Review: Jack Foley
FOLLOWING the success of Listen
& Learn, Hexstatic duo, Stuart Warren Hill and Robin Brunson,
produce another essential collection of mashed-up brilliance,
that combines the best of their musical ability with their skills
as VJs (or practitioners of a visual mixing technique that fuses
and segues images in the same way that a DJ mixes records).
Master View is a DVD/Audio release that is jam-packed
full of exquisite beats, classic electro and trademark Ninja funk
that comes complete with synchronised videos for every track as
well as extras including 3D anaglyph versions of selected videos.
It finds Hill and Brunson at their most inventive and surreal
and is sure to become one of the alternative dance anthems of
the year.
On the DVD side, the mix features everything you could possibly
hope for and more from the Hexstatic universe - from vintage video
game porn for the over thirties, to cartoon ninjas killing dogs,
sixties future psych, giant teddy bears, birds that sing along
to the tune and rapper, Juice Aleem, spitting out the Beatles.
What's more, having enthralled you once, it does it again in
3D - just to really freak out your mind!
In CD form, the album simply represents a fantastic listen -
a sample-laden, good-humoured joyride through some of the finest
cuts and breaks delivered onto the Ninja label this year.
Chase Me, for instance, features the sort of cool gangster-vibe
that inhabits the soundtrack of Ocean's
Eleven, mixing and matching some truly retro-beats with some
scuzzy guitar riffs and a brilliant hammond organ section.
While the blissed out Pulse, which rounds off the album,
is sure to induce stoner-heaven, without any need for the spliff!
Along the way, there's the blip-heavy Telemetron, which
features another sublime piece of lazy guitar, and the dreamy
Perfect Bird, which features a delicious female vocal sample.
Recent single, Salvador, is a perfect showcase of the
bands mighty rhythms and electronic-fixation, while the big beats
of Toys Are Us pave the way nicely for the chilled out
finale.
It may be a little too quirky to cater for all tastes, but for
anyone who likes their beats to be a little challenging, then
Master View provides a masterclass to revel in.
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Track listing:
1. Extra Life
2. Chase Me
Real™
l Windows™
3. Telemetron
4. L-Virata
Real™
l Windows™
5. Perfect Bird
Real™
l Windows™
6. Salvador
Real™
l Windows™
7. Living Stereo
8. Distorted Minds
9. That Track
Real™
l Windows™
10. Toys Are Us
11. Pulse
* All tracks re-appear on the DVD, which is included in the
order price
** Play
the Chase Me game
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