Tunnels is the solo side project of Portland, Oregon based Nicholas Bindeman.
He is otherwise best known in underground circles as a member of Eternal Tapestry and Jackie-O Motherfucker.
Working with a band or alone over the past six years he has alternated between psyched shred guitar, dark ambient drone and cold wave disco. The latter is where The Blackout is at.
The ten short tracks are a synth-led mix of eerie beats and distorted robotic vocals or, if you prefer record label newspeak : "disaffected vocal incantations".
The album evokes the spirit of Krautrock as well as a more industrial dance aura of artists like Cabaret Voltaire or Suicide. There's plenty of more mainstream post-punk / pop electronica in there too.
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The metronomic rhythms at various speeds often use sampled sources to create a disorientating pulse. This is true of the opening track Crystal Arms which uses an in-performance recording of Laurie Anderson's mic'd sun glasses as she pounded her fists on her skull.
Overall, the record's retro-gothic atmosphere is all too detached and clinical for my taste and won't exactly set discos alight either.
Tunnels on Myspace
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