Apraxia is a synthpop band from Minneapolis, MN., previously in Detroit MI., the brainchild of Alex Valoczki, with a little help from Brooke Aldridge (vocals), Stuart Teigen (spoken vocals), Luna Love (guitar on one track), and Laura Hillman Mitchell (backing vocals on 'Strangelove'). Yep, that's right, 'Strangelove,' the Depeche Mode song, but we'll get to that later.

I can't figure out if Alex is just enamoured of 80's synthpop, or an early Depeche Mode wannabe. He says that people tell him he has a voice just like David Gahan; I think he sounds more like Phil Oakley in Human League's earliest incarnation. Yes, this is that era synthpop, and mostly minimal synthpop at that. (Even Human League's 'Travelogue' was more adventurous.) Things begin well enough with 'Stop,' the first track; it's got a good beat and retro-synths, and a bit of a catchy chorus.

I detected a hint of Freezepop on 'Delicious Vixen,' an okay song about your local club divas. And there's some nifty vocoder on 'DNA NanoBots'. However, in order to make this material work, it has to be much more clever with some wry humor which doesn't seem to be Alex's strong suit. 'Fight!' wants to make a political statement but comes off weak and merely sarcastic in spite of additional sampled dialogue and power guitar chords. No synthpop should ever cover the Stooges classic 'I Wanna Be Your Dog,' which, even with guitar doesn't cut the mustard. In fact, I don't think any artist should ever cover it, except for maybe Susan Boyle. Now THAT I'd like to hear! 'International Space Elevator' is a good track for people who like vocoders and minimal synth. 'Rabbits' really reminds me of early Human League, but not in a good way. I now remember why I don't play their albums anymore.

More cynical social commentary on 'Suck It Up,' albeit without the humor required to carry it off. There are plenty of bleeps and blurbles on this album for those who can't get enough analogue synth, but for me that's just not enough.

For bonus tracks there are remixes and extended versions of four tracks you've already heard on the album. AND- Apraxia' version of DM's 'Strangelove' produced by remixer Junior Kain. Kind of Depeche Mode light. I can't see any good reason for doing yet another version of this song. For one thing, the song has been remixed to death as is. You can find about a hundred versions of it on the net. As to Apraxia's treatment of it, if you just heard it blind, you might find yourself asking, 'Oh is that an unreleased Depeche Mode demo?' Yeah, there's a bit of a similarity vocally, and I wouldn't be surprised if this song got a little club play locally. Musically, it's serviceable.

Overall, I'm not completely sold on Apraxia's 'The Grid'. The term Apraxia is defined: '1. A disorder of voluntary movement consisting of the partial or complete inability to execute purposeful movements without the impairment of muscular power and coordination. 2. A psychomotor defect characterized by the inability to make proper use of a known object.' For now, I think the name is pretty fitting.

A newcomer out of the Spanish Electro/Industrial underground scene newly signed to Spain’s Industrial label Numero Uno, Caustic Records. MEKANIK DISORDER is a new solo effort lead by César Cruz, who’s responsible for all music- and production-related things, though he gets some help by two additional band members, when it comes to perform on stage. Musically MEKANIK DISORDER represents the rather old school EBM-vibe, which gets lately more and more recognized, since people got fed up with the ongoing, repetitive Hellectro-virus. So we don’t get to hear another distorted, lousy Techno-/Trance-inspired bawling, but rather a hand-made sequencing and a solid kick and snare work. The info sheet throws in the obvious prominent names, on which I only agree with á;GRUHM..., and almost the DAF/NEP-fraction, as possible quells of inspiration. "Cold & Strong" is an aptly chosen album title, which perfectly describes the music style of this project in two headlining words. I adore the courage, not to copy too obviously the lately often recognized Anhalt-EBM troops, although the efforts of that minimal old-school EBM-lecture got heavily inhaled. MEKANIK DISORDER stands rather for the cold, and more Belgian-inspired form of EBM, bands like early INSEKT and "Critical Stage"-like SUICIDE COMMANDO need to be mentioned too, when it comes to find additional comparisons. A unique ingredient is surely the ability of César, to express his rather depressive lyrical content in four different languages, asides Spanish and English, you’ll get also Dutch and German lyrics performed. What needs to be criticized is the fact, that bands like the above mentioned Belgian veterans like INSEKT or especially à;GRUHM... have been capable to integrate a tougher, and a at times unintentional invading Punk-driven outfit to their recordings. Quite too seldom offer César’s tracks the ability, to kick in some lazy asses, while performing a wild pogo-action on the dancefloors. A bit more sweat and a bit more of a sensitive feeling, that when a bass-line sequence starts draw a nice hook, to let it go with a fitting and steady drum pattern programming, that’s maybe that sort of development to reach with newer recordings. But generally César earns an agreeing nod for his first album, which of course should find its listeners with the fans of the above mentioned projects.

Some labels do celebrate an anniversary quite silent – regarding the Czech label Monopol Records, I guess only a very few hard-liners of the international Electro/Industrial scene have realized this. It needs to be said, that there has been some silence around this label during the last two years after the release of the last DEPRESSIVE DISORDER studio-album. This may is a logically consequence of the currently uncertain times and the ongoing lack of sales of the physical CD’s – especially young and small labels suffer enormously through this. However, it’s good to see and it warms my heart that Michal Lepsik still hasn’t given up his fight to offer quality Electro/Industrial music especially to the fans and listeners of the Czech and Slovakian and other East-European countries. And the featured content proves his efforts right, because all band take this chance to offer new and for the most unreleased stuff and some of them do really the best they can. The already mentioned DEPRESSIVE DISORDER are still highlighting the label roster and offer with "Apology" a marvelous Dark Electro tune, while the remix of Germany’s THE RORSCHACH GARDEN on "Reality" scores with its minimal EBM bass-lines. The collaboration with Aliens Production out of Slovakia is still alive, as DISHARMONY (they offer a fantastic teaser named "Evolution" of their upcoming new album...), OXYD (the rather Ambient-minded side-project of the both DISHARMONY-protagonists...), FRONTIER GUARDS (featured on here with another great and unreleased cinematic score...), ANHEDONIA ("Evacuation Guidelines", recently on returning with a new album...) and LAST INFLUENCE OF BRAIN (couldn’t decide to continue with the ex-Vendetta-Music side-label E.A.R. and have joint instead the ranks of Aliens...) prove this. Also Monopol’s projects asides DEPRESSIVE DISORDER offer remarkable stuff, MASTERMIND (offer a seducing Electropop-tune...), GREGORY and especially the trio of NO NAME DESIRE are featured and hitting the nail. Plus, there some new and undiscovered names I strongly recommend to follow regarding upcoming activities like MY ASPHYXHIA, INTERFACE SURGERY (isn’t that a DEPRESSIVE DISORDER side-project?) and/or ECLIPSED. A lot of good and interesting stuff to discover, this Monopol Records compilation is a great example and acts like a guide-line for many other labels doing something comparable. Let’s hope the best that we can welcome Michal and his fine label roster with a 6th, 7th, 8th and so on anniversary compilation again.

01 bratri v tracku : photo
02 disharmony : evolution
03 depressive disorder : reality ( the rorschach garden rmx )
04 mastermind : time is out
05 my asphyxia : poison
06 interface surgery : critical impact
07 oxyd : alcasonic
08 last influence of brain : revolution
09 anhedonia : evacuation guidelines
10 gregory : relax
11 eclipsed : countenance
12 no name desire : caustic
13 depressive disorder : apology
14 frontier guards : insider
15 broom carwell : vltima ratio regvm