Kevin Lux is on a creative wave at the moment as he unleashes his new album "Dark Machine" and as the title suggests the album has a darker feel to it and a bit more minimalistic too.
The opening track "Obvious" has some excellent acid house elements with melodic synth parts
overlaying the composition, Vocoder vocals also play their part. I like the simplicity of this track.
"Clock Law" is more upbeat, nice sequencer elements and solid sequenced bass-line. Excellent
vocoder vocals on this song, reminded me in parts of the Pet Shop Boys more experimental B Sides (think "One Of A Crowd"), the track has an excellent and uplifting chorus, which really drives the track. One of my favourite tracks on the album.
Next we have the wonderfully titled "Cyborg In Shadows", a song that dates back to 1995. This is
a more dark experimental track with a fast rhythm section and glorious bass-line. I could imagine this track as a soundtrack piece in a science fiction film. the structure of the song stays the same throughout with intricate sequenced patterns. "Slipstream" is different again, it's upbeat and I love the synth stabs, they work a treat over the cacophony of sequencers, as with all of the tracks on this album there is space for every aspect of instrumentation, which I really like. Another track I really like, the simplistic melody grabs your attention.
"Face To Face" sees the return of that "Numan" synth lead sound Kevin has created to perfection,
which is very effective on this song, I like how he uses synth sound effects on this track, this will be a big favourite for fans of Kevin's work, fabulous use of sequencer patterns throughout this track.
Next we have the title track "Dark Machine", very science fiction, especially the opening section of the song, it unexpectedly moves into dance terrortory, with vocoded vocals over a quite atmospheric backdrop, another excellent track.
"Stealth" reminded me a little bit of Numan's "Replicas" album, it has dark overtones and is quite minimalistic, that said he does make excellent use of synth parts, as the song progressed I was also drawn to the John Foxx album "Metamatic".
"UFO" again treads Science Fiction terrortory and has some wonderful synth melody parts, unlike
several tracks on the album this has a lot going on, including interesting stereo movement, which sound excellent through headphones.
Another track that dates back to 1995 is "Battery", as with "Cyborg In Shadows", this has been
re-worked. A lot of this album benefits from well constructured sequencer parts, be it bass-lines or melody and this track is no exception, I like the pulsing bass-line and use of melodic parts here and there, I like the shift in structure of the second half of the song, good use of vocoded vocals too.
"Dead Radio" is definitely 4 to the floor, beautiful melody lines, rhythmically bordering on techno, vocoded vocals. Also included on the album is the original version of "Stealth", and a Redux version of "Stealth", that make interesting listening as you can appreciate the work Kevin has put into the new version to fit with the concept of the album.
This is another side to Kevin's music direction, darker and I would say he has gone for a more
minimalstic approach which works well, Kevin uses the phrase "Intense Direction" in his description of the album and I would agree with him on that.
A very intriguing piece of work, which I really enjoyed and I don't think fans of Kevin's work will be disappointed as it shows a different side of his music creation. A very talented guy.
9/10
