Boston Elektro 101

(Sinless)
by Scott Hefflon

Bands/artists from Man Ray’s hard electronic dance scene come together for these 15 tracks. Almost 74 minutes of shaking your garbed-in-black white butt to the cyber city sounds of Blade Runner’s Got A Brand New Drum Machine. In truth, Boston Elektro 101sounds suspiciously like one band. Actually, it’s a collection of musicians in their various projects (or projekts, these folks love playful spelling the way metal used to), all influenced by one band: Skinny Puppy. Yes, of course that’s a completely dismissive description, but after you’ve heard a few thump-thump-thump faux drum sounds, you’ve heard them all. Ditto for the distorted whisper vocals. Depending on your background, you may thrill to hear the space in the songs, allowing interpretation, contemplation, and body movement, or ya may say, “Couldn’t they think of anything else to layer in there to make it more interesting?” Being of the “more is more” Ministry of Thought, the fuller, almost horroresque, songs hit me the most. And for vastly different reasons, the Depeche Mode-y rhythms of certain songs are beautifully contrasted by the distorted bleeeah! of the vocals. Closing the disc is a gorgeously darkwave anthem that, while swoopingly dramatic, is as musically predictable as an anthem in any genre. Ranging from big shots to newcomers, Boston Elektro 101 gives a sampling of the Boston Electronic Music Scene, at least through Sinless’ eyes. Tracks by Out Out, Mercymore, Struktur, Institute of Technology, D.D.T., Zia, Din_Fiv, Disco: Chaos, Informätik, Sleep Chamber, Data-Bank-A, and more.