I was heavily influenced by the new romantic music movement of the late 70s and early 80s, bands like adam and the ants, abc, duran duran, omd and visage all were big influences on me when I was young. Lately I cannot get enough of it. Going back and listening to some of these old records has really made me happy. New music just lacks the sound and the magic these old records have.
First was the punk movement, then once punk ran its course, the new romantic new wave movement came. From this scene, the whole entire look and feel of the goth and death rock movements was forged, and a lot of people really don’t know the history of the late 70s and early 80s. Its sad.
Visage blows me away. Still, I knew this band when I was really young, saw the videos on my pbs tv station here, fm tv, and mtv in 80s. Forgot all about it, and was more into bands like duran duran for a while. Now, after a fan posted a video on my forum, it brought back a ton of memories and I went out and bought this greatest hits off amazon mp3. I have been listening to this non stop ever since. I am so in love with this right now.
New wave music, new romantic. POP but inventive, weird, strange and interesting. Analog and warm. Steve Strange is a great vocalist, severely underrated. I think this band is shunned in the usa and had more success in europe. Steve Strange is doing music again and playing shows last i checked, with visage mk ii.
My favorite song on this LP is “The Anvil” It is so old school industrial sounding. Love the metal percussion and the menacing bass line and strange synth leads. My second Favorite is Mind of a Toy, I love the lyrics, and how the song builds, reminds me of old pink dots, I love when the chorus goes up and a voice at a hight octave doubles the chorus. So cool. I also love their cover of “In the year 2525″ the visage version is by far the best, the spooky sound of it, the synth strings and vocoder are amazing. Cannot forget Fade To Grey, and the music was written by Gary Numan’s band and Visage, the bouncy main riff reminds me of Metal from Gary Numan, so cool.
I only skip love glove, and sometimes night train I love Damned don’t cry, the stabby vocoder rhythm thing and high strings and choir sounds are so good in that song. I really like We move as well, its a fun pop song that reminds me of oingo boingo. Visage is it’s own thing, very unique, and i can tell a lot of musicians in the ebm, future pop, and electro clash have stolen riffs and sounds from this act shamelessly. Still, none of the new stuff sounds this good.
If you like good electro pop, 80s, and retro stuff, electro clash, and ebm, you should like this, it has a lot of those elements embedded in it while having it’s own strange pop sound. I give this lp a 10 out of 10. Click here to buy Fade to grey: The best of Visage on mp3.
I am very happy to start promoting DJs, their club nights and the scene around the world. I will be posting a new club weekly and hope to help the scene out as much as I can by promoting these places and maybe breath some new life into the club scene. The first DJ I am promoting is DJ PSYOP and his venue. If you happen to be in the Seattle area any time, you should go check it out. Click here to check out their facebook page. I am also interviewing the DJs.
Hexfix93: When did you start djing?
DJ PsyOp: I started by guesting for a night called Punishment that had been running for many years. That was about 8 years ago. Jeez, time flies. After having those guest gigs eventually transform into a regular spot about a year later, we decided to rename the night as Fifth Column and start it fresh.
Hexfix93: What is the scene like up there in seattle?
DJ PsyOp: It’s an interesting mix of old-school and new kids drawn in by bands such as VNV Nation & Combichrist. I read that Seattle has the 3rd largest goth population in the US recently, so I guess the scene is pretty big. There are currently 3 clubs having regular (read: more than once a week) goth/industrial nights. The Mercury is the only 7 day a week club anymore though. The old school crowd keeps the scene in business, so you can expect a lot of classics played, mixed with some cutting edge tracks.
Hexfix93: What is the biggest dance song up in seattle?
DJ PsyOp: Ha ha, currently? Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. But apart from that, Military Fashion Show by And One, and Filii Neidhardt by Corvus Corax have been super popular.
Hexfix93: Do you like taking requests?
DJ PsyOp: Generally, yes. It makes it easy to please the audience and helps me know what people are hoping to hear, which isn’t always obvious. That said, I could do with less drunken requests for the same song or band I played ten minutes before….
Hexfix93: If you could change anything about the scene, what would it be?
DJ PsyOp: Less pretension, and more open-mindedness to new music. It boggles my mind that in a scene where literally everybody was open-minded and tried something different from the norm, that they can then trine around and hate on something ‘different’.
Hexfix93: What song do you like playing the most and why?
DJ PsyOp: The one that’s not been heard before and still gets a huge crowd dancing. Currently, I’ve been having fun with Prey on You (Sebastian Komor mix) by I:Scintilla & new Prodigy tracks.
Hexfix93: What do you think about beat mixing?
DJ PsyOp: In industrial music, it’s not as essential to a good mix as other forms of electronic music, but if you don’t learn how to do it, you aren’t really committed to mastering your craft. A good beatmix is awesome on the dance floor.
Hexfix93: Do you use records, cds, or mp3s and computers?
DJ PsyOp: I’m currently a cd guy. Been tempted by Traktor and Serato Scratch Live though.
Hexfix93: Do you use dj software? If so, what and why?
DJ PsyOp: I use Traktor at home to record mixes, and have been seriously considering getting an external interface and switching to that. Need some extra cash first though…
Hexfix93: What is the biggest crowd you have had at your club night?
DJ PsyOp: The last big party we had at the Mercury was a ‘Goth Prom’. It was pretty successful. At one point there was a twenty minute wait to get in. It was fun.
Hexfix93: Do live bands play at this club?
DJ PsyOp: It’s not really set up for live bands, but there is a monthly hardcore noise night called Threat that regularly features top noisecore acts performing live.
Hexfix93: What are you favorite lps?
DJ PsyOp: Aesthetic Perfection – A Violent Emotion, Front Line Assembly – Hardwired, haujobb. – Solutions For A Small Planet, Samael – Eternal, Skinny Puppy – Too Dark Park, Snog – Buy Me, I’ll Change Your Life, Velvet Acid Christ – Fun With Drugs : ), :Wumpscut: – Music For A Slaughtering Tribe. The list could go on & on, but I’m a big EBM/Aggrotech fan.
Hexfix93: Are there any other djs that inspire you?
DJ PsyOp: DJ Shadow, LTJ Bukem, Rexx Arcana.
Hexfix93Anything else you’d like to say?
DJ PsyOp: HOINH!
Thanks again! This has been a honor.
DJ Psyop works Friday night. Below is a playlist:
The Crystal Method – Trip Like I Do
VNV Nation – Chrome (SITD remix)
Covenant – Stalker (Club version)
And One – Military Fashion Show
Suicide Commando – Face Of Death (Blind Rage mix)
Ashbury Heights – Die By Numbers (Agonoize remix)
Agonised By Love – Southern Sun (Single edit)
Tristesse De La Lune – Queen Of The Damned
De/Vision – Drifting Sideways (T.O.Y. Toburger Wald mix)
Skinny Puppy – Testure
The Retrosic – The Storm
Corvus Corax – Filii Neidhardt
David Bowie & Trent Reznor – I’m Afraid Of Americans
Snog – Hooray!!
Apoptygma Berzerk – Starsign
Delerium – Silence (Airscape remix)
Faderhead – Dirtygrrrls Dirtybois
LMFAO – I Am Not A Whore
The Prodigy – Take Me To The Hospital (Losers Middlesex a & e remix)
Syrian – Musika Atomika
Who Da Funk – Shiny Disco Balls
Rob Dougan – Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Variation)
Rammstein – Stripped (Heavy Mental mix by K.M.F.D.M.)
Gothminister – Happiness In Darkness
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Wolfsheim – Heroin, She Said
Assemblage 23 – Complacent
The Crystal Method – Dirty Thirty (feat. Peter Hook)
The Prodigy – (Losers Middlesex a & e remix)
De/Vision – Miss You More (Telekommander mix)
VNV Nation – Chrome (SITD remix)
Delerium – Eternal Odyssey
BauMaus – Facefuck Remodulated
Colony 5 – Knives
Cosmicity – Tinnitus (T.O.Y. remix)
Covenant – Bullet
Faithless – Insomnia (Monster mix)
Funker Vogt – Martians On The Moon
Iris – You’re The Answer
LMFAO – I Am Not A Whore
Skinny Puppy – Stairs And Flowers (Too Far Gone)
Velvet Acid Christ – Amnesia
LTJ Bukem – Rhodes To Freedom
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – Blue Buddha
K.M.F.D.M. – Save Me
Bush – Mouth (remix)
Hanzel Und Gretyl – Komet Ride
The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar (Pete Heller mix)
A Perfect Circle – Judith (Danny Lohner remix)
Poe – Wild
Opening words:
Oh boy, a wild wild west version of Grand Theft Auto with horses instead of cars, oh boy. WTF were they thinking?
Presentation: 9.5
They really do a great job at presenting the game to you in the old west style, Rockstar never fails at this. The acting is good, the graphics are good, the menu system is easy to figure out.
Single Player: 9.5
So, if you have played grand theft auto, this will seem kind of familiar. Aiming, auto aim, button configs are the same. Riding the horses takes some getting used to and believe it or not, I really loved it. You have to get the timing of hitting the button in a good rhythm to get the best out of your horse, to much and he will buck you off, you have to watch the blue bar on the lower left indicator. They are a little stiff to control, but its kind of fun. This game progresses just like the Grand Theft Auto games. This has a big huge open world you can explore, ignore the story, and do petty side missions like, break and capture horses, you can gamble in every town(Texas hold em, and all kinds of games), Random missions will find you by strangers in peril, they don’t vary unless you travel far. The story is pretty good, it surprised me. Some of the missions you have to herd cattle, lol. This game turned me into a red neck. Kind of fun, a lot more fun than I thought. You can be good or evil. You can help people or hurt them. If you are bad guy, you get bounties on your head all the time, and will be under attack randomly all the time. I really liked when you go to Mexico, the story gets even more interesting in Mexico. I loved the ending, It made me go WTF, I played as a hero. I wont ruin it so.
Visuals: 8.9
This is the GTA engine, they made it look nice, the deserts, the mountains, the red rocks, the sunsets, the open world, the towns, the people, the details, the characters, everything is better here than in gta I think. More refined and more convincing. Some slow down happens when a lot of stuff is going on. Over all I am very impressed.
Audio: 9.2
There is not the massive sound track that is found in the GTA games, but what is here fits right. The voice acting is amazing in this game, better than so many other games on the market.
Game mechanics: 9.7
It’s the same as GTA4 exactly for the most part. What really kicks ass is red eye, when you build up your red eye gauge, in the lower left corner, the red bar, you hold aim and hit r3, everything gets red and goes into slow motion, then you aim on what you want to shoot hit r1 to tag it, and x will appear, then move to the next target, you can get head shots if you want, when you are done or if the red eye runs out, hit the r2 to set it off, and man it does this rapid fire shooting that just rips people up. In single player its slow motion, in multi-player its just rapid fire., red eye works in both modes even though they are slightly different. Red eye really is what makes this game so damn cool to me. Riding the horses is cool as well, they did a good job making you hit x for spurs. The duels are really fun as well, when you get challenged to a duel, its a mini game, you have to draw, then the cursor pulses, you have to aim it on the part of of the body you want to hit, then hit the fire button right when the cursor pulses white, who ever gets the most shots on time, wins the duel. This can be really hard. Not as bad once you get used to it. I love putting on the cheaters clothing, then get caught cheating at cards, lol, then its duel time. Another good this is the carriages, they are like cabs, you can find these in the major cities and allow you to fast travel at a price, I used these a lot so I didn’t have to ride my horse every where. This really helps. People complain about the auto aim, you can play in online games hardcore with no auto aim, but honestly, when riding on a horse or a car, I like auto aim and can see why this is here, not to mention, to make the game more mainstream and easy for the unskilled. I like the auto aim. I am skilled as well, so..
Online: 8.0
This is where the game really shines, I could not stop laughing the first time I got on, I was a dirty bum and all I could ride was an obnoxious donkey that was slow as fuck, lol. You have to run around and do missions in the free roam to get xp points, which allows you to select different characters and horses and guns for the free roam world, then you can make posses, and join up with friends, and do do all the missions in the free roam, or have the leader of the posse select free for all modes, gang modes, and then you can play as a team. In the vote lobby, once you vote you can run around an assault people in the world, this is so awesome. Even better is the shootout at the beginning of the rounds, team shoot outs or free for all, has a count down, then a sudden randomly timed draw, then who every shoots the fastest wins. This is amazing, another thing that really adds to the fun of the game.
Replay:10
Being able to play as a good guy, or a bandit really makes this worth playing twice. The online modes are better than any gta modes, I find this is more like the old old socoms in some ways, fun to just run around and shoot. The online mode makes this something to keep, not to mention there will be co-op dlc coming out soon, free too, not to mention the other dlc rock star always plans. This is a keeper. I can see myself playing this for ages. It is so different.
Total score: 10
This game is amazing, it totally surprised me, I was not expecting to like a red neck game at all. I have to say this is probably the most fun I have had in a game for a long time. I liked the story, the characters, the open world, the graphics, the side missions, all the mini games, and they way the executed it all. This is now my favorite game of all time, I never would of thought this could beat out my other old favorites. I have had more fun with this game than any other game in the last 20 years. I love the GTA games so this is why, if you don’t like the gta games, stay far away from this.
I love Damned don’t cry, the stabby vocoder rhythm thing and high strings and choir sounds are so good in that song. I really like We move as well, its a fun pop song that reminds me of oingo boingo. Visage is it’s own thing, very unique, and i can tell a lot of musicians in the ebm, future pop, and electro clash have stolen riffs and sounds from this act shamelessly. Still, none of the new stuff sounds this good.
