Electronic Music Means War To Us is the third album from Patrick Stephens'Hypnoskull project to be released on Ant-Zen. in some ways his primary project and for the most part the one which has held the most interest to date. Especially after recent outings under the names of Reset (Unit) and Sona Eact (Pro Noize). In recent times Patrick has developed a stripped sound philosophy, which is to cut the music down to its rawest sensibility. Sona Eact follows on from the sound he established with Sonar, cut to the bone of grating, repeated loops. Reset is very much comparable to Sona Eact, using the same principle in a more techno vein rather than rhythm noise fashion. Both have their moments, but by their nature have a tendency to a monotone, which unfortunately becomes tiresome quicker than it should. For my Hypnoskull has avoided this extreme until this release. Rhythmus Maschine Eins Zwei to me was the most diverse and experimental Hypnoskull release, remaining my favourite. FFWD Burnout did what the title said for the most part, cranking it up with an eye on making hard, fast technoid music. From that Electronic Music is more an extension of FFWD that anything else, with a rawer feel, stripping down a degree so that this Hypnoskull release is more comparable to the sound his other recent work. Though in saying that it doesn't become as extreme as those, remaining more interesting and truer to the hypnovibe. However from that I also find it to be the least interesting Hypnoskull release to date. There are moments which give appreciative pause, but those are too far apart for my expectations of what Hypnoskull is capable of.
