Eco-Hed

Eco-Hed

Editorial Reviews
Interface Magazine, January 1999
On Eco-Hed, Christie affirms his status as a programmer of the highest order, showing that while Die Warzau may be ashes on the fire, his talents have by no means been extinguished. Light-speeding across genre definitions like a mosquito on water, Christie excels at the art of new school tech-pop ("Here We Are"), house ("Panic in Needle Park"), jazz ("Singularity"), trance ("A.K.A."), Kraftwerkian disco ("Kojack"), and trip hop ("Flight Deck"). In short, there is absolutely nothing that Christie can't do. With a safe full of talent that has rendered Christie artistically more weathly than even the Chemical Bros. or Crystal Method one thing is clear, Eco-Hed is a can't miss record.

Product Description
Eclectic eectronica from former Die Warzau member Van Christie and Chicago house DJ Matt Warren

Eco-Hed

Tracks:

Here We Are
Floating
Panic in Needle park
Singularity
Matramoros
Somthin' Somthin'
Suitablity
A.K.A.
Kojack
Demi Does...
El Padre
Flight Deck

Album Description

Eclectic eectronica from former Die Warzau member Van Christie and Chicago house DJ Matt Warren

Customer Reviews:

Remember, this IS an experiment..........2000-12-29

First things first, background. Eco-Hed is a collaborative project and experiment between Van Christie (of Die Warzau infamy) and Chicago house DJ Matt Warren. As such, this members of this team are bringing very different interests and talents to the table. The result, however, is a superb hybrid that brings to mind deep house but with more of an edge. Techno with more of a melody. Industrial with less cacophany.

That being said, I will proceed to extol its virtues. "Eco-Hed" is a veritable soundscape of aural textures. Subtle but sweeping synths. Nuanced drum programming. A flood of vocal samples flanging and phasing and delayed to a new musical brilliance. "Here We Are" skulks. "Floating" floats on blissful waves. "Panic In Needle Park" sounds like the sunrise. "Singularity" teases you at the edge of a black hole. And so on...

The house influence shows throughout, but that Die Warzau industrial keeps poking its head up, too. For example: "Suitability" is a few beats and grumbling synths underneath a rant by none other than Charles Manson; and "Demi Does..." is a frightening echo of menacing and scared voices under a stalking, creeping, slow beat...

Overall? Brilliant. Some uptempo housey numbers. Some deep house. Industrial. Noise. Chillout. Bloody brilliant.

An eclectic mix of various electronic styles..........2000-07-19

If you like electronic music... youll love this one! It has a great mix of dance, pure electronica, ambient and techno. Panic In Needle Park (#3), Singularity (#4), A.K.A (#8), Kojack (#9), and Flight Deck (#12) are the best i think. However, the whole album is still awesome! Pick this one up... its worth it. This is a unique cd, with a good groove and some great percussion beats! Go get it!

This CD absolutely blows my mind.......1999-02-25

A little background... I like the concept of electronic music... I like the sounds, the beats, the feel. But so much of it today is weak... the same old rapid-fire loops played over and over until the listener is completely bored out of their skull.

Music like that makes me want to stand up, walk over to my stereo, and destroy it.

Eco-hed defies this electronic genre. I'm no dancer, but when I hear it, it makes me want to get up, not to put my stereo out of MY misery, but to bust a move until my shoes are worn out.

What makes it so different? Clearly the variety contributes, but there's so much more. Droning repetition isn't a problem... Christie and Warren load up the sonic palette and paint a picture so detailed I still find new things every time I experience it. I totally love the way they manage to take something so seemingly far away on the scale of sound and combine it with their music. Take Matramoros... the main element of a song is a Spanish guitar, with a slow, phat groove in the background.... perfectly complementing each other when logic would seemingly prohibit such a marriage. Many other genres are hit on throughout the CD... everything from ambient to house to trip-hop is done to perfection; raising the bar by which all "electronica" should be measured.

Indeed, this IS eclectic electronica at its finest.

This is not just another techno record friends... it is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time and one that you cannot afford to miss.

"A phat industrial-strength deep house hybrid extravaganza.".......1999-02-23

When it comes to experimental sounds, there is one person that comes to mind, Van Christie. While playing with Die Warzau, Christie was well ahead of his time experimenting with elaborate, explosive beats. Eco-Hed marks a milestone in Christie's career. Teaming up with Matt Warren, from the Chicago house music scene, this duo created a volatile combination of industrial, house mix, and ambient sounds. These entirely different genres of music effortlessly blend together to form a seamless hour of groove-swank. The first track, appropriately titled "Here we are" takes the listener to this realm of sound where anything is possible. This track makes the listener aware of what is to be offered in the following hour. The music has a strong beat backbone, that keeps time to the sampled vocals letting the listener know "This is where it is at." The next track shows the wide variety of musical interest. It begins as a subtle ambient background and slowly progresses to a full beat speaker challenger. It is not a usual occurrence that one is able to create a song that is so ambiently omnipresent, yet still has a hard hitting bass track. The next tracks cover such a wide variety of styles that it is almost difficult to believe that this CD is entirely one artist and not a compilation of multiple bands. All different genres of music are covered, techno/disco/80's, synth-pop keyboards, arresting funk-bass ala Sly and the Family Stone, you name it and chances are there is some aspect of it here. Perhaps the most enticing and creative track on the album is "Suitability" which is the one sided conversation of a raving inmate, overdubbed with a simple drum loop. The man focuses his conversation on his world in jail versus the outside world. He questions the relevance of the things that we take for granted in our everyday lives, and has some radical insights that make this track an eerie realization of this world. The last track is a soothing mellow beat with a hint of guitar twang. It again takes the many aspects of sound that Christie and Warren experimented with and blends them together to give the listener a parting treat. Once the album has ended, it is hard not to press play again and listen to the pure audio genius that is Eco-Hed. This is one album that no music collection should be without.

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