HIV+ - Rotten Beat Manifesto

I know, I didn’t like the name either. A bit over-the-top, don’t you think? Nevertheless, 12 tracks were spinning in my player and here is what I think of them:

Overall, this album is surprisingly well blended mix of dark ambient, noise and, well, rotten beats. Not good enough to be praised as manifesto of the genre, yet substantially better than the best of my expectations. All tracks have appropriate names that reflect the music, so, although it is full of glitches, shrieks, machinery screams and pumping beats, you’ll get the picture. Nice atmosphere.

On occasions, bridge can be a bit too sharp and sequence half a minute longer than needed (‘Feedback 1968’) but it doesn’t influence flow too much. With ‘Illegal Tanz’ blasting, you’ll forget all the darkness and imperfections and simply move. Nice addition to an instant hit named ‘Havoc 2027’ that is also remixed by clearly very talented bak xiii. Two excellent songs. Why so good? Simple: more ‘classic’ approach, conventional beats, gruelling vocals, clear melody and nice addition of noise, imperfections and, of course verse: “All the people must die!”.

In the end, to avoid unnecessary lines about each song and pointing out all good and bad that stands out on this album, let me introduce you to my description of HIV+:

When it’s bad it’s like lost in space of some cruel trip, unfocused and boring. But when it sounds good than it’s like Gridlock in Johannesburgh, like Ascii Disko in Calcutta, like Sven Vãth that got AIDS in Ibiza. Sometimes infective, sometimes ill.