So Now You Like Synths?

Please allow me to spew forth bile and venom, just for a moment. You know what really gets my goat? All these new “alternative” bands with synthesizers, doing interviews in SPIN & AP about how cooooool it is to play Moogs (pronounced mooh-g) and Arps. Some of these Johnny-come-latelies even put “Moog” in their names (Moog Cookbook), just in case you thought they might be some crappy college alternarock junkies who realized their infantile whinings about how much they hate themselves and how hard it is to be a junkie was finally starting to get on peoples nerves, so they’d better add something new to the same old four-chord crap so people think it’s not just warmed-over Lynrd Skynrd and recycled Bob Seger.

So what do they do? They add a synthesizer, and do interviews about how they only use really old Moogs (pronounced mooh-g), because all other synths sound like shite. Please! These are the same frat-boy, beer-swilling rednecks that used to call us “art-twats” and “geeks” because we used synths, and now they’re transferring that “1965 Les Paul Candy-Apple Sunburst with dual humbucking pickups, formerly owned by Clapton’s ex-lighting man don’t touch it, it’s far too valuable to be played” mentality to our beloved synths.

My advice: go back to “Louie, Louie”.

The reviews are beginning to pour (well, trickle) in, and are overwhelmingly positive. (FYI, all reviews [at least the good ones] will be posted in the PRESS INFO of this website.) Here’s what CYBERLOGUE had to say:

“This debut release is the quintessential techno-industrial record. This is the sort of mutated effect I once hoped the influx of techno would have on the aggro-tech scene”

Now if that doesn’t make you want to skeedaddle right down to the record store and buy “Skullbuggery”, I don’t know what will.

The Screen

Even though our pool service on “The Screen” was patchy, we are currently charting in San Francisco (Soundworks pool), Chicago (Let’s Dance), and at the Progressive Pool (national alternative dance).

Here’s what BILLBOARD said about “The Screen”:

“This track stands head and shoulders above the litter of lost techno tracks on the muscle of it’s poppy hook and savvy use of a funky, live-sounding bassline. Wade through the record’s remixes, and you will discover more odd noises than it seems possible to cram onto one track…”

One bad thing about getting a glowing review in BILLBOARD: the phone rings off the hook with people wanting free copies. BTW, the stock of “The Screen” 12″ is almost gone, so anyone who had been thinking of ordering—it’s you last chance!

The Think Tank EP, “Mandroid” is scheduled for release October 22, although it’s available now here at HAK Central. (check the SOFTWARE page for audio clips.) “Mandroid” has six cuts, including two new remixes of Think Tank’s 1991 monster. “A Knife & a Fork.”

This is PJR, signing off for today. And remember:

“It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.”