At Risk Teen - Kill All Hipsters EP (part)

Hear The Track Here

'Noise-inflected DIY indie-lektro' is how LA based At Risk Teen describe themselves, if indeed there is any 'them' to it. For all we know it could be one person because I can find no information whatsoever about members, gigs etc. Anyway, I got a review request asking me to review a couple of tracks off the Kill All Hipsters EP, Goodbye Summerland and Pontius Pyro, and only one of them (Goodbye Summerland) can be found on their somewhat garish ArtistServer site. Of course, when you are listing Primal Scream, Chemical Brothers,and Public Enemy as influences you are probably going to snag someone like me who already has a very healthy taste for the electronically weird and wonderful, although you may struggle with drive-by listeners whose attention span is....what was I talking about??

Yeah, like that.

Mind you if you hadn't known that the Chemical Brothers was an influence, one listen to Goodbye Summerland would have spelt it out for you. Classic electronica mashup in the time honoured stylee, although it may be way too much if you are not a big fan of noise as a recreational pursuit. I've had much exposure over the last couple of years of unsigned musicians playing 'glitched' music and have come to like the style a lot, even though I know I am often in a minority there and if you are like me, you will get a lot out of this track. A lot more freakish than the Chems, and some of the breaks don't quite work for me but hey, small change for having your ears razored off with sound.

If I thought Goodbye Summerland was a hard track to assimilate, then Pontius Pyro is a lump still stuck in my throat. Whereas the former track has some structure (and I use that word in the loosest sense possible), Pontius Pyro comes at you from every direction, mugging you with an intensity that is nerve-grinding in the extreme. I grew accustomed to this form of music with people like Dross, drt, Guanoman et al and something this hard and edgy isn't likely to frighten me but I daresay it'll make more than a few people crap in their pants, especially if it should catch them unaware. Distinctly not for the more nervous amongst us, and probably only for those who already appreciate the noise as music school of thought.

Mashup much?? Recommended WTF!