Pills
Electrocaine

Yes Yes Yes... It's "thanks" to the continuous search for exquisite and refined sounds that sometimes comes back, stronger than ever, the need for that stylish brain/ear-splitting musical violence.

I roam (figuratively speaking, since it's 2x2m) in my room, eyeing the stacks of CDs, hoping that one of them will give me an instant flash of memories soon to be forgotten...

A glimmer of distant energy runs down my spine when my gaze falls on "Electrocaine," an album dated '98, by a French experimentalist group that did not achieve the same success as other contemporary compatriots like Daft Punk or Cassius.
I remember this CD was the constant soundtrack of a summer spent in a haze of partying and chaos when I still felt omnipotent and overflowing with energy... anyway, enough with the memories and let's move on with the review...

The guy on the cover, Antony Sandor, the group's frontman, is definitely the most fitting image to give a first impression of what awaits us inside the CD... keyword: ENERGY, an energy that burns and urges you to leave any inhibitions behind. The late '90s trend to marginalize (at least here in Perugia and surroundings) any sound that was too "club-like" made this album go unnoticed by the majority, although it is, all in all, very well done.
It all depends, as always, on what you're looking for and from what point of view you observe it... it's hard to clearly delineate the genre that the Pills pull out of their cylindrical mixtures, but what stands out is an underlying "simplicity" that distinguishes their creations from the sea of complicated nuances that most modern artists use for their creations... in a nutshell, listening to this CD is like observing a harmonious abstract painting created with various bright colors laid down with bold and well-defined strokes, without too many shades...

The Pills find a nice groove, upon which they insert cool sounds, then spin it vigorously until it reaches its end... nothing simpler, nothing more "raw", nothing more effective when done well.
The result is energy, direct and enjoyable for all, making this CD ideal for a dance floor in the middle of a field or maybe in an abandoned warehouse, although I don't think I was the only one to have blasted it several times on headphones, obviously at full volume ;) Acid-House, Hip-Hop, Electro-Funk, Club/Dance, Urban-Style, are just some of the genres recognizable when listening to these tracks, which sometimes don't hide rather dark settings (see the beautiful "Darkside"). Seeing Antony Sandor is a bit like seeing a Bob Marley without a conscience of peace and brotherhood, more inclined to chemical drugs than to marijuana and with a great desire to make noise...

In conclusion, a breath of fresh air taken at full speed that contrasts with overly tortured musical meanderings, where the air stagnates with complexity... nothing left to do but listen to the samples, huh?