01 Mean Enough Hot Enough
02 Stereotype
03 Occult Casualty
04 Overrule
05 Sociopathic
06 Dark Discordia
07 Game Called Life (XP8 Mix)
08 Decapitation (Ambassador 21 Mix)
09 People Killing People (Kalte Farben Mix)
10 Cooler Than Genocide (Caustic Oi Vey Mix)
11 Annihilation Day

Annihilation Chic is a full-length release from the multi talented Rachel Haywire. Besides being a musician she is also an author and spoken word artist. She used to run the performance group Nuclear Riot Party. Nowadays she works under the name Experiment Haywire and runs a record label dedicated to women who make extreme music called machineKUNT.

I like this album quite a bit. It is very cold and dark. There is a distinct militancy to it as if we are all serving in Rachel Haywire’s own private fucked-up army. There is a very distinct progression to this album. I like how the album slowly disintegrates from straight up danceable numbers (”Mean Enough Hot Enough”) to noise (“Annihilation Day”). It gives a sense of decay. Everything is slowly falling apart and none of it is really worth saving. There is a feeling of hopelessness. Nothing is OK. Nothing is sacred, all is permitted. I like that!

My favorite songs are “Occult Casualty”, and “Dark Discordia”. They both speak to me in a personal way that I would rather not talk about on the internet, but I have been to both of those foreign and unhappy places before and recognize them immediately. Sometimes its nice to be reminded of old times. Another song I like is “People Killing People”; with its relentless chorus, it makes you want to kill yourself. Peoplekillingpeoplekillingpeoplekillingpeoplekilling… It would be cool if the opening track “Mean Enough Hot Enough” would get some play on dancefloors. I even came up with a slogan for it. Hot Enough to dance to, Mean Enough to listen to by yourself! The last track “Annihilation Day” is a really nice very noisy piece, it sound just like the title. The really great thing about all these tracks is the way they all flow together into a coherent whole. This is an album you listen to in its entirety, not just single tracks.

I want to talk a little about Rachel Haywire’s label machineKUNT. It is providing women who make experimental music a platform to let themselves be heard. Coming soon from machineKUNT is a compilation called Extreme Women In The Dark future. It features a lot of music ranging from ambience to noise to trip hop. Brand new faces and old established artists are both represented. Check it out at the machineKUNT website