machine drum - half the battle review from igloomag.com This release features six tracks from the Half The Battle vinyl put to CD plus nine other remixes by Proem, Brothomstates, Ilkae, Proswell, Lackluster, Xela, Esem, Tstewart, Secede, Vim!, Tim Koch and Syndrone. Fans of Merck will know what to expect with this list of remixers - lots of gritty and tight beats, well thought out melodic structure, and also some oddball video game funk overtones. Austin, Texas dweller Proem delivers the goods once again with a nice middle point between fractured rhythm noodlings, and healthy harmonic meat and two veg. Vim! chips in with a massive squarepusher-drenched beat workout that comes out ontop a pile of really smart remixes. DeFocus artists Esem and Lackluster (of Russian and Finland respectively) twist their normal musical equations a little with nice laid back slabs of funk melancholia. Lassi Nikko as Brothomstates (now signed to Warp) delivers the goods as always with academic beat flurries and alien synth pads looming overhead. Ilkae and Proswell twist the original tracks into a taut blend of Mouse on Mars swingin' melody and confused rambling vocoders 'sean penn, sextet, pony, racquetball, machine drum!.' UK's Xela deals in smooth Autechre styled rhythm but with a touch more r'n'b with his Soul in the Machine mix, whilst Secede's Return To Island cx mix toys in orchestral midi smatterings. Plainly put, Half the Battle is a bunch of really strong, tight tracks, regardless of whether it is a remix album or not, so do your hairy ears a favour and go buy it. machine drum - half the battle review from cyclicdefrost.com This release features six tracks from the 'Half The Battle' vinyl put to CD plus nine other remixes by Proem, Brothomstates, Ilkae, Proswell, Lackluster, Xela, Esem, Tstewart, Secede, Vim!, Tim Koch and Syndrone. Fans of Merck will know what to expect with this list of remixers - lots of gritty and tight beats, well thought out melodic structure, and also some oddball video game funk overtones. Austin Texas dweller Proem delivers the goods once again with a nice middle point between fractured rhythm noodlings, and healthy harmonic meat and two veg. Vim! chips in with a massive squarepusher-drenched beat workout that comes out ontop a pile of really smart remixes. DeFocus artists Esem and Lackluster (of Russian and Finland respectively) twist their normal musical equations a little with nice laid back slabs of funk melancholia. Lassi Nikko as Brothomstates (now signed to Warp) delivers the goods as always with academic beat flurries and alien synth pads looming overhead. Ilkae and Proswell twist the original tracks into a taut blend of Mouse on Mars swingin' melody and confused rambling vocoders 'sean penn, sextet, pony, racquetball, machine drum!.' UK's Xela deals in smooth Autechre styled rhythm but with a touch more r'n'b with his Soul in the Machine mix, whilst Secede's Return To Island cx mix toys in orchestral midi smatterings. Plainly put, Half the Battle is a bunch of really strong, tight tracks, regardless of whether it is a remix album or not, so do your hairy ears a favour and go buy it. Barry Handler

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