In order to get to know something about the band 1234567890, I suggest you start read the review I made about their second full-lenght album here. This compilation of remixes is based on the band's first full-lenght, "Elvis". The original debut album can be described to be a mix between really crude industrial and electronic elements with a bit of glitch and even some hip hop-elements, executed through a retro soundscape. The soundscape was mostly made from the band's jamming tapes as a duo of guitars and drums, with occasional vocals. Although these jams were originally style-wise based on rock, they were edited, cut up, manipulated, slowed down, sped up and what-not in order to create the bizarre soundscape that mostly consists of repetitive industrial rhythms in a small amount of different layers.
The three tracks by Metsämorfeus are maybe the softest one on the compilation. The opener consists of some soft and damp industrial rhythms with little spicing from some electronic sounds. The second song is a bit similar, except it has an interesting softened guitar riff in its end. The last song by the project is a really soft one. It has some rhythm and a good amount of depth in its beginning, but overall it slowly fades out to some echoed notes only. These tracks give the compilation a big part if its structure and flow due to their peaceful nature, and also show that something calm and beautiful could be crafted from such crude source material. The Frankifier-track consists of a very thin guitar riff and some bass executing a repetitive pattern, with the artist having mainly added just the very energetic hip hop-styled beats on top of them. The beats give the track a good drive, but it still ends up sounding too bare and lacking. Something more would've been needed.
The track by Phuzy is really bizarre. It's mashed together from low and harsh industrial poundings creating a rhythm, with some sped-up vocals and monotonous guitar riffs added to it to create a chaotic mash-up of industrial, machinery-like sounds and rhythms with a dose of delirium. Good thing the artist knew to keep this one short, as it might've not worked in a longer form. The two tracks by Re-Clip sound surprisingly professional. The first one has a bass rhythm topped with a disturbed rhythm of some metallic clanging, with some babbling in the background. The next one changes between a really heavy and simple, maybe drum-based rhythm and some harsh and noisy ambient, with some well-imbued and simple samples and silence. I'm not really sure about how well these tracks turned out, but I like their experimental structure and progress. I need to check this band out.
The track by LOBO sounds scary in a good way. It has some really cold and crackling but not overpowering industrial beat to back it up, with some few guitar notes here and there bringing some life to the track. It's topped with some monotonous (cheesily, one could say) sci-fi-reminiscent synth work that gives the track its eerie feeling and some additional cold feel. It's well crafted and surpricing, especially when thinking of the source material, and works well despite it's bare and heavily loop-based structure.
Kipul's track is a noisy one. It starts with a looped pattern of high, screeching notes and the crying of a baby. After two minutes the noisiness gives way for some trip hop beats, but still remains present. It's a bizarre track to enjoy on it's own, but works nicely on the album and the rhythmic soundscape in its end is pretty enjoyable. Walkabeat's track is equally bare, as it's based only on some harsh and clanging low-pitch beats, a sped-up loop to give life to them. The rhythms and loops change a bit during the song's lenght to keep it interesting, and it also has a sample with speaking and whatnot going on in the back. Pretty decent, and does its part on the album. Videovalvontaa's track has a really twisted and manipulated pattern in it's main role, with some industrial ambient and crude and simplistic programmed drums keeping the track on the move. It has a good deal of variation to keep the track's perverse feel in it's full strenght for the whole five minutes, and I must say that this one is one of the top tracks on the compilation due to it's out-there nature.
Overall the compilation is satisfying. All the bands had their own way with the original song material, and most of the time their additions and variations to them created positive results. I would say that this album is a bit easier to listen than the crude debut album itself, as this one sounds lighter and more catchy with it's rhythms, and doesn't have any as heavily oppressive experimentations present - even though there's still some noisy sounds here and there. The songs vary nicely from each other, but the album still has a pretty good flow throughout it's lenght and is even surprisingly well balanced. It's nice to see a compilation put together this well, as one can easily listen through the whole album without the need to skip some tracks... aside of the last track, but that's only because it has a too low volume level. One could even go as far as saying that the whole is stronger than the individual parts. The album's playtime is fitting as well.
I think that this album should work well for those who liked "Messiah", 1234567890's second album. "Elvis Remakes" should become available as a free download at some point, so do keep your eyes on Rabbit Ilsn's web page if you enjoy experimental retro-ish industrial sounds and "annoying" electronics.