Hype Killers - EP001

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  • Hype Killers call themselves a "mysterious" collective and "a clandestine group [who] conspire on the net hidden beneath the waves of the sea of information." It sounds like Drexciya message board worship, so it's no surprise to find two storming electro tracks on the first half of their debut, EP001. But calling one of those tracks "Clear"—the title of one of the genre's oldest and most enduring tracks—and opening your debut with the kind of vocoder electro that Cybotron made famous feels like too much of a "Timewarp." And if you invite your audience to compare you to the greats, you'll always come up short. The second half of the record brings a different set of ideas that feel more interesting, not least because the references are less obvious. While "To Live And Die In The Net (Ambient Mix)" deals in plastic synths and an epic aura, "Everything Will Be Taken Away" is moody, off-grid techno that sounds like an adrenalized version of something Lee Gamble might make. With SoundCloud, Facebook and a website already online but without any actual content, it's hard to tell if Hype Killers is an ironic exercise in marketing or an earnest endeavor. There's clearly savvy production here, but a little authenticity—whatever that is—would not go amiss.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Timewarp A2 Clear B1 Everything Will Be Taken Away B2 To Live And Die In The Net (Ambient Mix)
RA