Das Bunker: Fifteen Minutes into the Future

Artist: Various artists compilation
CD Title: Das Bunker: Fifteen Minutes into the Future
Label: Das Bunker
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 1/9/05

Das Bunker is LA’s – and probably America’s – most progressive and cutting-edge industrial club, having over the years entertained such legendary power noise acts as NoiSex, PAL, and Converter as well as supporting up-and-comers such as Manufactura and WASTE. Needless to say, the club’s second compilation is nothing if not noisy. There are plenty of famous faces, of course. Converter offers a live mix of “Monster” and “Deathtime” recorded at the club last autumn, while New York power noise wunderkind Terrorfakt has a track entitled “H-Bomb” after Das Bunker’s founder himself, DJ Franck H-Bomb. Andy Laplegua’s harsh EBM side project CombiChrist shows up with the techno-influenced “Das Der Bunker,” while WASTE appears with a version of “Irradiated Non-Future” remixed by Rekahoe, another Das Bunker DJ. Scattered in and amongst the rhythmic noise assaults are occasional moments of humor, like the screeching chimpanzees in Discipline Unit’s “Buttmonkey” or the sampled farm animals and faux public service announcements in Consume’s “Dance Puppet (Barnyard Love).” There are also moments of more cerebral rhythmic experimentation, like the drum ‘n’ bass assaults of Aural Blasphemy’s “NMC” and a remixed version of PAL’s “R-Forschung.” Though it’s the power noise that gets most of the attention, Das Bunker also has a long history of supporting EBM acts that are, shall we say, a little less punishing. This less noisy side is represented by Inure’s rather generic “Hymen” as well as an aggressive, mostly wordless remix of Imperative Reaction’s “Fade Into One.” If there’s any complaint with this compilation, it’s that some of these artists have released ambient and experimental tracks just as good as, if not even better than, their more aggressive dance material, but there’s really nothing wrong with a club putting out a compilation of club tracks. The big exception is Canada’s Iszoloscope, who close out the disk by eschewing both their ambient and rhythmic noise sides in favor of a hysterically funny electro cover of the theme from “Beverly Hills Cop.”

If you live in southern California, you already know about Das Bunker. If you don’t, this compilation is the best way to find out what’s going on at the forefront of the American industrial dance scene. Visit www.dasbunker.org for ordering information, DJ play lists, and pictures from the club.