TRACK REVIEWS

Portion Control
Harderman Ver2.0

Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2007
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

One of the forgotten pioneers of the early EBM and industrial scene, Portion Control have of late entered into a new period of activity, releasing two albums in as many years, as well as an archive box set of their long out-of-print material from the '80s. As if that weren’t enough, they've been seeing performing alongside and remixing the likes of Front Line Assembly. Now as a complement to their 2006 album, Filthy White Guy, they offer as a free download this revoked version of the album's second track, "Hardman," affectionately re-titled "Harderman." Indeed, this mix is harder than the original, scraping your speakers with waves of distorted ambience augmented by some intriguing vocoder effects, producing an eerie yet danceable effect. Adding to the track are some additional samples that transform the song into what seems like a collage of interrupted radio transmissions and odd frequencies. While shorter than the album track, it's certainly a punchier version that shows that Portion Control know how to up the ante and keep pushing the envelope of the genres they helped to define.