Grandchaos- Ionize Me

Artist: Grandchaos
CD Title: Ionize Me
Label: Flagrant Records
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 7/26/04

The latest release from Grandchaos (also known as Belgian producer Tcheleskov Ivanovitch) delves into the borderlands between experimental EBM and minimal techno. While all of the tracks are built around similar old-school EBM themes, experimental flourishes abound. “Dream Factory” features a grating, washed-out cymbal effect, while “From the Outside” sees layers of sound building up over a weirdly pulsating bass line. The title track uses loops of guitar to add a more organic feel to the genre’s clinical minimalism. By far the most unique aspect of this recording, however, is the vocal treatment. While technically all of these tracks fall under the vocal EBM umbrella, the processing effect used throughout – something like a robot screaming from underwater – renders any lyrical content more or less unintelligible. On a full-length album this might get tiresome after a while, but on this short EP it adds a surreal quality that will appeal to fans of Download and other projects from the weirder end of the industrial dance spectrum. Grandchaos’s material isn’t widely distributed yet, but Tcheleskov can be contacted through the Fear the Light artists’ collective at http://www.angelfire.com/folk/grandchaos/grandchaosmusic.htm.