds to them; others feel like throwbacks to earlier days of the scene. While there are a few tracks that just don’t stand out on their own, it is a good survey of the label’s long history, and electronic and industrial fans will definitely enjoy most of what’s here, and probably like some of the tracks that may creep out of their "preferred" subgenres.
samples:
- Deru - Between You and Me
- HPC - Phoenix
- End - Jailbait Rock
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