Original video located here. Accessed 27th May 2019
Song title: Obsessed
Artist: Hatchie
Year: 2019
Why I like this song:
The promise of Hatchie's early releases finally delivers.
It may have tips of the hat to New Order and nineties dream pop but it does it so well. It also helps that Hatchie has a charismatic presence.
Original video located here. Accessed 8th May 2019
Song title: Diesel Power
Artist: The Prodigy
Year: 1997
Why I like this song:
Spike vs The Prodigy: Round 3
Album: The Fat of the Land
Year: 1997
Well here we are: I've been mentioning this album and it's big hit (Firestarter) but really there's no escaping it. Firestarter was a huge hit, Fat of the Land was a monumental seller and, for a lot of people, it was the beginning for the Prodigy - just as it was the end of the Prodigy for just as many people.
When i was a teenager I listened to a lot of punk rock. When i entered adulthood I flirted with metal - the reason I mention this is because both are music genres that thrive on freaking people out. Thus one listen to the Fat of the Land indicates that this is an attempt to freak people out with electronic/dance music - not a genre one would associate with freaking people out (seems the dangers posed by raves and rave culture weren't enough).
Even when faced with the challenge of divorcing the Prodigy from their image of 'freaky guys and equally freaky videos' this album does come across as being the odd one out when compared to it's predecessors: there are more guests, more samples, more Keith and less of this being the sound of one guy messing about with a whole lotta electronic gear. That being said, whereas the previous albums seem more pure in electronic, Fat of the Land seem more anarchic. Booming beats, scary noises and the late Keith Flint selling his 'madman' persona for all it's worth. Are there times when Liam was trying to replicate the lightning in the bottle success of Firestarter? Perhaps but you can't deny there is certainly some muscle behind this album.
And so concludes this experiment. I have to say it has certainly been a challenge stepping out of my comfort zone and experiencing a band I have had little interest in prior and - oh wait, the Chemical Brothers have a new album out? I'm there!
Original video located here. Accessed 3rd May 2019
Song title: No Good (Start the Dance)
Artist: The Prodigy
Year: 1994
Why I like this song:
Spike vs The Prodigy: Round 2
Album: Music for the Jilted Generation
Year: 1994
Nothing sells a product quite like having a story attached and the one this album is a doozy: Incensed by the government crackdown on raves, Liam Howlett decided to take his music into a more angrier and intense direction. And seeing as it expanded the Prodigy's audience and silenced critics who dismissed them as a lightweight, it's clear the move paid off in spades.
This album always marks the point where I had my first experience with The Prodigy: it was sometime in the mid-nineties and I turned on my TV to early morning rage and caught the video to Voodoo People. At first I didn't know what to think of the (admittedly freaky) video but it prove helpful when I realised that the guys who did Firestarter were the same guys who did that song with the distorted flutes, frenzied violin and that keyboard sample that goes URNK URNK.
Much like Experience, this album sounds like the work of a different band when compared to their future triumphs. It's fast, inventive, exciting and, when compared to Experience, a sizable bearing of teeth. And yet it still manages to retain the fun (read: approachable) aspect of it's predecessor - This album may be flexing some muscle but it still has the DNA that traces it to previous album.
So in the end, this is a damn good album and a prime example of mid-nineties rave music.
One final thought: Considering the year of this album's release, I wonder who many people used it to soundtrack a game of Doom?