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New Releases

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Artist:	JUNKIE XL
Title:	"SATURDAY TEENAGE KICK"
Label:	Roadrunner Records
Reviewed By:	Jill Williams
Rating:

Tom Holkenborg is "Junkie XL," with the XL standing for "expanding limits." He's done remix work with bands like "Fear Factory" and "Nerve" and toured with "The Prodigy" just last year. Rude Boy of "Urban Dance Squad" and Dino from "Fear Factory" supply some vocals on the album. Holkenborg began his musical career at age 14, playing in funk and reggae bands, which eventually led to new wave and alternative interests. Ten years ago, as a computer and sythesizer salesman, he learned more about electronic music applications and got himself into the house music scene. He won the Grand Prix of the Netherlands award for "Best House Producer" in the dance music catagory. All of this experience would lead you to believe that this guy would have a seriously kickin' album. A good deal of the music is that rap/techno combination that drives me up a wall. I try to be objective, and I think I do a good job, but I'm never going to be a fan of this type of music. "Underachievers" starts the album out with a yuck. As far as I could tell it was just noise with a few cool sounds thrown in. The sampling is all right, but so many other bands do it much more effectively than has been done with this song. Fortunately, "Billy Club" kicks in soon enough with really terrific music and much better and more interesting vocals. The only bad thing about this song is that it's so much shorter than the others. It's a little slow for dance music, maybe, but it's really wonderful in that sit back and space out kind of way. Ahhh, "No Remorse" is another terrific song on this album. Repetitive, but not in a bad way. It's funny, the first comparison that came to mind when I heard this song was that it sounds like something from Pink Floyd's "The Wall," if Floyd did techno. I guess it's just the atmosphere and the sampling that remind me of it because I can't really say that it sounds like "Pink Floyd." Again, this is more one of those down-time dance songs. Doesn't work you into a frenzy, but rather makes you stick with the beat and zone out a bit. In general, I'm not terribly impressed with the lyrics on this cd. "Metrolike" is no exception. The music is fantastic but the vocals are almost monotone and their content doesn't help. If we could take the talk out of it, this would be an average, but very fun dance song. "Xpanding Limits" is probably the wildest song to be found here. The music is slow but with a ton of pretty freaky sounds every so often. Some similar to records scratching and some just odd and out of nowhere. Again, I can't say I like the vocals, but I suppose I could always buy an expensive karaoke machine and filter them out . . . hehe. Hey, it's a song where I like the vocals! "Saturday Teenage Kick" is, more than the others, a really great dance song. By that I mean that it's pretty upbeat and very easy to work up a sweat to. The singing is pretty varied and actually adds to the music rather than detracting from it. The last song is one of those "hidden tracks" where you wait through a bunch of silence at the end of what you think is the last song and finally something else comes on. I have no idea what it's called, but it may be the best song on here! There's a little of everything mixed in with this tune, so much so, that it's nearly impossible to explain, and the effect is stellar. If you do pick up this cd, make sure you don't shut it off too soon. There are many more songs on the album, of course, but it's easier to say that I either didn't like them or they were about average. Not really worth another few paragraphs of writing. It seems like with just the music and the sampling this album could be really good, but most of the vocals come close to ruining it for me. Overall this is a worthwhile venture, but I can't really recommend it to everyone. Serious techno fans should probably find this one, the occasional techno listener or newcomer should start with something better like "My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult," "Orbital," or "Meat Beat Manifesto."

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