Various - Hard Education

Another old favorite from Downwards, featuring its entire artist roster in one place; Surgeon, Regis, Portion Reform and Female each contribute two tracks. Anthony Childs does the honors of opening up with a techno monster, appliying a harp as the track's most prominent sound, giving his banger a really sinister and evil sound. Female's up next with a straight to the point minimal thumper: 4x4 beat patterns, little rhythmic sections and loud cymbals, all in the vein of his "Into the exotic" debut album. Regis drops a slightly more subtle tune, where this bleepy hook is combined with a harsh bass line and complex rhythms, although not really explosive. That part is saved for Portion Reform and their absolutely banging tune with a really crispy kick, with noises slowly and quietly rising from the background, but always less audiable than the percussion. Regis is back with another minimal tune, groovy bass line, with little variation in the music, except this rhythm pattern going up and down a note or two throughout the track. I like it, simple, repetitive and hypnotic, with the real deal being in the details. Female really comes at it with full might and brings a party rocker which cleverly samples a blowing wistle and some tribal drum patterns in the background, as a steady and relentless 4x4 gives you the rest. Something that really gets the crowd hyped. Portion Reform bring another tight and linear banger, only that this time around there are more sharp sounds and clicks layed all over. Surgeon literary seals things off (as well as your fate) with another harp painted piece, which sounds like Wes Craven's nightmare served to you on a silver plate. There are outbursts of unpolished percussion sounding like a dozen tanks with hostile intentions entering a peaceful village. The music then fades out, with the second part of the last track, the bonus track I suppose, starts at 08:05. It's a three and a half minutes of more minimal rhythmical percussive goodness, nothing to make your head spin, but a well deserved return to reality after Surgeon's absolutely outrageous music.
Overall it's a compilation well worth owning if you are into this dry, monotonous and percussive sound, the rest of you seeking melody, harmony or multi layered music might want to look elsewhere. Favorite tracks are 1, 6 and 8.