SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: nTTx – OF BEAUTY AND CHAOS

nTTx
Of Beauty And Chaos
WTII Records

Every Sunday I go to the same local jazz bar to listen to the same handful of musicians play a similar repertoire over and over, and it is a good lesson on listening, music appreciation and objectivity. You perceive more by prolonged exposure, you follow the music, and go from one instrument to the other, and more than a mere spectator, you become a member of the band in a sense, knowing the pace of it all: who is behind, who is too loud, what is going wrong, what is going right. Having seen nTTx over three times and loving each experience, listening to their most recent release, the EP Of Beauty And Chaos, has been a good exercise in objectivity as well, how do I review something I already know I will love?

“MoveDark” has that nTTx sound. The second it played it was a eureka moment, that it is them for sure and it cannot be anyone else but. There is repetition but not the kind that makes you bang your head against the wall, it is the repetition that makes you want to move and swirl and grind. “MoveDark” could be classified under songs to have sex to, I will be adding this to a bucket list for sure. “Prey” follows and this is how I feel about it: it is the kind of song I would expect from Front242 if they were to get into the studio and give us new tunes.

“True” has that characteristic nTTx sound I’ve already mentioned. You can hear the retro influence in this one, and there are alluring soundscapes here that make me feel this is the kind of band that should definitely do the soundtrack of a big budget film. “Earth” is the ballad of the EP, but it is a sombre ballad at that, about the lies of the promised truth and the awakening conclusion that ‘Something tells me Heaven’s no better than this’. “Earth” is the shortest and slowest song of Of Beauty And Chaos however, in spite of my love for speed I found myself pressing previous track again and again to keep on listening to it.

The Rotersand Rework of “Falls Beautiful” is super sensual, so well done, but what else can one expect from the collaboration of this great German act and our local Canadian heroes of nTTx? Good things happen when Canada and Germany work in harmony, especially when it comes to EBM. I have heard the original version over a hundred times and will listen to this version just as much. And then, a cover, because nTTx does enjoy doing covers. I honestly prefer their originals, but it is always interesting hearing their take on classics, in this case, the wonderfully cheesy ’80s montage tune, Survivor’s “Eye of The Tiger”. This version keeps that Casio-type eight bit video game nostalgia, but brings some EBM rhythm to it, making it recognizable but changed enough that it won’t feel like a guilty pleasure to dance to it in public. Now I am definitely eager to listen to the new songs live, and in the mean time I will keep on listening to this EP.

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