Experiment Haywire- Remix Riot

ARTIST: Experiment Haywire

ALBUM: Remix Riot

LABEL: MachineKUNT Records

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 1-30-10

On Experiment Haywire's first remix collection, the one-woman EBM project of Rachel Haywire gets an exhaustive treatment from artists across the electronic music spectrum. Though Haywire's own belted, punk-influenced vocals remain the centerpiece, the mixes run the gamut from old school to postmodern, club-focused to experimental. Haywire's current studio work has tended of late toward the simplistic but powerful style pioneered by such acts as Nitzer Ebb, and there's plenty of similarly vintage stuff here, most notably by Leaether Strip's Claus Larsen, who applies his own signature sound, straightforward but dark and relentless, to "Game Called Life." Surprisingly, Autoclav1.1's mix of the same track is similarly old school in flavor; though it's got plenty of quieter, moodier textured parts, the beats are classic electro. For a more modern EBM approach, there's Blank's trance-driven mix of "Stereotype" and Vicious Alliance's progressive, futuristic "Just an Animal Mix" of "Mean Enough Hot Enough." For fans who prefer their dance tracks heavier on the noise and lighter on the melody, Baal's mix of "Occult Casualty" strips things down to a raw-edged keyboard line and a jarring, glitch-interrupted stomp, Ambassador 21 offer up a frantic power noise remix of "Decapitation," and Caustic's Matt Fanale turns out an amazing "Oi Vey Mix" of "Cooler Than Genocide" that's as infectious as it is brutal. If it's not dancing but pure sonic weirdness that gets you off, Revolution State's remix of "Decapitation" is hard to classify, drawing on primitive darkwave influences in the vein of early Attrition, while Out Out's "2 Tr Treatment" of "Army or Two" is classic industrial noise, distorted loops backing a spoken word recitation. Given some of Haywire's more eclectic leanings, one could have hoped for a little more experimental material here, but given that remix albums are generally geared as much toward DJs as to fans, it's understandable that there isn't a lot of extreme noise on here. What's surprising, though, is that with 16 tracks and over an hour's worth of music, there isn't a real dud on here; nearly any track would work on the dance floor, and most if not all of the remixes are worth repeated listening even outside the club. Assembling such a diverse but accessible remix album is no small feat for anyone, much less as polarizing a character as Haywire.

Check out Rachel Haywire online at www.thehaywire.net.