Roir
1979
Martin Rev
About This Album
Though it's nowhere near as confrontational or abrasive as his work with Suicide at the time, Martin Rev's self-titled 1979 solo album takes many of the elements of the group's sound and explores them individually: "Mari"'s crisp drum pattern and pretty, naïve synth melody sounds like an extrapolation of the proto-synth pop Rev and Alan Vega were working on at the time, while "Nineteen 86" features the insistent, sibilant drums and ominous drones that became Suicide trademarks. "Baby Oh Baby" could've easily appeared on one of the group's albums, though it's interesting to hear Rev's whispered, monotone delivery instead of Vega's alien-beatnik howl. But Martin Rev isn't just a Suicide album by another name; on many of the songs, Rev indulges his experimental leanings in different ways. "Temptation," the album's seven-minute centerpiece, mixes a wind chime-like melody and gusty synths into a hypnotic, though far from serene, meditation. "Jomo" and "Asia" mine similar territory, juxtaposing layers of synths and stiff percussion for a mechanical but still melodic feel. The bonus and previously unreleased tracks on the 2002 ROIR reissue add more dimension to the album, though not quite as much as Mute's exhaustive (and occasionally exhausting) Suicide reissues.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,7 and 10)

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