C/A/T - The Prisoner

I was given a copy of this as a free promo. What I mean by that is that it's not a genre I would have knowingly pursued?
And you know what?
This totally blew my mind.
As we all know, samples are a staple of industrially orientated music. Unfortunately, the result is all too often either cliched or just plain poorly done.
It's incredibly refreshing then to hear music that not only makes maximum use of samples, but does this in a coherent and - I'm going to say it only one - thoroughly interesting manner.
Yes, I never thought I'd use the word "interesting" to describe clicks and crunches but here it is. This release at times leaves nme with the same feeling after I've read a good book or seen a fascinating documentary.
The effect is downright eerie at times. Every song has a collage of samples taken from a multitude of films, documentaries, interviews etc. An ongoing theme consists of samples from the British series "The Prisoner" (hence the title).
One one occasion, listening in the dark with my headphones, I was too freaked out by track 4 - "Global Power Elite" to continue and had to hit next.
For sample based music this really does deliver an incredible amount of energy. The music itself is almost minimalist and repetitively simple and yet it works so well with almost every song. And it delivers what I look for most in avant garde music - a strong emotion!
Finally, the best part about this release is the fact that it really feels like a proper album. It really is a case of 1 + 1 = 3, and by that I mean that listening to this album from start to finish (and in order) really has you realsiing how well it "works", for lack of a better word.
The only let down, I thought, stemmed from the last three or so tracks. I thought the overall quality and imagination declined somewhat but oh well - you can't have it all.
Besides, if you ever get that far by listening to this from track 1, by the time you get that far you would have been on such a wild ride that you'll want to stop halfway and totally re-examine the way you look at life anyway.
I call this "conspiracy theory" music - owing to the many many many references to David Icke (a lunatic fringe but surprisingly compelling British conspiracy theorist). That alone should be enough to wet your appetite.