Search - Informatik :: Direct Memory Access, Vol. 2

The Exploration of Human Nature

TastyBabySyndrome | "Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Lit | 02/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the beginning, there silence despite noise and nothing spoke despite the bombarding of voices that heralded from their hollowed homes. Then, in a dark cloud of transition, voices were taught the seeds of angst and tolerance for the supposedly intolerable. This birthed dissension from the mentalities of the ordained orders of things, and a popular front of musical angst was born. It was a multi-headed beast wearing the adornments of scorn for things it saw copulating around its eyes, for the traps mankind waltzed within while traversing on the proverbial toes of one another, and it found itself jaded and somewhat affected by these notions. So, something bleak and menacing in its own rights began to morph and take root as a mouthpiece to minds it likened as something like itself. After a time, the works grew into heavily voxed machines and electronic beats drumming away on all fronts of humanity, taking the forms of bands like Informatik and their initial release, Direct Memory Access 2.0. Within Direct Memory Access 2.0, there are so many things that go right for a band just finding the footing that would later lead it down paths that would further morph into Syntax and then into the quite-different Nymphomatik, not to mention the side project Din Fiv and its two releases. The techno/electro/industrial copulation works well with the lyrical contents of the songs inside, and the almost growlingly dark machine of a voice speaking from its pulpit becomes yet another instrument, working to further refine the beats being produced. Samples crowd for room within the confines of the tracks, further accenting the works, making little proclamations of their own that seed many a track. The first song is a seemingly dark call to sexual orientation in calls to explore a little "Human Nature." The second, one of my more favored releases from the band in their early workings, is a proclamation to be able to self-govern oneself and thwart the devices of selfsameness in "Autonomous." This mix is a darker, more angst-filled piece, whereas the album manufactures another version of it, proving the machine behind the voice can also sing in an 80s rendition of the same song, "Autonomous-Nothing Is Real Mix." Its actually catchy, drifting down roads that show you just what a little instrumentation and heavy distortion can do to something that some produces. Perhaps my favorite track off the album is "Silicon," one that heralds a transformation of flesh into silicon, of man into mechanical device, and the horrors that come from that becoming. There are also other portions of the album that drift into stranger arrays, plus there are mostly musical renditions of songs that take the listener through a sampling of vocal clips and musical horizons (I Confess). If you've yet to experience Informatik in its many forms, this or Evolution would be the starting points I would recommend for introductions. This isn't to say that Nymphomatik isn't a great piece, but it does get mixed results from the listening populous. Besides, with men becoming machines, the sadism mixing with romance, proclamations of not wanting to conform, and the beauty in the depravity of vocal machinery, what wouldn't be to like? Highly recommended."

Informatik: Tearing it up!

07/31/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Danceable, hard songs. A very cool Cyber/Industrial Band from Boston (my home city, always a plus .) Like the band Xorcist they include short bursts of words from movies and such. Informatik uses tracks and bursts of words that fit the song, much better than Bat of Xorcist does. They repeat certain verses in their songs over and over, sometimes to stupidity but others it works well.Great CD with beautifully crafted Cyber/Industrial music."