Review Summary: I see, hear, and speak evil in every direction.
New York-based, Power Electronics artist Xanadu has brought back a genre thought dead for a long time. Let's be pretty honest with ourselves here; William Bennett has moved on from Whitehouse, Blackhouse hasn't put out a good album in a long time, and pretty much every copycat this side of Mississippi has failed to properly make a quality record for the genre. In comes Xanadu with his self-titled debut EP; a 15 minute barrage of horror and madness fit only for the king of the Underworld.
As we go down the tracklist,
I is a four minute distortion track while
II is about one to two minutes of the same thing but in a much more soft frequency. The real kicker here is
III, a ten minute epic featuring synth distortion, microphone feedback, and heavy static. The difference between
Xanadu and a lot of other Power Electronics albums is in what it conveys. Xanadu almost relies on a feeling of horror; not the realistic horror, but a cinematic horror. The distortions are escalated throughout the EP, building a sense of dread as it leads to its epic conclusion. A lot of the static and distortion create an ambient feel to them, but still retain the major pieces of a Power Electronics album.
The cinematic intensity of these tracks really help build this EP.
III really drives the bulk of the EP, with its eerie production and creepy droning feedback. I could see this being the soundtrack for an actual horror movie, a bold claim to make considering there is no discernible rhythm to be found here, but I digress.
One can tend to be critical of new Power Electronics artists with the way the genre has turned nowadays. Thankfully, Xanadu doesn't give a flying fuck. This debut EP is transforming the genre into something of a gimmick, but that is a good thing. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and utilizes ideas that no other Power Electronics artist has actually done, whilst using instruments and techniques that every other Power Electronics has done. It's almost cunningly ironic in its presentation and it's great.
