Daily Staff Writer

“60 Second Wipe Out”

Atari Teenage Riot

When German anarchistic beliefs converge with digital hard-core music, one thing is certain: the experience will be brutal.

The technological, apocalyptic stylings of the fierce foursome Atari Teenage Riot makes for an invigorating call to arms by anyone opposed to the current state of government and society.

The group propels its confrontational message forward with intense emotion, along with the help of computers, to create the fast-approaching new revolution in music, a genre many have coined as “digital hard-core.”

Atari Teenage Riot’s frontman, Alec Empire, has even started his own record label, Digital hard-core Recordings, which has propelled the band’s record sales to nearly a quarter of a million.

With the band’s third album, “60 Second Wipe Out,” comes an abrasive look at Empire’s, along with Hanin Elias, Carl Crack and German-Japanese punk goddess Nic Endo’s, views on the destruction of society.

These anarchist “think-they-are’s” get the blood boiling with the single “Revolution Action,” but the real gem on the album is “Western Decay.”

The beats and samplings combine into a hypnotizing array of sonic pleasure while Empire and Elias embed the invocation of riots into your mind.

Another ear-worthy tune is “Too Dead For Me.” The repetitive chanting of “Too dead for me!” begins to sound like a mindless picket line in front of a box factory, but the song is catchy nonetheless.

The only other song worth listening to is “Death Of A President D. I. Y.!” The lack of vision in the song is made up for by the chaotic digital sound tablets that sound like the “Star Wars” droid R2D2 on crack.

Lyrically, the band falters due to its use of free verse. Some poetic diction would greatly improve the album’s appeal. Also, after listening to the album, it seems that no other musicians, since Snoop Doggy Dog, have referred to their own names in their music as many times as this band has.

While Atari Teenage Riot’s “60 Second Wipe Out” speaks with all of the supposed angst the global youth have against society, it fails to implore new ideas for the solution.

Anyone can scream “Fuck society!” but what are they actually going to do about the problem?

2 1/2 stars out of five

-Kevin Hosbond

“Holiday From You”

The Gufs

“Holiday From You” is full of tracks which range from the soulful ballad to the power chord ballad. All of which make for easy listening without being too wimpy.

The first impression we get is “Last Goodbye,” the album’s first single. It has MTV overnight written all over it. The vocals aren’t going to stick in anyone’s head for a lifetime, but Goran Kralj’s voice does have a college angst quality that might last a few albums more before it starts to wear thin.

The Gufs style is like a really good college bar band on the verge of truly breaking through into the realm of the truly original. The themes are typical fare: Lost love, a desire to be understood, metaphors of life stated simply. This does make the album unpretentious and accessible.

However, I wouldn’t put it on your Christmas list just yet.

This isn’t the kind of CD one forces his friends to listen to; in fact, the reaction of someone forced to listen to this at most would be “so what?”

This is the kind of album that grows on you after several runs through while doing something completely unrelated. It would grind a party to a halt because it is fairly sleepy throughout.

It might make for a good belly rubbing CD, though. If you bring someone home and don’t want to ruin your copy of “Achtung Baby” by getting skanky to it, “Holiday From You” is a good sacrificial CD.

It has enough mood-setting tunes to be effective and if love blossoms, you won’t mind it being associated with these tracks. If you wake up the next day feeling a deep sense of shame and remorse, this CD can go packing too and no harm done.

So if you need something special for a night to remember, take a chance on breaking out that old U2 favorite but if you just don’t care enough to make your best effort, then The Gufs “Holiday from You” is good enough.

2 stars out of five

-Greg Jerrett