REVIEWS > FACELESS

Chain DLK (Italy)

Released and probably conceived during the same period of the latest K-Nitrate album "Active cell", FACELESS sees behind the musical gear Graham Rayner, member of Audio War, K-Nitrate, KreuzDAmmer and Cubanate. If the latest K-Nitrate was dealing with techno, acid and I paragoned it to a sort of industrial version of early Prodigy, this album (which is available only by download) deals with nowadays break beat, techno and dance. Even if the album sounds different from the latest K-Nitrate, someway you can hear the English way of dealing with the genre: more melodic and someway influenced by raggamuffin/dub music. This isn't Detroit and techno music in England has been influenced also by dub. If we analize the past of alternative music in England we can notice that reggae started to influence British music since the punk movement and soon after we had people like Mark Stewart and On-u sound/Adrian Sherwood who experimented and created a new sound. Audacity is influenced by bands such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Junkie XL, etc. and produces instrumental tracks driven by rhythm and it's impossible to keep your feet still. Check it! 

Maurizio Pustianaz 4/5

Side-Line (Belgium) 

The new project of Graham Rayner (known from Cubanate, K-Nitrate, Audio War etc) starts in a real furious and devastating way. The “Play your music”-track is a heavy breakbeats assault with cool acid-techno vibes and spoken samplings. It’s the absolute hit song of the album, which also reveals the style of this solo-project. Next to breakbeats Audacity also experiments with d’n’b influences. The “Needle trax” is a real coot cut in this vein while “Get people moving” has been driven by a deep, irresistible bass line. There’s an unexpected ambient touch hanging over most of the songs, like proving that Audacity isn’t just brute power. The songs remain instrumental (just like with Audio War), but several cuts contain exciting spoken samplings. “Faceless” is all about dance vibes and electronic power and probably one of the best projects crafted by Rayner. I enjoyed the 9 songs of this album!

DP 7.5/10

Virus (USA)

Graham Rayner’s (Audio War, K-Nitrate, KreuzDammer, Cubanate) new audio project, Audacity, is all about accessibility, beats, and bass lines. And shaking it on the dance floor. Available as a download release (there's only a strictly limited number of white label copies of the album available), Audacity aims strictly for the dance floors with this release and offering downloadable accessibility is the fastest way to the DJ booth.

This is a bit more of a stripped down/linear strike set in comparison to Rayner’s other projects such as Audio War or K-Nitrate, but it is no less intriguing and, like the other projects mentioned, still offers the same adept programming skills and those mind-etching bass lines that I love so much.

Devoid of mysticism, ferocity, and pretense, but damned good nevertheless, "Faceless" is a direct attempt to get people moving via the ever-morphing breakbeat genre (which is, in fact, techno in the 21st century for those keeping track of innocuous phraseology). Coming in at just under 46-minutes in length, "Faceless" was fun to listen to and, I imagine, devastatingly good while being played nice and loud in a club where it belongs. By the way, the music is available to download from Tunetribe, as well as E-music and Rhapsody.

Michael Casano 8/10