Ladytron - Witching Hour

Island Records/Nettwerk: 2005/2011

Hard to believe this is only my second Ladytron review, but it's not like the foursome have made a ton of music over the years. To date, they've released five albums (though a sixth is in the works), their last one coming out way back in ye' olde year of 2011. I suppose that hectic touring schedule caused a bit of the ol' burn-out, plus they aren't the quirky young electro-pop chickens of the early '00s anymore. I'm sure members now have families to tend to, side-projects to cultivate, and whatever else that can keep a four-piece with as disparate backgrounds as these lads and lasses have from reuniting with consistency. Maybe that's why, for as much as I adore Ladytron's sound, I've always been hesitant in buying up their albums in one big splurge. I want to savour the ones that do come out for as long as humanely possible, never risking my own burn-out.

After yet another round of label troubles, Ladytron released their third album Witching Hour in 2005, one of the worst years for electronic music since the initial rave explosion. Fortunately, the group somehow stands outside time and space, the record just as sonically timeless as their previous work, yet also pertinent to the trends happening in the here (there) and now (then). It's a very good album, is what I'm saying, in a year when finding very good albums was a ridiculous feat of excavation that would make Indiana Jones and Globetrotting Batman quiver in the knees.

It was also a radical departure from the pure synth-heavy sound the group had in their early work, bringing in added drums and guitar work to complement their electro-pop. Some attributed it to latching onto the disco-punk wave of the time (LCD Soundsystem was the hippest band about), but I don't hear it. Rather, it simply sounds like Ladytron spent some of their hard-earned cash on new musical toys, thus letting them expand their aesthetic beyond pure retro work. Unless you figure 'post-punk new wave' just as retro as synth-pop.

It worked to some extent, Witching Hour scoring the band some of their first chart action, lead singles Destroy Everything You Touch and Sugar some of their best-selling songs. They weren't gang-busters, mind you, but considering their label troubles, it's remarkable they got on the Billboards at all. Then again, breaking the 'boards was never their M.O. I think their fans are perfectly content keeping Ladytron's impossibly earwormy choruses to themselves anyway. Saves room at the live shows.

And there's plenty more to enjoy from this album. The peppy 'rockers' (High Rise, AMTV, Weekend, Whitelightgenerator), the dreamy synth-poppers (International Dateline, Soft Power, The Last One Standing), and the moody downbeat pieces (CMYK, Beauty*2, All The Way). Throw in all the charmingly catchy, yet oddly tragic lyrics you've come to expect from Helen Marnie's satin lisp (...*swoon*), and Witching Hour remains one of Ladytron's best records. Just ignore the rubbish remixes at the end of the re-issues though.

Various - WipEout XL

Virgin: 1996

WipEout didn't introduce the world of gaming to electronic music, but it sure built one of the biggest, strongest bridges to its culture. The first game scored a coup in getting the legendary Designer's Republic to create its futuristic aesthetic, while Tim Wright of Psygnosis' music studio supplied several original techno and trance tracks that fit the vibe of racing at super-high speeds. It didn't hurt that a beta version of the game appeared in the 'raver' movie Hackers either.

Sensing they could do more nods to the burgeoning 'chemical generation', Psygnosis also licensed out a few tracks from prominent 'electronica' acts of the day, including Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital. This factoid wasn't seen as a major selling point for the game though, especially since the tracks never appeared on the American version of WipEout. When a sequel to the game was announced, however, the mighty Virgin realized they could license out a bunch of their signed acts to the game, giving them even greater exposure with a totally untapped gaming demographic. Throw in other 'rave culture' landmarks like Red Bull ads (when 'energy drinks' were still a new concept for the West) plus associated music videos, and you have one of the defining touchstones of 'electronica' in the '90s! Or just a fun racing game with kick-ass music.

I'm almost tempted to do two reviews of WipEout XL (aka: WipEout 2097), as the game version and soundtrack version do have differences. Most interestingly, the game features some ridiculously rare cuts from The Chemical Brothers and FSOL, not to mention the exclusive Cold Storage tunes from Mr. Wright. Maybe I'll save it for *gasp* video reviews.

As for the CD, the track list isn't too surprising if you know your mid-'90s 'electronica': We Have Explosive, Loops Of Fury, The Third Sequence, Afro Left, P.E.T.R.O.L., Firestarter, Atom Bomb. Actually, the Fluke single is somewhat different here, slower and with bigger beats than the video tie-in. Underworld is also repped, though by way of the ultra-fast, loopy Tin There (a sorta' remix of Pearl's Girl), and a remix of The Chem-Bros' Leave Home that somehow sounds nothing like either group.

Easily the most intriguing thing about this compilation are the two exclusive cuts that never appeared in either WipEout game: Source Direct's 2097 and Daft Punk's Musique. The former I can see either as a tune that didn't make into the game, or Photek getting his pals a little extra rub, being something of students of Mr. Parkes' approach to tech-step. That Daft Punk track though, it's totally a case of Virgin promoting one of their new acts. And why not, the French duo already making massive early buzz with their initial singles. Sure, Musique's “what if Plastikman did a house track?' vibe totally clashes with the rest of WipEout XL's roster of big beat, d'n'b, and Brit techno, but damn, feel that funky filtered low-end. Virgin's trick worked, as I couldn't wait to hear it on the forth-coming album!

Various - Winter Chill 2

Hed Kandi: 2000

Something funny happened in the year between the first Winter Chill and its inevitable sequel: chill-out music as a commercial juggernaut became a thing. For sure it's always had a marketable undercurrent within club culture, dating as far back as when The KLF specifically made an album to chill out to called Chill Out. Whether it be ambient dub, Balearic jazz, trippy hip-hop, or whatever trendy, laid-back vibe was currently circulating, mentally exhausted punters could always rely on a few selections in the music shops to ease their frazzled brains. Then someone in the high towers of record labels realized there were more folks out there who could use a little downtime music in their lives than the Ecstasy Generation, and chill-out compilations suddenly exploded upon the scene with several CDs featuring the same songs you already had in a different order. Sure as shit Hed Kandi wasn't immune to this trend.

Think I'm exaggerating? Second track on Winter Chill 2: Moby's Porcelain. Third track: Chicane's No Ordinary Morning. Fourth track: Delerium's Silence. Tenth track: Thievery Corporation's Lebanese Blonde. CD1 also features songs from Bent, Goldfrapp, Dusted, A Guy Called Gerald, and The Beloved. You getting a sense of familiarity yet? Hell, CD2 opens with Paul van Dyk's Vega! Yeah, it's a nice enough chill tune, Mr. Van Dyk having a stab at jazzstep, but these are all darn obvious names to have on a chill-out collection, even for the year 2000 when the concept still had a fresh fragrance. The series did course correct in later volumes, though Winter Chill itself only lasted six volumes before Hed Kandi was bought out by Ministry Of Sound, save a one-off return in 2012. You bet your bottom dollar its got nothing to do with 'chill-out' music!

Back to Winter Chill 2, even Hed Kandi head-man Mark Doyle knew including the likes of Moby, Delerium, and Paul van Dyk was little more than a shameless commercial tactic to lure in the impulse buy, and thus ignores such artists in his inlay notes. Instead, he once again big-ups his label's own talent like the jazzier Afterlife and Urban Dwellers, which is fair play if you're having them rub shoulders with chill-out's newest stars.

If all this 'suburban downtempo' music isn't cutting it for you, there's always CD2. Vega aside, this is where most of the trip-hop and acid jazz vibes are hiding out, many tracks care of the rising Studio K7! that Mr. Doyle was quite eager in hyping. Thus you find Tosca, Terranova, Smith & Mighty, Handsome Boy Modeling School (Dan The Automator!), and... LTJ Bukem? Well, he did have a debut album out that same year. And yeah, CD2 is definitely more of the downtempo vibe I prefer in compilations of this sort, with plenty of smooth, smokey rhythms, soulful strings, dubby atmosphere, and sultry vocals throughout. As a means of introducing music on a proper deep tip to soccer moms who bought this for Silence, I'd say Winter Chill 2 does right.

Various - Winter Chill

Hed Kandi: 1999

The nice thing about a lot of old Hed Kandi CDs is how cheap you can find them now – ironic, considering how pricey they were when fresh on store shelves. It was that ridiculously expensive entry point (especially as an import) that always made them an easy pass when pursuing the shops for new music, but I can't deny seeing that super-slick cover art would give me pause regardless. Now one can find these things for a quarter the original price, and sure, may as well take in a couple if I see an intriguing one in the used market. They did have a reputation for having good music as well, at least before being absorbed by Ministry Of Sound.

The label also built its rep' on deep house on a slightly commercial bent, but they were all about that downtempo vibe too, releasing at least two such compilations per year. Serve Chilled first came out in summer, and when that proved successful, Hed Kandi head-man Mark Doyle decided a winter companion just made good artistic sense (not to mention mighty profitable as a Xmas gift option). The basic idea behind Winter Chill, then, was music that was best played while cozying up indoors with a hot beverage as brisk winds and dour weather beat against your patio windows. And what better music to supply such a setting than good ol' trip-hop (mostly CD1) and acid jazz (mostly CD2), the most dependable (and commercially viable) of the downtempo genres.

Anyone worth their salt in this scene should know a tonne of artists in this tracklist. Nightmares On Wax. Mr. Scruff. The Herbaliser. Peshay. Rae & Christian. A Man Called Adam. Morcheeba. Innerzone Orchestra. Hell, this is looking like a Ninja Tune collection. Even d'n'b man Omni Trio can't help but stay jazzy-chill with Native Place. Smartly, Mr. Doyle mixes in a number of fresh faces and obscure acts too, letting names like Santessa, Eyedentity, 45 Dip, and Guardians Of Dalliance get a little associative rub from the main draws on a CD like this.

The most 'mainstream' names that crop up are Hybrid and The Wiseguys, but even then we're not dealing with well-known tunes from them. We get the trip-hop bounce of We Be The Crew provided by The Wiseguys, and the French-rapping cut Sinequanon from Hybrid. Wow, never would have thought I'd hear the same French-rap tune in such a short amount of time, especially when my exposure to French-rap is basically nil.

As for all the other recognizable names, I can't confirm or deny whether tracks like Survival, Pacific, So Long, The Sensual Woman, or Moog Island are obscure offerings from their respective creators, in that I don't actually have albums from them. Yeah, funny that, me having so much downtempo music, but almost all of it in compilation form. All I can confirm is I don't have many of these songs anywhere else, making Winter Chill an ace collection for rounding out my collection.

Various - Winter

Altar Records: 2017

Boy, was this one a long time coming. Even without my alphabetical stipulation, the fourth edition of Altar Records' Seasons series was quite late. The first one, Spring, was released way back in spring of 2013, over four years ago! Summer came a year later, then Fall in late autumn of 2015. Nothing too out of the ordinary there, having a yearly series with a release date coinciding with its particular thematic season. The whole year of 2016 went by though, with no Winter to be seen. We were assured Winter was coming though, so we waited, and waited, and waited, but still no dragons, just a bunch of floppy wieners- whoops, wrong 'winter'.

Finally, in late February of this year 2017, Winter was released. I guess that technically keeps it within its established schedule, but yeah, compared to the brisk rate of output from Altar Records' first thematic series, this one sure took its sweet time reaching completion. I mean, it's been so long, it's forgotten its original art-style. What happened to the border runes, and the seasonal kaleidoscope stylee? Sure, this cover art is purty as fresh fallen snow, but rather typical of Altar's usual fare. The others had a distinct flair unto themselves.

Whatever. It's always the tracks within that's important and label head DJ Zen still knows how to find 'em, sign 'em, licence 'em, arrange 'em, print 'em, distribute 'em, and- wait, where's the “mix 'em” in all that? What kind of DJ doesn't mix?

Familiar names that return naturally include AstroPilot, his The Wind Through The Keyhole as solid a slice of ethnic-flavoured psy-chill as anything he's ever put out. Long time Altar vets Lab's Cloud gives us a dubbier offering of psy-chill in Alma Zen, while Suduaya's Clear Water opts for a spritely bit of prog-psy (it's almost 'twinkle prog'!). Hm, both these acts have been Altar staples for a while, yet I haven't reviewed anything of theirs. May have to rectify that. Anyhow, the best of the star players is Asura's The Savers, one of the most energetic, gnarliest trance tunes I've heard Mr. Farewell kick out in ages. Holy cow, where has he been hiding this stuff!

A few newer recruits to the Altar family rounds Winter out. Argus gets two track to open the compilation with, The Time Before a pure ambient dub outing while We Are One dips into prog-psy's waters, as does Profondita's Island. At the opposite end, one half of that group, Eyal Markovich, remixes No Gravity from Unusual Cosmic Process into a throwback prog-psy outing - compared to the typically languid pace Altar loves promoting, it's 'uptempo prog-psy'!

Eh, you've noticed something lacking in these detailings? Yeah, cannot deny the 'winter' theme is rather absent in these tunes. For sure they're all great cuts, but they don't make me feel like I'm frolicking in frosty meadows or snow-capped forests. Maybe dark ambient truly is the best winter music out there.

Sounds From The Ground - Widerworld

Waveform Records: 2012

I relaunched this blog four years and eleven months ago. Can you guess how many Sounds From The Ground albums I had at the time? None. None of their albums is how many I had on October 2012. I barely even had two of their tracks, Triangle and Gather, the latter by way of an earlier Elliot Jones project called Path. Including this particular release, I now have eight of their albums. In that time since, Sounds From The Ground released a ten track, twenty year retrospective called 20 Years Of The Best. Naturally, most of those have been given an Ace Track honour (such prestige!), yet I could make a double-LP playlist of SFtG Ace Tracks alone. If you'd have told me I'd be a Sounds From The Ground 'expert' after five years of doing this, I'd have laughed at the notion I'd still be doing this five years later. Surely it'd only take a couple years to review my entire music collection, not a half-decade.

Sans that 'best of', Widerworld is thus far the last album Jones and Nick Woolfson released on Waveform Records, the duo having since gone with their own Upstream Records print for new music distribution. Maybe they'll return to Waveform at a later date, but three albums deep now in the independent domain, and I think they're quite satisfied with how Upstream's doing. Ooh, they even rolled out a vinyl option for their latest effort, Alchemy!

As for this particular album, I mentioned in their previous one, The Maze, that SFtG were showing signs of evolving their ambient dub sound. True, it was an achingly sluggish evolution, but the change was at least noticeable, making more use of modern dub production over the staunch traditionalist stuff most associate with '90s trip-hop. Widerworld carries that on, though as we're still dealing with Sounds From The Ground, the sonic development still moves forward at a glacial pace. Fans wouldn't have it any other way, I reckon.

What stood out the most for me on this album were the tracks that almost sounded like Jones and Woolfson were cribbing a little from other acts. Yeah, you could make that claim about a lot of their work – comparisons to Kruder & Dorfmeister are inevitable – but I'm talking outside the usual assortment of name-dropped downtempo producers.

For instance, the track Hunters utilizes a few dubbed-out sounds that have me recalling Future Sound Of London at their dubbiest. Raining Leaves has gentle synth pads and bloopy chill acid that wouldn't have sounded out of place on older Aphex Twin in his more whimsical moments. Fields Of Green And Yellow almost has a laid-back country vibe with its acoustic guitar work, but those additional synth notes in the back-half are pure Sounds From The Ground vibe. And Ink Spots... eh, there's probably some glitchy dubstep guy out there that I could compare to, but I'm lazy in confirming it.

Hybrid - Wider Angle (Special Edition)

Distinct'ive Breaks: 1999/2001

Thank God I got the double-LP version of Wide Angle - aka: Wider Angle - otherwise I'd struggle through Hell with this review. The second CD, an inclusion of the Live Angle: Sydney disc that also includes the brilliant Altitude / Kill City single, supplies me all the praise, plaudits, and platitudes I need to convince folks that I, too, have drunk deeply of the Hybrid punch. I'd hate to have gone into this with the ultra-snark that I couldn't help but feel when my peers were gushing over their debut, buying into the PR byline that Wide Angle was “one of the most moving pieces of electronic music ever”. Dudes, it's a good album, but not that good. Like, did y'all not hear that Dusted record? Oh, you didn't. Erm, moving on.

But no, I get it. Way back, when Mike Truman, Chris Healings, and Lee Mullin struck upon a surprisingly effective idea of combining orchestral arrangements with cutting-edge breakbeat technology, we all loved it. Heck, even 'Son Of God' Sasha bought into it, wrapping up his 'trance-breaks' portion of Northern Exposure 2 with the full, original twelve-minute Symphony. A regular hack in dance music would have taken that initial success and parlayed it into an album-long edition of gimmicky retreads, but not Hybrid. They had bolder intentions with their music, fusing many more unconventional ideas with their nu-skool breaks. Soul! Jazz! Saxaphones! Jangly guitars! Julee Cruise! French rappers! Oh, and a couple more standard progressive trance and breaks tracks too, with orchestral arrangements and all. Gotta' still give the audience what they expect, right?

Hybrid are certainly deft in their music craft, everything about Wide Angle studio slick and polished. I dunno', though – even after hearing Finished Symphony at the end again, the album always leaves me feeling wanting, like I've just consumed a very fancy meal at a restaurant that's high in decor, but low in stomach satisfaction. After which, I head over to the nearest sports bar or night club for some greasy pub food and beer of mass quantities. Throw on the Live Angle CD, is what I mean.

And hot damn if CD2 doesn't warm my cockles every time. For sure it's got the big 'cinematic' singles of Wide Angle in Snyper and Finished Symphony, plus prog-trance stomper High Life is given added grit with pumping synth stabs not unlike BT's Fibonacci Sequence. You also get the smashing progressive breaks cut Burnin', the Alanis Morrisette bootleg Accelerator, and an eleven-plus minute long version of Kid 2000. Throw in the aforementioned bonuses Altitude and Kill City - a track I'd honestly deem worthy of a 'most moving pieces of electronic music' tag – and you've a CD that makes finding Wider Angle worth your effort.

Or not, if you prefer your Hybrid as less 'tear-out' and more 'chill at home with tea and crumpets'. For sure there's a sizable market for that too. At least the 'Special Edition' option gives both of best worlds.

Halgrath - The Whole Path Of War And Acceptance

Cryo Chamber: 2014

Halgrath already has the distinction of being among the first artists invited into the Cryo Chamber fold, her Out Of Time album released when the label was almost nothing but Atrium Carceri and Sabled Sun releases. With her sophomore effort for Simon Heath's print, she added another first to her accolades: an album containing cover art with actual colour! Green trees! Blue skies! Contrasting white, making the colours pop! Alright, it's still a tad muted and shadowy, but compared to the typically bleak, black, grimy brown, blood-red grayscale most Cryo artwork entails, The Whole Path Of War And Acceptance is practically hot neon. Strangely, I haven't seen another Cryo Chamber album utilize such a colour-scheme ever since. Has Halgrath claimed a monopoly of healthy green trees for the label's cover art? Guess it pays to call 'dibs' on such things.

While Out Of Time was a fine showcase of Ms. Agratha's various takes on dark ambient's myriad moulds, at twelve tracks it had a tendency to wander as an album, its loose 'Limbo' theme never quite coalescing into a strong narrative. On this one, she's pared things down to a tidy eight, and boy does it make a difference. For sure she still indulges herself from dark drone to ethereal ambient to orchestral Occult, but all in service of this album's theme.

With a title like The Whole Path Of War And Acceptance, I was expecting something über-epic, like a tale of clashing countries and cultures, leading to cataclysmic battles and the dire consequences of such devastating destruction. Then I remembered two things. One: this is only eight tracks long, hardly enough space to parlay such a narrative. Two: this is dark ambient we're talking about, and the genre almost never depicts a grand, Game Of Thrones styled opera. But boy does it ever love detailing the apocalyptic aftermath, especially as told from the perspective of a lone survivor.

That's not what this album's about either, though. Nay, The Whole Path Of War And Acceptance is yet another introspective piece, and apparently a rather personal one at that. Essentially a retelling of dramatic events in one's life ('war') and the struggle to overcome them to some semblance of self-healing (“acceptance”). In the hands of a lesser artist, this would probably come off sounding trite and cliche, but Halgrath is easily up to the task of telling this tale. There's moody, droning openers (Acceptance Of Inner Self, Consecreation), melancholic ethereal pieces (Afflatus, The Opposite Mind And Mutuality, Cold Breath Of Mountains), mournful piano dirges (Epic Journey And Oblivion), and meditative ambient closers (Deep Immersion And Repose, Your Soul Is Just A Particle Of Stars). Along the way, you get operatic chants, discordant strings, claustrophobic field recordings, and even occasional tribal drumming. Yeah, I'd say that runs the gamut of a Halgrath album.

Out Of Time was good, but The Whole Path Of War And Acceptance is great, offering a tantalizing sampling of everything dark ambient provides in a focused journey.

Everlast - Whitey Ford Sings The Blues

Tommy Boy: 1998

Throughout hip-hop's history, there's been the ongoing side-story of The Next Great White Hope. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of this tale here, as I only have a mere [self-imposed word count], and it's a topic that could cover a couple volumes worth of perspectives. The bottom line is there's always someone out there called upon to be the torch-bearer of Caucasian representation in rap. Your Beastie Boys. Your Eminem. Your... um, Vanilla Ice. Yet one name always slips from this discussion, despite being one of hip-hop's most successful artists throughout the '90s, one Erik Schrody. You know him better as Everlast.

Not that I blame the initial apathy, his 1989 debut Forever Everlasting one corny-ass example of rap, even with an Ice-T bump (that video for The Rhythm!). Fortunately, he also realized label management was forcing him into a mould he didn't fit, so Mr. Schrody soon found himself teaming up with Danny Boy and DJ Lethal, creating a little group by the name of House Of Pain - you've definitely heard of them. That only lasted a half-decade though, so Everlast went back to the solo scene, taking on a new persona of 'Whitey Ford', and put some learned guitar skills to use.

Hey, rap and rock were already mingling by the late '90s, so why not try the same thing with the blues? It has a similar origin story (music of poor black communities; co-opted by a lot of white guys), and it had been so long since Everlast's first album, perhaps the public would buy him as a road-weary troubadour of the down-trodden. Heck, how many outside hip-hop circles even knew there was an 'Everlast' as part of House Of Pain?

Not many, I wager, throwing those expecting more blues-hop in the vein of mega-charter What It's Like for a loop when throwing on Whitey Ford Sings The Blues. Some of rap's respected talents drop in for a cameo (Prince Paul, Guru, Sadat X with a few verses), and there's a fair bit of the traditional hippity-hop throughout the album. Heck, the intro is a parody of The Fat Boys, about as retro as rap could get in '98. Throughout, you get Everlast rapping about getting money (Money (Dollar Bill)), haters (Tired), drug abuse (Painkillers), rockin' the mic (Praise The Lord), and funky beats (Funky Beat). And it's all perfectly solid rappity-rap that Everlast displays. About two-thirds of Whitey Ford Sings The Blues doesn't shake the rap foundations the slightest.

Yet we mostly remember this album for the times he goes blues crooner (Ends, What It's Like, Today, Death Comes Callin'). It was such a unique, fresh angle to take the genre, it couldn't help but stand out from the pack. Still, I don't think folks were eager hearing more of it either, no one capitalizing on this sound to such a degree in subsequent years, Everlast included. But hey, it got him that collab' with Santana. That's gotta' be a plumb feather in his hat.

The White Stripes - The White Stripes

V2: 1999

For as big a band The White Stripes became, they certainly have humble beginnings. I wonder if they'd have even broken out of Detroit obscurity without a couple lucky breaks. For sure Jack and Meg White had a good sound going for them, but this was the late '90s, you see, and theirs was a sound no one in the world of Corporate Rock had interest in. Maybe if one of the elder statesmen of blues classic rock made a throwback garage album, that would get some buzz, but a couple of kids out of the Motor City? Hell, the music press already had a new hero from that area to fawn over, a white rapper who somehow earned Dr. Dre's blessing. Now that's a story!

This duo may never have had much aspiration for their music beyond dominating their local scene, but boy did they go all out in doing so. Jack White was already a seasoned journeyman playing in various bands, but when his recently married wife Meg had a kick at the tin cans, they realized their musical synergy was better than anything else he'd been working on before. Thus they dubbed themselves The White Stripes, with a peppermint candy theme in their presentation, about as retro a rock look as you could hope to get in the '90s. While working the underground rock stages for about a year, indie label heads noticed the duo had “It”, and were offering them record deals. They signed with Cali-based Sympathy For The Record Industry (they of Chemical Dolls, Love Dolls, The Lazy Cowgirls, Mad Daddys, Loudspeaker, Experimental Audio Research, and The Pooh Sticks) for a debut album.

And, well... it's certainly a debut album from The White Stripes. They already had a deliberately simple sound to begin with, and if their so-called magnum opus of Elephant wasn't breaking the mould by much, then a self-titled debut sure as Shirley ain't either. If anything, it can't help but be as basic as blues rock gets, Jack and Meg still in the process of realizing their full potential. It's certainly a good ol' rowdy time throughout, the production as heavy and thick as you could get in the '90s. At sixteen tracks long, most averaging the two-to-three minute range, The White Stripes supplies a nice variety of hard rockers, bluesy downbeaters, and... um, that's about it. Hey, it's not like the songs last long anyway.

Still, as decent a debut as this album is, it didn't get much attention in the rock world – they were more interested in the output of Limp Bizkit and Creed, dont'cha know. However, an influential UK DJ by the name of John Peel (perhaps you've heard of him?) happened upon the album, taking an instant liking to it. Naturally, his word gave The White Stripes an in with the always savvy British market, while The U.S.... had to wait for a Lego video to finally catch on too. Then they couldn't stop praising this album!