Album of the Week: An Overture by Youth Code
For this week's edition of Album of the Week, I decided to choose An Overture by Youth Code. An Overture is the CD compilation of Youth Code's music that features their new EP A Place to Stand, their self-titled album, and their Keep Falling Apart 7".
In a sea of cookie cutter bands over the last couple of years, I have been finding Youth Code's brand of industrial music very satisfying to listen to because it does not sound like a lot of bands in the dark electro scene nowadays which seems to be dominated by synthesizers (not that there is anything wrong with synthesizers, it is just the lack of originality and complacency that bothers me). Youth Code's sound is more old school ala Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, and Front Line Assembly which I find absolutely refreshing with all the bands that wants to sound like Suicide Commando, Hocico, Combichrist or Rotersand. The music isn't completely old school. You can hear a more modern influence in tracks like "Carried Mask"and "Destroy, Said She", two of my personal favorite tracks. The music especially on their self-titled album is very danceable but yet maintains an edgy, experimental sound. All three Youth Code releases flows quite well together. From my personal standpoint, the compilation sounds like one full length album. I admit I was a bit worried about how the EP, self-titled album, and the 7" were going to sound on one CD but much to my delight it was mastered an mixed quite well. I enjoy every song on the compilation. If you haven't seen the video for "Consuming Guilt" (which is quite unnerving to say the very least), you should. This is one of the few music videos that I have seen that really makes me think. I also recommend checking out the track "Litany (A Place to Stand)" which is a provocative spoken-word type of track where Sarah Taylor goes off on what is wrong with society today. Some might hate this track but I absolutely love it.
If you haven't heard Youth Code' music now, you should ASAP. Our music scene needs more bands like Youth Code who puts out such ferocious, uncompromising music on their terms. While I don't think the scene is dying per say, I do think it has become stagnant and complacent.
In a sea of cookie cutter bands over the last couple of years, I have been finding Youth Code's brand of industrial music very satisfying to listen to because it does not sound like a lot of bands in the dark electro scene nowadays which seems to be dominated by synthesizers (not that there is anything wrong with synthesizers, it is just the lack of originality and complacency that bothers me). Youth Code's sound is more old school ala Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, and Front Line Assembly which I find absolutely refreshing with all the bands that wants to sound like Suicide Commando, Hocico, Combichrist or Rotersand. The music isn't completely old school. You can hear a more modern influence in tracks like "Carried Mask"and "Destroy, Said She", two of my personal favorite tracks. The music especially on their self-titled album is very danceable but yet maintains an edgy, experimental sound. All three Youth Code releases flows quite well together. From my personal standpoint, the compilation sounds like one full length album. I admit I was a bit worried about how the EP, self-titled album, and the 7" were going to sound on one CD but much to my delight it was mastered an mixed quite well. I enjoy every song on the compilation. If you haven't seen the video for "Consuming Guilt" (which is quite unnerving to say the very least), you should. This is one of the few music videos that I have seen that really makes me think. I also recommend checking out the track "Litany (A Place to Stand)" which is a provocative spoken-word type of track where Sarah Taylor goes off on what is wrong with society today. Some might hate this track but I absolutely love it.
If you haven't heard Youth Code' music now, you should ASAP. Our music scene needs more bands like Youth Code who puts out such ferocious, uncompromising music on their terms. While I don't think the scene is dying per say, I do think it has become stagnant and complacent.
Comments
Post a Comment