REVIEW FOR JAN 27 04 LOL ;)

STEREOSKOP
MALEVICH
STEREOSKOP-MALDOROR, 2002
 
Oh boy, Goth music.  I'm not exactly thrilled to be reviewing it but the label sent Malevich to me unsolicited so I'll try to give it a shot without resorting to writing a dissertation about face paint and bloody fixations on daggers.  Anyway, Stereoskop is composed of Susana Egea on vocals, Alex Brujas on assorted instruments and Luis E. Diaz as a "deejay"/sampler.  To be honest, Malevich has an 80's-type sound to it, sounding almost like a retro throwback.  It's uncanny, the opening track "Air" sounds like a club band tangled up in the synths to Apocalypse Now (insert Col. Kurtz/Charlie Sheen joke here.)  Musically, Stereoskop is a credible band skilled in the art of atmosphere and treading the fine line between musical credibility and club-oriented dross.  Malevich is very danceable and I wouldn't be surprised if some Spanish clubs in Madrid played this type of music.  I'm not a fan of club music so making Malevich sound somewhat Goth without sounding rave-ready or, well, faggish is a big plus in my book.
 
I'm not exactly thrilled with Egea's vocals, though.  They have this flat quality to them.  The woman's not tone-deaf but there's no real emotion in her vocals.  Given that the band is sort of, well, centred around her (she's in the "Musik" video traipsing about like a traipser does) I just find the vocals dull.  I don't know if Egea is aping latter-day Deborah Harry or what; it just sounds like she's reading the phone book with the energy and excitement of an insomniac passing time while watching the 3:25 AM Tony Robbins infomercial.  I don't want her to shriek like she's auditioning for Judas Priest, mind you.  It's just that the vocals could have been a little more involving, or at least should've met the business end of ProTools and Cubase XS.  That's my opinion, mind you.  I'm not interested in the relative joy-killing of the goth scene, so I don't know.  I can't sing dully enough to save my life.
 
All in all, Malevich is a decent album for its genre - nothing more, nothing less.  There's a multimedia addendum to this CD, by the way, that allows you to watch "Muzik" provided you have QuickTime.  I hope you disabled the "autorun" feature in Windows (you all use it, don't lie to me like that) before listening to this CD on your computer.  I don't want to be responsible for any aneurysms caused by QuickTime auto-installing itself.  The 21st century is great, isn't it?  So is Apple.  Buy an IPod^™.
 
STEREOSKOP/STEREOSKOP-MALDOROR RECORDS
C/ Cavanilles 22 Bajo
28007 Madrid
SPAIN
http://www.stereoskop.net/ (STEREOSKOP)
[email protected] (STEREOSKOP)
http://www.stkm.com/ingles.htm (STKM)
[email protected] (STKM)