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Inertia
No Defect EP
~reviewed by Uncle
Nemesis
If there was an award for the hardest working band in our corner of showbusiness, Inertia would be a shoo-in. Formed in 1994, they made an immediate impact by playing heavy duty electronic music at a time when the dominant style in the world of industrial was the quasi-metallic Ministry/Cubanate maximum-guitar thing. They've released 4 albums (with a fifth on the way), formed their own record label, built their own studio, and collaborated with just about everyone who is anyone on the industrial/electro scene.
They've also toured like buggery all over Europe and throughout the USA - in itself a major achievement for a UK band. So many UK-based acts talk a good fight about international tours, but never quite seem to get out there and do it. While other bands are talking, Inertia are touring. The gigography on their website lists almost 150 shows. They've played everywhere from CBGBs in NYC to the Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, from Club Dominion in Bergen, Norway to my personal favourite - the Rockin' Horse Saloon in Birmingham, Alabama. You *know* you're on tour when you play the Rockin' Horse Saloon in Birmingham, Alabama!
So, here's the latest slice of Inertia noise. 'No Defect' is a five-track EP intended as a taste of the forthcoming album, 'Advanced Revelation'. What you get for the price of admission is four different mixes of the title tune, plus 'Void', as remodelled by Swedish electro-stompers Project X.
I have to say the CD inlay artwork isn't exactly a triumph of groovy graphics - it's a drab brown background, with a strange kind of texture to it like an Artexed toilet wall, upon which the track listing and other details are rendered in a font so highly stylised it's almost unreadable. Not a particularly tempting item for a record store browser. Quite why Inertia didn't simply put a cool photo of the band on the CD sleeve is a mystery - they have a strong visual style, and have many promo and live photos to prove it. But then, so few artists put band-shots on their CDs now - have you noticed that? Bands will happily slap photos all over their websites, and in fanzines, magazines - anywhere *except* on the actual product, where they too frequently seem to favour an anonymous and sometimes just plain naff design. Seems highly illogical to me, Captain!
However, I digress. Let's listen to the music. I mentioned above how Inertia's electronic approach made them stand out from the crowd in the era of 'Jesus Built My Hot Rod'. But even now, when everyone's using electronix, Inertia still maintain a highly individual style. Not for them the accessible, dare I say even commercial, stylings of VNV Nation or Apoptygma Berzerk. Inertia's music has a harsh, sparse feel, and on 'No Defect' they come at us like a severely pissed-off Kraftwerk. The vocals are treated, but unlike too many bands these days who just max out the distortion, Inertia keep *just* enough of the human element to give the vocals an individual, regognisable, sound. The mixes here range from thumping dancefloor-slanted versions to deconstructed machine-beat workouts, but my guess is that the original mix, which has the flavour of a prime slice of European coldwave, will be the one the DJs go for. Meanwhile, 'Void' (or at any rate, this mix of the song) is a tower of electro-melodrama, all blue dry ice rolling in between the tower blocks as the beat detonates. Sorry, I think I'm watching 'Bladerunner' in my head again here. Highly effective, Grade A electro-industrial that doesn't make compromises and doesn't take prisoners.
Tunestack:
No Defect (Single edit)
No Defect (The Pixs dub mix)
Void (Project-X remix)
No Defect (Club mix)
No defect (Mutagenic mix)
Inertia is:
Reza Udhin & Alexys B: Vocals, electronics,
programming, percussion, production
With: Ed Luxmoore & Eddie Tempest:
Keyboards
Reviewed by Uncle Nemesis: http://www.nemesis.to
Inertia: http://www.inertia.gs
Cryonica Music, Inertia's label: http://www.cryonica.com