Primal Scream

Editor's Review:

It seems like you can't open a magazine without reading a rave review of Primal Scream's Xtrmntr, with enthusiastic rock critics gushing and praising the band for saving modern music with their unruly new release. Xtrmntr's sound could be called rocktronica — a mix of rock and electronica that also gathers influence from jazz, old-school rap and punk. A more electronic PIL or dance-y MC5, Primal Scream's music is serious, aggressive and futuristic in texture. Frontman, Bobby Gillespie is being heralded as the 21^st century's Johnny Rotten fused with MC5's Fred Smith. Gillespie is an angry punk with a political agenda, who along with citing MC5 and The Stooges as influences, also credits Miles Davis, James Brown and Sly Stone.

There isn't a consistent sound to Xtrmntr. Each of the songs — even the soft ballad "Keep Your Dreams" — have an underlying electronic beat, yet "Pills" opens with the chanting of monks and Gillespie's lyrics are rapped over old-school beats. "Kill All Hippies" — which is one of the most fantastic song titles of all time — is fraught with samples and electronic crescendos of sound; the singular lyric, "I've got the money, you've got the sun" repeated throughout. The instrumental "Blood Money" is jazzy, full of squealing horns and splashing cymbals, sounding like the theme song to a cheesy '70s detective show. Surprisingly, "Swastika Eyes," which Gillespie says is an "anti-authoritarian" commentary on "the Americanization of the world," is one of the least aggressive songs on the record. The Chemical Brothers' remix of the song succeeds only in making it sound like all their remixes: flashy, hyperactive and annoying. Xtrmntr brings to mind hundreds of sexy robots, dancing their troubles away.

– Nicole Seredszun

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Record Label Astralwerks Released April 2001

Tracks 1. Kill All Hippies 2. Accelerator 3. Exterminator 4. Swastika Eyes 5. Pills 6. Blood Money 7. Keep Your Dreams 8. Insect Royalty 9. MBV Arkestra [If They Move Kill 'em] 10. Swastika Eyes [Chemical Brothers Mix] 11. Shoot Speed/Kill Light 12. I'm 5 Years Ahead Of My Time

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