Haujobb – Dead Market

I have to start off and say, I hate electro industrial. Electro industrial is dead. I had such high hopes for this genre, as it permeated every aspect of my life from the early nineties until the turn of the century. However, as time went on, the genre again and again became trapped by its own vain expectations of what it should sound like, and whether future pop, noise or techno tinged, it became a homogenous mess of crap that I progressively lost patience with.

That said, thank goodness for haujobb. Long live haujobb. Along with a mere handful of other artists, haujobb have consistently satisfied me as one of the few groups in this genre that actually lend it some much needed credibility. If anyone writes about this genre and its impact on music in 100 years time, I hope that Daniel Myer and co. are featured prominently. They take risks, they refine their sounds to create elegant razor tapestries, and yes, they deliver on the promise that lassigue bendthaus made to the genre so many years ago. Dead Market, of course, is the lead off single to their impending album "New World March." I remember reading some press for this where Daniel described the sound as more organic, with more analogue sounds, more guitar, etc, while maintaining that "future focus" that this band is so well known for. I did not doubt it, despite the potential for this description to result in an album sounding like the trash that Apoptygma Berserk has been putting out recently, if this track is any indication, new world march is not an 80ties nor Goth rock revival.

In fact, I would say the retro elements invoke a much more subtle influence. Perhaps a pre-front by front era 242, a nitzer ebb flair, some vintage klinik, or a touch of portion control. If you only recognize the first two bands and not the latter two, then you ought to brush up on your history of EBM. This retro feel is still told through a very minimal lens, and this only works so well because the sounds chosen so perfectly compliment each other. drums that are buried deep in the mix, guitars that are mixed so well that they just enhance, not dominate (which, if you recall was similar praise heaped upon freeze frame reality when it was released) and just the right amount of bass synth and melody, which in this case, is a very sparing amount. The vocals are my favorite part however, as there is a real conviction behind Myer's delivery.

After the excellent, but somewhat "safe" sounding vertical theory, it's nice to hear a fresh new take on the haujobb sound. I suspect this will polarize fans, much like less and the resulting ninetynine did a decade ago, but I for one welcome the fresh perspective. In a genre that is too much like the Wii: great potential, but too much damn shovel ware, dead market is a deep, fresh breath.

Oh, and there's some remixes on here too. They are ok. I guess.