Label: 13th Moon Format: 12″
Taking one of the best tracks from Nocturnal Emissions and sticking it through the electronic mangle, Mr. & Mrs. Fiend embark on a high-octane blast through all the electro, techno, breakbeat and goddam’ rock machinations possible at once, topped off by Nik’s unchanged vocal style – demented. The amphetamine groove ASF have been on for most of their career seems somehow to be better suited to the chaotic Nineties, and what was once a crazed underground thing is now well accepted by millions of punters – and so much the better.
The “Seven” mix gets to freak out at the end, a reminder (if one was needed) that this is what the fiends do best, a psychedelic cocktail of those old favourites, sex, drugs and the obvious but poundingly updated, Rock and Roll. The “No.6” mix is a more straightforward Trance-out of dropped and echoed breaks, loops and bubbles, but none the worse for that, while mix-man Pod does his thing to the Dub version in fine bass-heavy style. Still somehow disregarded by the mass of electronica/dance culture, “Tarot” shows that not only were Sex Fiend enthusiastic pioneers of the warped groove in their own (unfairly mocked) field, but are also nowhere near irrelevant now.
-Freq1C-
