Providing breaks and loops for other DJs to use and basing records around the sample-heavy albums of the Nineties was always a hard concept to get behind, but if you accepted that this was the sole aim of DJ Food releases, then there was undoubtedly some safe, easy-listening fun to be had along the way. But The Search Engine, the first DJ Food release in 12 years, is presented as a serious work; to be digested in its entirety, and as such it falls completely flat. Sample-heavy, packed with too many guests and obscure sci-fi references, The Search Engine is an awkward album of prog-rock done very badly indeed – see the cringe-worthy ‘Giant’ or the ridiculous ‘The Illectrik Hoax’. Perhaps it’s time to lay the DJ Food moniker to rest.
(As featured on the AU site, here)
Icelandic four-piece Dead Skeletons seem drawn to an air of grandeur. The band’s first full-length album was initially shrouded in mystery; the band released six videos from Dead Magick in the build-up to its release over the past two years, their album is a considerable 73 minutes long, and the album artwork is a rather large and imposing skull. Unfortunately, Dead Magick is a thoroughly demanding and dense listen – over an hours’ worth of psychadelica is never going to fly in, but this isn’t helped by despondent vocals and little in the way of imagination. There are bands doing this sort of thing well – A Place To Bury Strangers and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to name but two – but Dead Skeletons are some way off joining this elite club just yet.
Little Motel 