Concrete Cookie And The Dog Donut: I Wish I Was German
Concrete Cookie: Holidays In The Sun
Zuki: Birthday
Eskimo D: Into The Swim
Dog Donut: Nu Dub
The Maggot Farmer: Sourpuss Suicide
Concrete Cookie: Shut Up! [PMF]
The Maggott Farmer: Escape
Concrete Cookie: Northern Lights

It says a lot about the transatlantic Mash Up Soundsystem collective that "Black Noise Generator" has nine tracks of irreverent, noisy electronica on it and yet clocks in at under half an hour. So in the spirit of things I'll keep this review appropriately terse.

Concrete Cookie and The Dog get things going with the faux-Digital Hardcore of 'I Wish I Was German', perhaps poking fun at Alec's little Empire, followed by the Cookie's gabberish bootlegging of the Sex Pistols' 'Holidays In The Sun'. 'Birthday' by Zuki mashes dumbass rock'n'roll cliches into retro video-gaming nostalgia, believe it or not. Eskimo D on the other hand cuts a more cerebral dash, interspersing machine-gun drum machines with some off-kilter synth malignancy, before Dog Donut takes us into more laidback territory with a jaunty number that wouldn't sound out of place on Israel's Zvuko Processor label.

After this, the CD turns into a bit of a duel between two of the label's main protagonists. The Maggot Farmer presents a surrealistic tale for messed-up children about characters with names like Yellowbelly and Sourpuss Suicide, read by a narrator who sounds eerily like baby Stewie from "Family Guy", over some pretty high BPM loops. This is the highlight of the disc for me. Concrete Cookie returns, responding as best she can with 'Shut Up! [pmf]', a scorching electro-industrial groove that ought to go down a treat at any club I'd deign to patronise. The Farmer's riposte is banging but somewhat forgettable - perhaps he has fired off all his ammo already? This leaves the Cookie to wrap things up with 'Northern Lights', which sounds like a harder-edged Orb, and if the Homer Simpson samples are anything to go by, isn't about the Aurora Borealis. Short and sweet - and worth it for 'Sourpuss Suicide' and 'Shut Up! [PMF]' alone.

ABC