DIGITAL POODLE Vinilo y CD

Review: Unlike seminal Vancouver EBM/industrialists Skinny Puppy, Digital Poodle had only a cult following in Toronto and some parts of the North American continent; a real shame considering their impressive body of work. However, tracks such as 1995's "Head Of Lenin" got some international airplay, not to mention being played at quite a few goth clubs back in the day (not that we'd know, of course!). Finally there's a a renewed enthusiasm around them among a new generation of fans and die-hard nostalgists alike. 1992's Soul Crush" gets a worthy reissue on local analogue freak Solvent's Suction imprint and gets a some pretty nifty reworks. Sonic Groove main man Adam X serves up a pounding, droning and hypnotic rendition that stands in stark contrast to the slow and steely funk groove of the original. Also worthy of mention is British legends Soviet France and their "Virtual Mix" a B side to the original release which is 13 minutes of epic ambient house bliss.

Review: Digital Poodle are one of those outfits from the 1980's who happened to stumble onto techno by accident, focusing on making deadly, driving songs rather than fitting into a genre or style. Alongside them there are the likes of Psychik Warriors Ov Goia and a few others, but this stuff is pretty damn hard to come by, and releases like this are few and far between. The impressive Suction label out of Canada has decided to reissue their "Work Terminal" tune - a screeching, venomous bit of screamo EBM - backed by a trio of remixes. OH transform "Work Terminal" into a more direct techno bullet with subtle swarms of the original's screams, while Solvent give it a more aggressive reshape a-la electro. It's the Metro Tekno version that gets our attention, though, and those heavy percussion patterns must surely be total winners on the sound system.