Gary Numan: Jagged (Metropolis)
released: March 13, 2006
rating: **
styles: Gloomy
similar: Gary Numan's Pure and Exile

Sometime during Gary Numan's 20+ albums, he started listening to Nine Inch Nails. And just before Jagged, he must have been very depressed. Following the equally dark Pure and Exile, Jagged's dark dark rock is built on betrayal, despair and hurt (an ex-lover, perhaps?). It's something that Numan can't escape from, given that many of the same words and subject matter make it into EVERY song here (lies, cold, pain, lost). Music of this sort can be quite beautiful, even comforting. This isn't. You'll only wish Numan could crawl out of his psychological prison and either redirect his pain or make some refreshing ice cold synthpop again. -Kenyon

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De/Vision: Subkutan (Dancing Ferret)
rating: *
styles: electronic, synth pop
similar: Beborn Beton, Wolfsheim, Iris

"Come on move it/when i'm on the mic/we gonna rock you/we gonna rock you right." whoa hold up. this is supposed to be the new de/vision record. oh shit, it is. once they get that rap-rock big beat thing out of the way, they get back to normal with dark dance-floor synth pop. which is mostly slow. don't expect another "your hands on my skin" or "try to forget" here. cause it's not happening. -Kenyon