Various

A volume of varied dark floor, disco noir and ballads akin to music on the 4AD label, as well as various other influences, like Depeche Mode, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. Each artist featured on Working With Children gets two tracks for breadth, and to better showcase their sounds. Bands like Dust, Katscan and Freudstein are for the dance floor, in the tradition of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. With strong, dark techno keyboard lines and deeply rhythmic 4/4 beats, these bands unleash an aggressive execution and maintain a good intensity. Conversely, Spray has a crass Euro trance/big beat quality to their music with cheesy lyrics. For Wasp Factory's sake, I hope these guys are a joke, or at the least, sarcastic. But the best bands on this compilation are Swarf, Psychophile and Seventh Harmonic, likely heirs of the 4AD legacy. All the aforementioned band members have beautiful voices and deeply emotional, yet strong, melodies. In particular, Seventh Harmonic is clearly Dead Can Dance wannabes, yet the vocalist and instrumentalists do manage to do the group some measure of justice.