Michel Huygen Placebo

Wow, this wasn't what I expected. I remember a famous review of 'Force Majeure in Sounds Magazine (a UK Music newspaper from the 70's/80's). It was titled "An Arranged Noise is Not a Tune" and the author commented that his head felt like "the inside of a blacksmith's shop" after hearing the album. Well, had he reviewed this I fancy he'd have felt like the blacksmith's anvil being incessantly pounded into oblivion.

As you may have gathered, this is not your typical Michel Huygen work - I think! The sleeve subtly indicates that this is his 30th album, I haven't heard the bulk of them by any means but I'm sure if this was typical Huygen fair he'd be pronounced as a God in the eyes of industrial electronic metallica aficionados. 4 tracks are on show, and it opens with the mammoth 32 minute 'CyberEnergy'. Initially all is normal, your usual (and high quality) electronic ensemble to start with. Then a quirky rhythm starts up, stripped down, repetitive with a capital R, and it just goes on, and on, and on. Elements come and go, it does mutate and shift as time slips by, but fundamentally this is an exploration of electronic automata at its most basic level. Sparse melody, no warmth, just incessant rhythmics. Industrial rhythmics at that, not a whiff of Berlin School. I suppose there are fleeting references to Kraftwerk, but ultimately this work is fairly unique.

Next up is the 17 minute 'Night people'. I'm unsure why MH decided to split the piece because it starts exactly where track 1 left off, all the same references and rudimentary motifs are there. So all in all, if you fancy sitting down for a almost an hour of what is effectively an electronic lobotomy - well here's your chance! I'd love to see the reaction if this was ever played on radio. And thoughtfully Michel has supplemented the album with two bite sized chunks specifically designed for radio and TV consumption! Actually for me these smaller pieces work better, their brevity prevents the tendency to chew your own arm as you listen.