*PaulvanDyk = The Politics of Dancing

Scar Culture Inscribe Century Media 2001

Most people are somewhat turned off by the concept of death metal. When most peo- ple imagine death metal, the image of some greasy look- ing fifteen year old moshing to music that sounds like a 50 gallon metal drum, filled with rabid cats, rocks and hypo- dermic needles being kicked down a steep hill comes to mind.

Well, as colorful as this image is, not all death metal is bad music and Scar Culture proves that. Their music is very heavy, very

Paul Van Dyk The Politics of Dancing Nettwerk 2001

(For this CD we decided to do something a little different. We had 2 reviewers listen to it and their opinions were so different | had to print them both. -Ed.)

An old-timer in the world of progressive trance, Paul Van Dyk has played with the big boys. As a contemporary of trance giants Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, and John Digweed, Van Dyk has to produce impressive sounds to avoid being shadowed. His latest release, “The Politics of

Dead Prez Let’s Get Free! Warp 2000

The Dead Prez’s “Lets Get Free” album is almost purely political. The CD’s lyrics are generally pro-black, anti- white. The music found inside the CD is, however, some pretty good hip-hop when you can see past the lyrics and just enjoy the beats that it'll send through your system. The songs | particularly enjoyed on the CD were “Mind Sex’, “Discipline” and “Its Bigger Than Hip-Hop”. The CD will

aggressive, and surprising- ly...good. No I’m not kidding you.

Their music is not to be lis- tened to for its fantastic lyrical content or out of any sense of intelligence. If you are looking for music that will assault you though, Scar Culture is for you.

Their music is nice and catchy, with rhythmical pounding melodies. Scar Culture’s singer Pheroze is really talented, his voice is full of primal, screaming fury, but he has the talent to pull it off. The best part of Pheroze’s vocals are his thick, gritty voice. The rest of the band is talented too, the

Dancing’ serves to prove that Van Dyk can hold his own quite well. Full of progressive and breakbeat trance tracks from artists such as Timo Maas, ActiveX, U2, and Way Out West, this album has an endless variety of beats and sounds. Van Dyk’s transitions are slick, and his progres- sions are logical. There is not a misplaced beat to mar the flow of energy that Van Dyk unleashes from his turnta- bles. !f you're looking for a new addition to your trance library, go out and pick this up at your local record store. The Politics of Dance ---Dana

probably start some fights at home if the younger kids picked it out and Mom and

_ Dad heard it, but try not to

concentrate on the hate found inside and focus on the reason why people buy CDs of music, the music. The message in the songs are generally the same where the members of Dead Prez tell “their people” that the blacks should be helping out all other blacks to fight against the white oppres- sion. The only difference between a few of the songs and that messages can be found in “Mind Sex” or “Be

vocals are backed up by a

band that is no less talented. Even if you think that most

death metal is stupid and

sounds terrible, you need to

check out Scar Culture. They

are well worth a listen. ---Kathleen

To be perfectly honest, the one track that made me want to listen to the CDs was U2’s “Evelation.” | found the music to be incredibly repetitive and crossing the fuzzy grey area into boring. The beat stayed relatively the same, and “Evelation” was totally ripped apart. In my opinion, “The Politics of Dance” would have been a lot less painful to lis- ten to if the music was signif- icantly more varied. However, take to mind these are just my opinions. Dana loved it!

---Steph

Healthy”. “Be Healthy” pro- motes the use of “soul food” to support their black her- itage where the white peo- ple’s food is made to better themselves and not the black man. In general, Loud Music, has put out an album filled with political messages not unlike what people would expect the Black Panther movement to have preached in the past. If you can see past the lyrics and enjoy the beats however, | do suggest at least giving the CD a lis- ten.

---Matty