REVIEWS

Reviews of Naked Intruder releases.

The Last Vestige CD:

The newest release from micro-indie label Mile 329 is a fun slab of nostalgic oddity that anyone who's spent time furiously tapping A and B buttons is sure to enjoy. This is the first I've heard from Naked Intruder, and The Last Vestige is his love letter to the musical engine inside the classic 8-Bit Nintendo Entertainment System.
Composed from a Frankensteined NES-turned-synthesizer that I won't even try to understand or describe, the EP's central conceit is that the NES is its ONLY sound source: no effects or processing were used to gussie it up. This adherence to an arbitrary albeit admirable formality gives the record its charm while also hamstringing it as a novelty. The limitations of the sound capabilities of the NES' native sound processor mean that while the compositions are more interesting than a lot of standard game music, they nevertheless can't sound like anything BUT game music with overly-loud lead melodies and a sometimes grating dynamic range. Naked Intruder and Mile 329 wouldn't have it any other way though, and for that, the record scores major points for the fun little curio that it is, and not stacked against what it 'could' or 'should' be. The music itself is rich in melody and plays darkly against game music's usual palette of silly, chirpy sing-songiness. It's hard not to smile when each track uses the exact sounds I've heard thousands of times while blasting aliens with a flamethrower, but uses them in a new and purely musical way. There's a surprising amount of bass in the tracks, and the rhythms while stiff are about as funky as one can probably coax out of the Nintendo's sound chip. To cap it all off, the 3" CDR is housed in a classic Nintendo game cartridge that's been gutted and slapped with a Naked Intruder label. Even if it's the kind of thing I only listen to a handful of times, the NES cartridge with Naked Intruder on the spine will be a great conversation piece for my CD collection for years, and for $6, I can't ask for anything more. -brainwashed

Iteration III CD:

"You'd think it would be pretty easy to describe Naked Intruder's sound, I mean, it's basically beats, melodies, counter melodies and pretty straightforward composition. No crazy dsp exercises or infinitely complex, masturbatory drum programming. However, it's basically this head-on, grounded-in-composition that makes it so appealing and unique. Shows that in this post-industrial, post-power electronics, "we-wish-we-werent-so-angry-so-we-could-be-on-Mego" world of whatevergenreyouwannacallit, some people haven't forgotten about the basics of rocking a track with melody and structure. So what does it sound like? Take Laibach's military drum beats. Mix in a generous amount of pulsing bass...cover evenly with dramatic melodies ranging from general midi Pierre Boulez piano exercises to detuned circus music and Van Halen Oberheim chord stabs. Finally, reduce the overall sample rate to 8 bit or less. Voila...Yes, you can dance to it. Yes, it'll get stuck in your head faster than Cevin Key can ask for your spare change, and yes...it will catch you off guard. Highlights include extremely bizarre vocal performances (you really have to hear it to believe it) and "act without reason..." which could very well serve as the theme song to another Die Hard sequel."

"The much-delayed third full-length release from Naked Intruder is finally out, and it delivers the goods. And what goods indeed: 8-bit melodies, metal percussions and atonal piano and organ passages fuse into an album of industrial circus music meets 1980s action movie soundtrack. Challenging and rewarding at the same time, this iteration is not a mere repetition but a reaffirmation of a world where creepy clowns, armoured bank robbers and cubic insects evolve. The Yars will have their revenge."

"Iteration III is, in a word, blasphemous. Chilling soundtrack pieces from a video game based on a film about a carnival directed jointly by John Carpenter and Jörg Buttgereit."

The Human Voice CD:

"Dark... complex... noisy... atmospheric... I was eagerly awaiting the this new Naked Intruder release... and true to form... it delivers. While the previous album was created entirely with the Atari 2600 and this new work takes a step forward in technology (and composition) and uses the Casio SK-1 keyboard as it's sole sound source. The first half of the EP proves that the SK-1 (in the right hands) can compete with today's noise-making technology... while the last couple of tracks will have you waxing nostalgic for the warm & gritty tones of mid-80's samplers. This is a good one! Naked Intruder... a project to watch. "The Human Voice"... highly recommended." - MR PHILIP T EASTER

...From the results offered on this second disk of the 3 part 3" CDR series it appears that Naked Intruder figured out Casio's hidden source of power long ago and the rest of us will just have to resign ourselves to running far behind while sucking on the fumes of his blast off to frequency modulated bliss.
...Grit and grime are the order of the day of course with a suprisingly large side of orchestration to fill up the listener's plate. It's about even really - sound design is important but much like the other output from Naked Intruder I have been party to, the placement of notes and structure is just as dear if not more so to the composer meaning that this recording would likley still be an interesting release even if all of the SK-1s had been foolishly traded for the most sonically anemic General Midi flotsam spewed forth from the car wreck that is the Roland Corporation. Supposedly something like 6 SK-1s make an appearance here including a few surgically enhanced models but since the instrument itself is capable of a fair amount of range, it's a little less immediately identifiable than the previous Atari 2600 based effort from Naked Intruder .
It's still all blocky and dirty of course with large sections that devolve into a sputtering, rasping maw of broken bits and dripping kruft. When its not inventing a new sub-genre of ambient music ("stickshift" for example) it tries its hand at more melodic tangents with the results orchestrated like a multi-limbed Japanese robot at the musical sweat shop - not because it is busy but because it requires control over multiple SK-1s at the same time to achieve the layering. Whether this has been digitally montaged or played live I do not know but the results speak for themselves.
The four tracks on offer are all of a suitable length with the whole proceeding taking a little over 14 minutes. The opening track "Bowling Ball" has some rhythmic momentum but mostly writhes about like an off center 45 on a 78 RPM turntable with little flashes of light marking each melodic disovery. The next track proceeds in much the same fashion with momentum mostly building as the disc progresses until all that purely positional or situational becomes intensely emotional. For example, the opening notes of "Sixth Finger Syndrome" have a guilty hook embedded so deep that when it starts tugging at your heart strings you would have to amputate your arm to keep it from yanking off your baseball cap and placing it over your heart while you look forlornly up to the sky. Goddamn it's melodramatic but of course with the weird ultra-reality aura that low-res electronics seem to elicit in the minds of anyone who has spent a lot of time feeding quarters to desperately hungry arcade machines.
..."The Human Voice" is still what I would term mandatory listening and if Mile 329 are offering subscriptions you should consider it your immediate priority to get your name on that list while you can since the song title "Artificial Banana Flavor" is almost worth the price of admission on its own. - industrial.org

The Bad Method CD:

I am extremely impressed with The Bad Method - it's dark techno at its best. While remaining true to the sound and flavor of the 2600, it provides an atmosphere that is both old school funny and yet very dark, gothic and scary in a "giant blocky birds are coming to eat me" sort of way. I enjoy playing this music while playing 2600 games; the sound never interferes with the sound of the games, it compliments the experience perfectly. I wish there was more done with the 2600 by the artist; I know he's done others with other fancier game systems (like the NES and beyond) that I'm sure are great, but I prefer the simple 2600 sound style, call me a purist if you will. - customer review

A friend of mine is want to call his new favourite whatever "triumphant" and from the reaction this juicy bit of byte bashing from Naked Intruder instills in me I can think of no terminology more apt. "The Bad Method" is totally triumphant - like the internal blaring of 8 bit horns and raised pixelated fists immediately following the completion of the most infuriatingly frustrating video game you have ever played.
...Sonically there are lots of signature 2600 noises - the startling electronic short of "Bezerk!" or the intense low-end PWM warble of "Yar's Revenge" for example. A few sounds sound a little more generic (i.e. could be from an NES, Sega Genesis, C64, etc.) but there are enough solid money shots to give this an uncanny authenticity. The sequencing however is a lot more advanced than what one would normally squeeze out from between the fake wood panels but does maintain the opcode taste that gives game music so much charm. I view it as the ouput of a Beowulf cluster formed from 2600s.
Being based solely around sounds generated by the revered Atari 2600 is cool sure but far from the only reason why this 3" is in my top 10 for 2002. No, it's the coherent internal logic of the compositions that really pushes this over the top. All the tracks feature an inate thumb candy quality that will no doubt prove hypnotic for anyone who has ever earned the wrath of an angry parent by blowing one's lunch money at the arcade.
...There's more to it than video game nostalgia though. What really grabs on is how the strangulation of limited polyphony is treated like some illicit turn on, like a night of green phosphor auto-asphyxiation scripted in assembly language. Individual arpeggios flash by like the rapidly moving steel of "Dr. Mario" sewing together wriggling musical flesh, each incision pulled tightly together by the precious few threads of polyphony. Likewise, crispy little noise beats drum out a marching song for an army of electrons forging ahead single file into mindless but addictive battle. I can't help but envision these sounds emanating from a nightmarish tangle of wire wrap and logic chips surrounded by a moat of empty "Jolt" cans.
Viewing "The Bad Method" as a mini-epic, the most immediate comparison that comes to mind is the soundtrack for "Marble Madness" (which is my personal nominee for best game music of all time). While far more quantized and Japanese sounding than the Atari masterpiece, there is a wide girth of stylistic directions and the little flourishes causing the four songs here to flow like an anthemic symphony written for the Commodore 64. This Mile 329 release's only crime is stopping at a measly four songs and while I may feel hurt and cheated that my lunch money only lasted some 13 odd minutes, as soon as I can get some quarters you will know where to find me. - industrial.org

"Oh my (!) This is a fascinating release. Modern post-industrial rhythmic noise... completely done in the style of a early "cheesy" 80's arcade game soundtrack. Or maybe it's the other way around. (But yes... I'm quite serious). I can't say I've ever heard anything *quite* like this before. Which is precisely why I am so deeply intrigued. This entire EP was recorded using nothing but the sounds from the Atari 2600. Plus the tracks come packaged on a handsome 'Playstation' style black 3" CD-R. ... It's only four songs... so short and sweet... but a hearty snack, sure to satisfy this odd (one-time?) craving. But be forewarned... those of you old enough to remember the early 80's... just may come away waxing poetic for a that long lost game of Berserk down at the local mall or bowling alley." - Phil Easter

Deadclown Hatecrime CD:

" this album has kicked my ass and raped my ears with a big, orange cock. i am in such incredible awe. this album is amazing, beyond anything i thought possible. musically it's fucking genius, still ear-punishing while actually being beautifully melodic. at times i thought to myself "this is what vince clarke will be doing in hell."" - internal 329 staff assessment

"Band names may be a dime a dozen but Naked Intruder is still a pretty damn funny mental image even if it doesn't knock my number one fave of all time "Fat Kids In Gay Porn" off their greased pedestal. Backing up the snappy moniker is a delightfully gritty 42 minute collection of 8 and 16 bit emulation with enough tracker culture wrapped around it to hold everything tightly together. The in game sensibility is strong enough to cause phantom thumb blister and the number of different levels mastered before "game over, man" is reached could easily turn this into a demo disc for some aspiring EA or Rockstar hiree. Unlike EBM which tends towards dead end creative monotony, Naked Intruder jumps through many stylistic hoops like any good game music should. It's soundtrack focussed of course but still varies from anthemic 8 bit rockers to the sacharine doom of mechanistic robot levels. ...The results are quite atmospheric with only the slightest bit of out of character creeping through cracks in the well worn game deck. SIDlike pink noise beats chunky enough to be mistaken for croutons take bites out of melodramatic single note riffing, the liquid stream of the accompanying pads compressed into a semi-solid gel by the pressure of the restricted bandwidth of mass market technology..."Ulterior Humana" is the first true anthem of the disc, one that makes me very glad I bought new speakers a few weeks back that can stand the volume levels this track deserves. "Clowns On Fire" sounds almost like a doomy bit of 8 bit black metal cum inventory screen, only the lack of screeching vocals avoiding the visage of pixelated burning churches. "Retribution" is just that, huge pistons and swinging pendulums doing their best to reduce the continues counter to nil. It's a fast moving level, DEVO on conveyor belts with the atmosphere made up of equal parts helium and nitrous oxide for a strange hi-lo aural speedball. ... Track 7 "Halfthink" plain out fucking rocks, like C64 Judas Priest steel hammered into shape by Mark Mothersbaugh. ...The credits roll to an oddball bit of cave level meets night driving, all dramatic and imposing initially, then business like for the scrolling credits. A good sign is when each spin increases one's appreciation of a given release and I must have listened to this disc six times today alone with zero fatigue before starting this review. There is a certain attraction that this type of game music offers which I feel goes beyond any repulsive nostalgia or that purely future retro. There's a subtle hardness to it, the cold indifference of a cell phone ring song or the low resolution voice of a cheap Star Wars toy acting as soundtrack for one's precious recreation minutes. ...Game themed music like this is truly like winning a face to face encounter with all that organizational and indifferent and I for one find the control it gives back both invigorating and cathartic. ..."Deadclown Hatecrime" ultimately then should be treated as a motiviational tool, ripe with far more hope than that offered by just the ultimate hi score, showing that artificial boundaries are meant to be violated and 3 note polyphony is actually a gift to be relished. " - industrial.org

""Deadclown Hatecrime" has been on heavy rotation for some time, and I can't believe how powerful this record sounds to me. Maybe it's an indication of my latent fondness for SIDs and chiptunes (Rob Hubbard anyone?), but that can't explain it all. Or maybe it's the highly energetic and evolutive drum patterns that just drill into my skull with medical precision. Or possibly it's the lack of sleep from staying up and listening to the record. In any case, thank you for one of the most creative and potent releases I've received so far." - mechanoise labs