Artist: Re: dux tion

Title: self/sub:vrsn

Label: Smell The Stench

Genre: Ambient / Industrial

01 Indifference
02 Deeper
03 Death Imitates Art
04 What is War?
05 Frozen

From the time we are born and have our senses attuned to what’s going on around us to the time we die we all love surprises. The actual millisecond before we die being the biggest surprise of all. And not one we’ll ever remember. Not in this life anyway. How I remember my wife telling me she was pregnant. That was a surprise. Considering I’m impotent that made it an even bigger one. Then our first son was born. The joy was complete. The fact he was coloured, in a Negroid way, was another surprise that befell me. The wife and I are both Caucasian. A billion to one chance of that happening the nurse told me. The surprises never ended. Then she fell pregnant again 6 months later. A girl was born this time. Chinese looking she was. Another billion to one chance the nurse had said. Her eyes were full of pity though. I ought to do the lottery. I seem to beat all the odds. So yes I’ve had my fair share of surprises. Here’s another one that took me unawares.

This release should have appeared on the first update of the new, all singing and dancing, Heathen Harvest website. A shameless plug but what the heck. The only problem was that the first cdr that was sent in was what we in the music business call in technical terms…‘fucked’…or words to that effect. At least I had the chance to review the 'Three Lilies' release whilst waiting for another copy to arrive. Now here’s where the surprise aspect comes into play. Which of course you’ve been expecting because I’ve spent time building it up this way. Where ‘Three Lilies’ had a kind of Godflesh / Ministry vibe to it, my words taken directly from the review, that was class in a glass, a Scottish phrase meaning shit hot, the only problem was the duration of the release. A very stingy 15+ minutes. I was expecting more of the same. Was looking forward to it. Hit me with the synth lines, beats and guitar riffs Big Boy. Not that I am in anyway aware if Christophe G, the artist behind Re: Dux Tion, is tall, fat or well endowed in the trouser department. Big Boy having so many different meanings. Instead what hit me, and here’s the surprise bit at last, was his change of style on this release. Thankfully he has included his rock on riffs on occasion but for the most part ‘Self / sub:vrsn’ ventures into dark ambient soundscapes for the majority of its 29+ minutes. Fourteen better than last time if you’ve been paying attention. Which you had better or I’m wasting my fucking time writing this. And wouldn’t you just know it but I was suitably enamoured by his alluring take on dark ambience. There was something strangely compelling in the way he’s managed to manufacture / conjure them up. Very post Industrial in many ways. The sounds created going for a dank depressive atmosphere with fizzling, like bacon overcooking in a frying pan, and groaning like free Willy with the screaming shits. That’s not including some obligatory bell tolling and caressing piano pieces. I might as well add the swelling cavernous sounds and manipulated / mutated sounds that are also to be found here. These tracks would have been enough on their own to gain my admiration. Christophe G though does love to rock. Must be in his blood. The two tracks, ‘Death Imitates Art’ and ‘Frozen’ are classics. ‘Frozen’ on here is a better mixed cleaned up version than found on the ‘Three Lilies’ release. Well it sounds that way to these ears. I had them de-gunked only recently. And ‘Death Imitates Art’ doesn’t let rip until well past the three quarter mark. Worth the wait all said and done.

I like the attitude that Christophe puts out. His ‘fuck you I’ll do things my way’ appeals to the rebel imprisoned deep inside me. Oh to be like him. I also really, truly and without any monetary reward being offered, although I’ll accept it if any is going around, enjoy his music. The way he has integrated the two different genres on ‘Self / sub:vrsn’ is quite a feat. The fact he’s managed to be so successful with it makes it even better. Come on. Support the individual artist and give this mans music a shot. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. Life is full of them. Have another one courtesy of Re: Dux Tion.

Band: Re: dux tion
Album: A Disordered Imagination
Album Year: 2006
Label: Sleepy:verse (www.sleepyverse.net)
Genre(s): Ambient, Dark Ambient
Band Website: www.myspace.com/reduxtion

Review Date: 01/07

Rating: 9/10

‘A Disordered Imagination’ is the first thing I have ever heard from the dark ambient project Re: dux tion. It’s hard to know what to expect going into an ambient album, because there are so many possibilities yet so many potential pitfalls. I can honestly say that I am surprised with this album, as it took me somewhere that I had never experienced through music.

‘A Disordered Imagination’ sounds to me like the soundtrack to a dead alien world. The entire album carries a peculiar vibe and deep, empty ambiance which is both amazing and hauntingly unique. Each track sounds similar enough to continue to push and develop the atmosphere, but different enough not to become boring. The entire album sounds extremely cohesive and flows very well, almost as if it were just one very long track (although the tracks do not carry over to the next and are set up as distinct pieces). The tracks here are genuinely haunting and desolate, but unlike any other dark ambient I have heard, they have a futuristic and spacey feel to them.

Like I previously mentioned, this album IS the soundtrack to a dead alien world. When I listen to it my mind cannot help but conjure up vivid images of ruined factories, underground labyrinths, space stations, and dilapidated cities, all once home to advanced technology and knowledge, now covered with forgotten age, dust and rock. The tracks utilize a number of features to bring together and create this other-worldly atmosphere, from very subtle pads, to the clicks and beeps you would hear floating around in a dead space station. Tracks like “Fluid” include soft synth lines which blend perfectly with the other sounds to really boost the atmospheric quality of the track. Other tracks employ the use of cut up and effected vocal samples which are also incredibly well used and quite disturbing. Every element that the album contains is placed perfectly amongst its peers. The use of repetition on this album is done exactly how it should be in dark ambient; just enough to produce mood and atmosphere, but not enough to become vapid and soporific.

At first the album sounds kind of empty and hollow, but you quickly realize that this is key in producing the peculiar and drifting ambiance.

The only negative thing I can find about this album is that some of the songs are a bit short and end rather abruptly, which is rarely the case with ambient music. The album itself ends much too soon, but I suppose I would rather it be done well than go on forever.

The bottom line is that this is some of the best and most well crafted dark ambient music I have heard in a very long time and I encourage any fans of the genre to check it out immediately. If you enjoy extremely dark (though not in the conventional sense), empty and haunting atmospheres, especially those that sound like dead alien planets, this CD will absolutely deliver.

-[.d4n b4rr3tt.]

Reprinted courtesy of Wounds Of The Earth

http://www.woundsoftheearth.com/index2.html

Re:dux tion - A Disordered Imagination
(net release)
MP3
Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark ambient ... with the lights off. This is music that benefits hugely from being played on headphones in a dark room. That's not to say it doesn't work on speakers in the sunshine because it does - I tried, it's my job and my joy - it's just that the ambience conjured here is one of the darkest, bleakest night. It's flickering shadows on a grey wall, it's malformed figures running through the trees, it's a slightly maniacal giggle in the night, it's a breath on your neck in an empty room, it's all these things and more. Music for the darkest of hearts and the brightest of souls. Recommended.

Feburary 12, 2007
By Ian Holloway

Reprinted Courtesy of Wonderful Wooden Reasons

http://wonderfulwoodenreasons.homestead.com/

Re: dux tion - A Disordered Imagination
Sleepy:Verse Records - 2006

1. Far From Refuge
2. What is War?
3. The End Result
4.   Unjust
5.   Forewarning
6.   Fluid
7.    Indifference
8.   Deeper
9.   Unwilling
10. Three Lilies

Re: dux tion is the solo project from Christophe G. and as the name implies, the musical ideas for this project are to literally "leave only what is necessary". Christopher G. is also involved in "Drug Of choice" and has other bands that he participated with as well as mixing for other projects.

Interestingly enough, the author of this 10 song opus cites many groups and people as his musical influences. Anything from Type O Negative to Skinny Puppy, Godflesh and Ministry get mentioned here. Even if you have only casually listened to any of these outfits you will quickly recognize that they are not minimalistic.

At first glance, I can tell you that these are all fairly short songs, with no song going over the 6 minutes. Normally minimalistic pieces are much longer. What was interesting to me was that each and every one shows a little different approach to the minimalistic concept, so this album is far from something that will become boring.

Now, to the sound and feeling of the CD. The CD as a whole struck me as a collection of songs that might have been put together over a period of time. I say this without any

judgment simply because the sound and the musical theme is different from one song to the next one. You can hear a drony sound one second, then the next song concentrates more on a aggressive sound and character. Each is definitely a minimal piece but you can hear different personalities in every one.

Another interesting fact is that in aiming at a minimalistic approach, there have been no problems with the use of multiple instruments as well as associated equipment and software as heard here. So the question really is, with all this equipment and a

minimalistic approach, how does this music sound and more importantly, how does it stand among other works by other musicians with a similar approach style?

I think this CD stands up pretty well against some of the more known artists in this genre. I like to listen to this style of music in the darkest room as possible and this is to prevent any distractions of any kind. It never became boring, and like I said, every song seems to have its own identity so it is a very good listen!

February 7, 2007
By Carlos
8 of 10

Reprinted courtesy of Lunar Hypnosis Webzine
http://www.lunar-hypnosis.com

Artist: Re: dux tion
Album: The Death Posture

Re:dux tion definitely is a project that managed to catch my attention when I got in touch with it. This solo project of a fellow named Christophe G. (Drug of Choice, ex-Die My Darling) turned out to be a cool surprise to me at the time the ´Three Lilies´ release was out, and now it’s time for a full-length release named ´The Death Posture´. This one contains fourteen tracks and over one hour of music!

‘No In/between’ is an easy listening track with a marching beat, which is built on a synth line spine. ‘Crown of Skulls’ contains dark sampling and wicked guitar work. The beat gives this song a danceable attitude. ‘Fall of Because’ contains harsh EBM mixed with ambient with a noisy attitude. A little Feindflug influenced maybe? ‘Nihilist’ is built on a danceable rhythm and contains very wicked sampling (especially after the halfway point). ‘Dystemper’ contains surprisingly great metal guitars, which are swapped in this track with dark intermezzos. ‘Far From Refuge’ is an ambient track, and ‘Damaged’ contains a beat that goes through your ears like a heartbeat of a scared person. This song also contains doomy guitars, and there’s a little touch of dance music in the intermezzo. ‘The Insekt Temple’ has crazy programming, dark guitar lines and small parts of noisy and ambient elements. ‘arythmyk’ is a sick and dark track, with powerful guitars and a great outro ‘Uncertain Death’ contains a metal intro, followed by a varied track with harsh electro and metal influences. ‘The Interloper’ is an ambient track again, followed by a heavy ambient influenced track (‘The Brooding’). Next to the ambient sampling, we hear metal guitars, an EBM intermezzo and a very cool beat. ‘D pr’ contains very dreamy ambient/electro stuff, and the next track ‘Syntetik’ is a killer last song of the album with wicked sampling, a dreamy synth line and some really nice guitar elements.

Since the ‘Three Lilies’ release, Christophe G. clearly didn’t waste any time to produce this full-length and to improve his skills here and there. The sampling sound more decent and the variation inside the different influences are shown much better. Although normally an instrumental album bores me after about twenty minutes, I am more than happy to make an exception for this one!

Vote: 81 / 100
March 21, 2007
By Gerardo
Reprinted courtesy of IndustrializedMetal
http://www.industrializedmetal.tk

Re:dux tion – S/T
(Self Released)

Influenced by a range of artists including NIN, Justin Broadrick and H.R Giger, this one man project blends industrial beats with melodic keyboards to good effect. ‘aRhytmia’ opens the cd with an initially cold, machine like feeling that gradually warms up with haunting emotion by the end. ‘Dystemper’ picks up the pace somewhat before lurching back into a mid-paced tempo that is like being on an assembly line. Closer ‘What is War?’ is much more ambient and less industrial than the other tracks albeit a lot darker. For an instrumental one man project this is impressive and I wouldn’t mind hearing more from the man.

Re: dux tion - Three Lilies
Friday, December 01 2006 @ 12:03 AM PST
Contributed by: Alan Milne

Artist: Re: dux tion

Title: Three Lilies

Label: Self Released

Genre: Industrial Metal

1: aRhythmia
2: Dystemper
3. Frozen

Who needs record labels? Why bother going through all the shit and hassles trying to set up a record deal only to end up getting royally fucked in the arse by the bastards in the end. Fuck them all. Bunch of cunts. This is the attitude that seems to have been taken on board by Christophe G…the one man band behind Re: dux tion or…Re:duxtion if you want it all as one word. Right on brother. Stick it to the Corporate cocksuckers.

I admire anyone who decides to go it alone. The Internet is the place to get your music heard. Every fucker is on it. Even my Grandmother. The live one anyway. MySpace.com and Soundclick.com are the places most similar forward thinking people seem to gather. There are other websites obviously. This must be mentioned in passing. In fact Christophe is proud to be an Internet artist. He says so himself on his blurb in MySpace.com. He also gives his musical influences. These should be noted by everyone reading this review. They are: NIN, Skinny Puppy, J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus), Justin Broadrick (Godflesh/Techno Animal), Slayer, Prong, Danzig, Massive Attack, Public Enemy, Tool, Coil, Ministry, The Cure, Autechre and Type O Negative. The little Devil perched on my right shoulder suggests I just say that all these influences make an appearance on this three tracker and that will do for the review. The little fucker. He’s always landing me in trouble. I’m ignoring the trouble making cunt. He just wants to go off to the pub and get pissed. Again.

Although he has a point in some respects. There are definite hints at a Godflesh and Ministry vibe going on here. Minus any associated grunting that passes as singing from Justin and Big Al. This three tracker is a totally vocal free zone. And all the better for it. Christophe mixes the walloping guitar riffs and thumping rhythms with various electronic noodling and melodic passages that is very pleasant to the ear. The guitar sounds don’t over power the pieces but add the necessary grunt when applied. His work on the synth lines is pretty exceptional and thoroughly entertaining. There’s just the right amount of up tempo / down tempo parts to keep the interest going and sustained throughout its very brief 15- minutes. Which is the only negative aspect I have for this release. There’s brief. Then there’s fucking brief. Not a bad thing if the music is crap. Which this isn’t. Not by a long chalk. In fact I have quite a few, read too many, Industrial rock type releases, by huge well respected artists, in my collection which aren’t a patch on this. Honestly. This rocks my boat in all the right places without being too heavy, or over produced, or just plain fucking dull. All of which means it gets my seal of approval in every way. Excellent music with a capital ‘E’.

Will Christophe ever chug on the Corporate gland? I do hope not. I would like to think he will stick to his principles and continue to put out his music the way he wants to. Although by the wonders of the Internet I wouldn’t be surprised if the major labels aren’t already beating down his door as I write this. Catch him whilst he’s hot and before he sells his soul to the Corporate whore. The offer of Dead Presidents or, still alive unfortunately, Queen is a very hard temptation to resist. No matter how loud you scream your independence.

Re: dux tion # Self/sub:vrsn
After the self-released' Three Lilies', 'Self/sub:vrsn', the second release of Re: dux tion, is out on Australian' Smell The Stench Recordings'. 6 tracks on 30 minutes of dark ambient. The soundscapes are well crafted and very rich, they start quite bleak at the beginning then turn towards lighter moods around the half of the third track,' Death imitates art'. 'Fluid' the following track gets immediately into what is the essence of this music, darkness. Almost all tracks report the same emotion in different subtle shades and angles. The thing remains always abstract and difficult to stick an image to thus making your mind seeking for explanations. A pleasant release.

Reprinted courtesy of Sothzine
http://sothzine.atspace.com/info.html

Re: dux tion is the solo project done by Christophe G. According to the biography, this solo project was created in 2005 and this Christophe is also known for his works in Drug of Choice (which doesn’t ring a bell to me) and he is also an ex member of Die My Darling, Immaculate Corrosion and Wardrobe Cathedral. Christophe also remixed some songs for a few bands, and with this solo project he released two CDs so far, and has appeared on a compilation released by an UK label. ‘Three Lilies’ is one of the CDs he released, which is a three-song demo/EP.

‘No In/Be:tween’ is the first of those three tracks, and it already makes clear what Re: dux tion is all about. Don’t expect any brutal blastbeats or wild sampling. ‘No In/Be:tween’ is an easy listening track, mixing industrial with ambient, sludge and a little doom metal. This results in a deep and atmospheric song, with dangerous sounding synth work and surprising guitar riffs. ‘Intrinsic’ (I still have no idea what that word means by the way). ‘!)enial’ is the next track. The basics are still the same, although the song sounds completely different. This song has a colder attitude, and the doomy guitar riffs give this all a certain ambiance you can’t deny. Sonically I think this is the best build track, and after listening to this release for a few times I must say that this is my favourite track of the record anyway! ‘Denial’ is a different track, which etalages the EBM influences more and more. This results in a danceable track with metal guitars and spastic beats. A good track indeed! Yes, again! In the end, Re: dux tion turned out to be a positive surprise for me, and you can be sure that this record will be played many more in my CD player. And even though my media player tells me the artist of this record is called ‘Redusxtion’, it will not spoil the fun! Fans of ZNO, Low Distortion Unit and Elend will understand my final rating after they heard Re: dux tion for sure, and let’s hope that Christophe manages to reach a bigger crowd with his music because it is really worth it!

Vote: 75 / 100
September 29, 2006
By Gerardo
Reprinted courtesy of IndustrializedMetal
http://www.industrializedmetal.tk

One of the more interesting bands to contact me on MySpace recently is the solo project of Christophe G. called Re: dux tion. The projects existence only goes back a year, and besides this project Christophe is also involved with a few other bands and has also served as a remixer for a few artists.
Re: dux tion is a bit hard to pigeonhole as there is quite a bit happening on this three song EP. The first song ‘aRhythmia’ opens with the sounds of keyboards and ambient noise, where shortly thereafter drums, bass, metal guitars enter into the song and continue to play a really catchy riff for the remainder of the song. There are also some calmer moments where the bass is more prominent and as the song begins to reach its end the keyboards and noisy aspects come back into the song. ‘Dystemper’ opens in a very similar manner with keyboards and odd electronics again, but the metal aspects are a little faster here and there are breaks in the song for the ambient and electronic parts to do there own thing. ‘Frozen’ is probably my favorite song on this short EP with the music on this one mostly lying in the ambient/industrial/experimental electronic territory and only using the metal guitars at the end of the song, but a fitting end this song is and I look forward to hearing what Christophe comes up with next.
August 16, 2006
By JJM
8 of 10
Reprinted courtesy of Lunar Hypnosis Webzine
http://www.lunar-hypnosis.com