Alexanders Dark Band

It's a funny thing when a record from England sounds like it could have been made by Crooklyn crew Wordsound Recordings, but that's what you get with producer J. Saul Kane's sophomore release as Alexanders Dark Band. In fact, any single song on Lord Calrec could have been recorded by Wordsound artists like Spectre, Soothsayer, Slotek, or a bunch of others. Now, that's not to say that Kane's biting, but if you like illbient word-sounds, you will probably like the instrumental music of Lord Calrec. Of course, the beats are mostly slow and brooding, with an ingenious selection of disgustingly dark samples. The only trouble with this release is that the beats tend to be too down-tempo and there's not enough change throughout to keep you interested. When the tempo increases and more change-ups are added to the songs, Kane creates masterpieces such as the keyboard-crazy heaviness of "Egypt Sun" and the funky, filtered fear of "Hell Chase." "The Last Dog," "Greedy Cowboy" and "Yeti Muncher" are also good tracks. While there may be a tendency for the mind to wander listening to certain songs, Lord Calrec is perfect for any group that requires some dark chill-out music.