Eisenfunk - 8-bit

If you are not without an Internet connection, you surely seen Eisenfunk's video for their track "Pong". The pong game effects are really great in that video and since there are a lot of bad videos in this genre, it was a breath of fresh air. Still can't handle industrial dance parts of it though. Like space invader John Travolta's that spontaneously burst into synchronized dancing.

Luckily, we are not here today to review the video, but the album '8-bit' where "Pong" is the highlighted track. It was not without skepticism I started to listen to this album. Many times, you've heard an instrumental track (in this case, more or less) you think is cool, but the artist has a hard time to maintain the quality and keep you interested throughout the album. Eisenfunk on the other hand manages to do just that.

Even though the general soundscape from "Pong" is recognized in most of the other tracks of this album, they mix things up enough to keep you interested and also a bit curious of what the next track will offer.

There's some unexpected parts that will keep you on your toes, the old Russian folk song "Korobeiniki", and not to forget, the music for a little game known as Tetris. The band spelled the track "Korobeinki" and if that is a mistake I am unsure. Another track that is quite unexpected is the "Medieval Bit", the ironic thing though is that it sometimes sounds more like Bluegrass than Medieval, but still a fun track none the less.

For the most part, you'll get what is expected; Hard pounding, C64 inspired industrial dance music. For some reason, I never felt that it became tedious, like many non vocal albums do, and that is an achievement. But, I must say that I am a little bit concerned of how they will keep things up in the long run. How they can manage to keep it fresh for two, three or even five albums. I hope they have got some aces up their sleeves. Mar 11 2011