Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Death In June & Boyd Rice - Scorpion Wind [Nerus - 2008]

This is a reissue of a collaboration from 1996 that shows both parties on fine form collaborating well together to give an album of tuneful and hypnotic neo folk/ dark pop with creative touches of easy listening, jazz and sound elements.

Boyd Rice takes on lead vocal duties for most part- really taking his descriptive and worldly texts in his often softly  spoken american tones- that for some reason rather reminds me of Moby. Under which Douglas p and John Murphy supply backing and ltd lead vocals along guitars, keyboards, string arrangements, percussion and tapes with some really lovely trumpet playing of Campbell Finley here and there thorough out the later tracks. On the first play or so the album seems quite hypnotic and mellow but over repeated listeners it darkens, as you pick-up Rice’s doomy if in places tongue-in-cheek spoken word texts, along with the creative sound production that litters interesting noise and sound elements through out the songs.

A few key moments in my mind come in the form of In Vino Vertias which starts with the great spoken word text “won’t someone pour me another martini, to sip while Rome is on fire, so wont someone pour me another martini and we’ll toast the worlds funeral Pyre” before dropping into a dense and tuneful mix of strummed guitar,violin, tabular like percussion, layered taped voices, growls and  of course with Rice’s texts.  Or the track Never with it’s tuneful if doomy Hammond organ like classy strut meets strummed acoustic guitars, with layered vocals saying “never” over and over as which Rice adds his spoken word elements. A fine  example neo folk meets gloomy pop

On the whole a consistent and rewarding collaboration, that I can see appealing beyond the normal Neo folk crowd with its wordy texts and it's jazzy, pop and creative sound edges.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Death In June & Boyd Rice - Scorp...
This is a reissue of a collaboration from 1996 that shows both parties on fine form collaborating well together to give an album of tuneful and hypnotic...
280126   Spent Stiletto/ No Fun Harsh ...
280126   Evil Damn - Eons of Horror
280126   Pink Wool/Sado  Ritual - Split
280126   Olion - Glimmers of Hope
270126   King Futile - How To Have Fun
270126   Devil Times Five - Devil Time...
260126   Slaves No More - House Of Dolls
260126   Martyn Ware, Charles Stooke a...
230126   Lee "Scratch" Perry - Black...
230126   Ivar Grydeland - Bøyning, B...
Latest Articles

Creepy Images Books - Killer Art
Of all the cult/exploitation genres, Giallo stands as one of the more visually & art-based- be it with the grand/ dramatic location, choreographed murder...
231225   Creepy Images Books - Killer Art
221225   Best Of 2025 - Music, Sound &...
041225   The Spectral Sounds of The Pr...
281025   Michael Hurst Interview - Unb...
071025   Xiphos - The Rise And Fall Of...
030925   Third Window Films - A Label ...
130825   HNW fest- Barcelona- 12th Apr...
250725   Raté interview - Walled-in F...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom