I’m not quite sure what type of sound Blackhouse is aiming for.  Caught somewhere between rhythmic noise, experimental hip-hop, and straight ahead electro, Blackhouse somehow seem to never quite hit the mark.  Shades of Black is a 14 track CD on which the style of music is so uncertain that I have a hard time paying attention to the sounds, as I’m too busy trying to feel my way towards their musical target.  Some of the beat arrangements they use are great, but they either carry them on for far too long of jumble them up, creating a deranged musical atmosphere that is difficult to swallow.  Warp Drive is one of the better pieces.  A nice sliding sequence is used atop of a beat that sounds as if it were constructed with sandpaper and a 2 x 4.  There are enough changes in this piece to give it diversity.  Kein Spass (No Fun) utilizes the ever familiar military march count to start off with, making it sound dated, but once the hard and heavy clanging percussion is introduced, the track takes off into a dimension of rough beats and hasty sequences.  It isn’t long before the track winds back down, but this time Blackhouse implement some interesting sequences to keep the listener enticed.  A groovy, funky bass line kicks of Son Day.  The remainder of this track consists of various, old school hip-hop beats, snippets of rap samples, a bit of piano, and orchestra crashes.  Buss Dat Grüv never does as it’s title suggests, in fact it seems that the grüv was busted long before Blackhouse got a hold of it.  Mainly consisting of a dark, rumbling rhythm and distant pounding beats, this track is rather bland.  OK, Blackhouse decided to use a tad of reggae on X-Mission.  While the ragga samples are interesting enough, the remainder of the music sounds as if it were created using a variety of musical Playschool toys.  I just don’t understand this one.  The album finishes off with I’m the Guy and, judging from the initial series of beats, I thought that this might be a standard electro dance piece, but it doesn’t take long before the warped minds behind Blackhouse go off on their musical tangent, leaving us with something that resembles a combination of light noise and squeaky experimental.  I really don’t know what to think of Shades of Black.  I’m sure there is an audience out there (somewhere) who would appreciate this avant garde style of electronic music, but I’m afraid it would be a rather small, elite group of individuals.
     
BLACKLIGHT RECORDS
1608 State Street
Kokoma, IN 46902
USA
e-mail: keelow@netusa1.net
BLACKLIGHT RECORDS homepage:
http://www.blacklight.com
    
Contact Blackhouse @
PO Box 967
Eureka, CA 95502-0967
USA
e-mail: blackhouse1@rocketmail.com
Blackhouse homepage:
http://www.humboldt1.com/~lfmusic/blackhouse/