Primal Scream Album: “XTRMNTR”

I haven't heard any other primal scream albums, although from what I understand this album is pretty unlike their previous material, which is unfortunate because this album is very good. Indeed, this one of few wholly integrated rock/electronic bands I've heard that pulls the trick off well (Cornelius is the only other one that comes immediately to mind). There are electronic bands that use rock moves (Chemical Brothers); there are rock bands that pretend to be electronic by throwing in burbly synth noises. But Primal Scream have created an album that rocks, which you can dance to at the same time. This is more difficult than it sounds. It helps that they're all over the map on this one: Kevin Shields (formerly of my bloody valentine) adds production to accelerator that makes the song sound, unsurprisingly, like a my bloody valentine song (albeit faster & angrier). This is a good thing. Shields also contributes to the aptly-titled MBV Arkestra, a very impressive dance rave-up complete with horns and random swirling noises. There's also neo-hip-hop sounds here (Pills, aided by the Automator's fine production); big beat (kill all hippies), and other meldings of electronic moves into rock stylings. Primal Scream have also generously included two entertaining versions of the song Swastika Eyes: the first version melds a satisfying electro riff with impassioned vocals, while the second version is a remix by the Chemical Brothers that sounds like a Chemical Brothers song; imagine that. One other thing to note is that the track listing on Amazon is wrong: the listing above is the track listing for the uk version of the record, but the American version of this album also contains the bonus track "I'm 5 years ahead of my time." Unfortunately, I bought the import version of this album a couple of months ago, so I'm missing that track. In fact, I'm seriously considering buying the album a second time to get that song. Yes, the album is that good: hype is rarely dead on (remember the Beta Band?) but in this case, I'd say you can believe the hype.

Primal Scream.....Okay, the band may not sound familuar to all of us Americans out there, but in Britain, this band is a zenith in the present scene. Besides acts like Radiohead and Travis that get much radio and magazine time on both sides of the Atlantic, this band has yet to cross-over to our East Coast shores, and believe me, when it does come on some future date, it'll probably be a massed invasion ready to destroy everything in its path.

That's exactly what Bobby Gillespie wants--destroy the over-confident, over-rich, glubbed capitalist Yankees. But for a group of this caliber to be speaking on such a shouting social movement would of been unimaginable 10 years ago. Back in the early 1990s, when the rave and house scene were sweeping Europe and the UK by storm, Primal Scream, as well as fellow acts like the Stone Roses, Erasure, etc...were one of the first acts to jump into that bandwagon, ready to be at all-night raves, smoke hard, drink hard, take E seductively. Then it was hedonism, pure free love; songs like "Slip Inside This House" and "Don't Fight It, Feel It," gave off that giant-smile faced European house beat where everyone feels in love.

Times have changed.

Instead of remaining in that clubby clique, they have evolved into a ferocious monster that will eat anyone in a gulp. With enough bite and political terrorism, we now have a new, (although-slightly techno)enhanced band that should be the trans-Atlantic cousins of Rage Against the Machine. Not only their lyrics have changed, but also their sound. With the introduction of Manny (from their old rave cousins, the Stone Roses) they have successfully moved away from the sound of the club to the sound of war, and have appropriately named the album "Xtrmntr."

"Xtrmntr" starts with "Kill All Hippies," beginning with a muffled sound of a little child, speaking over a communications radio, claiming, "Destroy, kill all hippies. Anarchy. Disco Sucks." A steady drum beat sets in, setting the tempo of the album, stacked with looping guitars, computer bleeps and whines, and Gillespie's soulful voice, decreeing, "You got the money/I got the soul." The song slowly morphs out into crunching silence; the child over the communications radio goes silent.

But the album explodes like a fireball instananeously in the next song, "Accelerator," abrasive guitars thanks to Kevin Shields (ex-My Bloody Valentine) fill the air so violently that you have to turn the volume down to keep sanity still in control. Gillespie continues to take no prisoners, screaming "Come on! COME ON!!!!" in the background, like a battlecry for frightened listeners.

That tempo is continued in the next track, "Exterminator," perhaps the best song on the album, and truly addicting to listen to. "Exterminator"'s thumping marching beat and abrasive guitar define Primal Scream's evolution from rave to revolutionary industrial. "Gun metal skies/Broken eyes/Claustrophobic concrete English high-rise/ EXTERMINATE the underclass/EXTERMINATE the telepaths...No Civil Disobedience," goes Gillespie to its hypnotic beat and guitar. (I remember they played this song before NIN took the stage in San Francisco during the Fragility Tour, and all the people were nodding their heads to it, wondering who the hell was this).

It's safe to say that these guys don't like the way the world is run, espeically by the West. Much like the symbolism that Rage had when they were still together, "Xtrmntr"'s art work is basically a damming look at what Primal Scream feels to be American Imperialism--fighter jets and helicopters--all ready to attack, ready to take over. "Swastika Eyes," mixed my DJ Jagz Kooner is an intense bout of house beats mixed with industrial guitars (one can't help start to notice the major "industrial" influence on this album). It's dancable and utterly political, "The illusion of democracy," cries Gillespie at America, noting its military and corporations as the world's new fascist elite.

Eat your heart out, George W Bush!!!

The album slides into into hip-hop briefly with "Pills," with help from Dan the Automator (Handsome Boy Modeling School) joining this frenzy. Gillespie sings briefly about how un-true people have become before he ends the song by shouting "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Sick, Sick...." no less that 40 times, before descending into the pure acid jazz of "Blood Money."

Throughout the rest of this album, Primal Scream refuse to let up their unrelenting assault on the listener. They briefly give up their revolutionary zeal in "Keep Your Dreams," but before it becomes too peaceful, the song decends back into their fire with "Insect Royalty," a stab at the British monarchy and how they still to this day don't pay taxes for the State.

By all means, this album is an extremly schizophrenic listening, and should be taken causiosly at first for its assaults. Once you understand it's meaning, you realize many of the truths and contradictions Primal Scream hold in their philosophy. And like Radiohead's recent "Kid A," this is a dense album to explore, although maybe more accessible than the latter. Yet unlike "Kid A"'s sense of quiet decay, "Xtrmntr" is on fire and hard to touch without putting mittens on. It doesn't suprise me one bit that Spin has named this one of the best albums of 2000, and a must for any lover of the alternative scene truly looking for an "alternative."

God it's been a long wait this,but finally Primal Scream have managed to make a really good follow up to Screamadelica.And boy this is some follow up.Firstly it's very different to the previously mentioned album-it's dark,confrontational,noisy and it will exhilerate every listener!

On this c.d. they have enlisted the help of many well known figures in the music scene over here.Kevin Shields-ex My Bloody Valentine,Bernard Sumner,The Chemical Brother's and of course David Holmes to name but a few.To me though the star of the c.d. is ex Stone Roses bass player,Mani.This is the best album of bass playing I've heard in years.

Right from the start this c.d. utters the words "aggression" and "destroy" and this is musically what this c.d. does.Never going slower then 100 m.p.h. the first song "Kill All Hippies" sets this c.d. in motion.It isn't dance music like we used to know it.There is no huge over-dub.Musically it's so similar to the c.d.'s by Death In Vegas and David Holmes himself.The rhythm is positively vibrating,the bass throbs out a fast,furious and heavy beat.The synths are noisy,distorted,full of swirling effects and sound very like The Chemical Brother's.The guitars are full of distorted and again noisy feedback.Bobby Gillespie's vocals have never been that great in my opinion but on this c.d. he sounds excellent and perfectly suited as a backdrop to all the music going on around him.That's the beauty of this c.d.-they haven't stripped the music down to simple bare bones,there is always something or some new sound to focus on and listen to.This c.d. is just never boring and it's longevity is also another reason why I would recommend people to purchase it.I've had this c.d. for nearly a year now and it still sounds as good to me now as the day I bought it.

It is virtually impossible to single out any track here.The album is best suited to one continuous playing.That's probably why most of the singles from it bombed and also why it's received such poor radio coverage.Both versions of "Swastika Eyes" are about the most radio friendly this gets and they are both suitably different to be included twice.Track 6;"Blood Money" has a touch of Orbital's The Box,with a little more guitar though.I also like the track "Keep Your Dreams" as it differs in tempo,volume and mood.It's quite atmostpheric and full of vast synth chords.This also gives you a vital rest before track 9 "mbv arkestra" which is a near 7 minutes that will test out your ear drums to the max.At first I thought it was just hopeless noise,but once you give this track a chance you find yourself trying to imagine what are the sounds so heavily disguised by Kevin Shield's mixing.

This is a loud and yet always interesting c.d.It will be a challenge to many listeners as it was to myself-you could not really describe this as easy listening.If you give it a chance though,the rewards are spellbindingly brilliant!

Lets face it, aggression in music has somewhat disintergrated during the last 10 years. The last time it took it's course, albeit in a very effective way, was with grunge. New punk was a joke, rock n' rolls revival sounded dull and ploddy, and any attempts made by electronic artists to mix the former 2 together with techno sounded miserably contrived. Wonder why most guitar bands these days only ever write ballads? Wonder why the charts mostly contain manufactured music of the most mundane kind? Wonder why trite music like Limp Bizkit and Lincoln Park are only ever appreciated by the most bubbly brained skater/adolescent, and you'll pretty much realise why aggression in music is so ardently avoided. A renaissance of this kind of music has never been more vital.

Aggression in music is more important that you can possibly imagine. You don't want to sit around all day listening to ballad bands like Travis and manufactured pap like Britney, you need something to hype you up, some form of release. So who would have guessed that Primal Scream, of all bands, who started off as a wimpy indie band, who made the feel good classic Screamedelica, would be the ones to nail it? Not me, thats for sure.

Primal Scream's XTRMNTR is aggressive music reinvented for the new ages. It mixes elements of rock n roll, hip hop, heavy dance, free form jazz, punk and well, Primal Scream, all in the best possible way.

DESCRIPTION OF ALL TRACKS:

XTRMNTR is one of the most (effectively) vitriolic albums released in a long, long time. Primal Scream have revitalised angry music, made some important points about the current state of (British) politics, rocked real hard in the process, and have managed to avoid every cliche in the book. There is not a single track that feels contrived, nothing that doesn't sound inventive, and certainly nothing that wouldn't make an impact on the more open minded, chart hating, cliche detesting music listener. If you appreciate music that steers clear of these things in music, and miss hard rock music with an inventive spin, buy this now. If you don't, go listen to Travis, Britney, Oasis, Limp Bizkit, whatever.

this is something everyone tried to do and they found the best way to do it. still better than anything else available out there. just amazing.