Helium brings earthlings to ‘Space Odyssey’

Reviewed by SCOTT SWINDELLS
Collegian Staff Writer

Did you ever wonder what would happen if computers took over, like in 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Did you ever think about what would become of our music?

Bet you never thought of that, did you, Dave?

There probably would be a lot of clicking noises and the fuzzy screeching sounds of a modem connecting. Then there would be the seemingly random bleeps, sweeps and creeps that actually map to binary code for a program that oversees the destruction of mankind.

See, this new compact disc has got you thinking crazy things, Dave.

My name is not Dave. This hallucination started when I received a promotional copy of Helium, a combination of new tracks and out-of-print material from the electronic group Hellbent's first CD, which had virtually no promotion or distribution.

At times, Helium just sounds like random samples and computer noises with a smooth, trippy beat. But after a certain point, you get to thinking. Does this all mean something -- something beyond human comprehension that can only be processed and understood by our machines? Will these machines rise up and turn against their makers?

At times during my first listen, I could only hope that it was the music of Hellbent taking me on this visual and cerebral journey of noises. But what if something inside me was reacting to the code -- what if I'm one of them?

It really bugs you out, right, Dave?

Actually, you can't help but think of the Y2K bug. But whether or not Hellbent's four members are involved in the computer takeover of the free world, they certainly are experimental button-pushers in this age of millennial hype.

Eric Powell and Bryan Black formed the group in 1995. After the folding of its label, 5th Colvmn Records, the duo decided to restructure and re-release some of the original Hellbent tracks. Powell and Black were looking for a "pretentious-free electronic project" that focused on knobs and buttons instead of guitars. The recording ideas of Jordan Nogood and the mixing of John Golden were all they needed to let their creativity run free.

But sampling over rave beats was just the beginning. The quartet of techies decided to include some guitar on the release, like the three-chord progression looped over "3 Murders, 3 Nights." Still, the song is dominated by a dance beat propelled by a fast-paced hi-hat and a slow, cyclic bass groove that gives it a hypnotic, trance-like effect.

What are you doing, Dave?

I'm listening to track 12, which sounds like Koto music from a Mandarin garden, but it's scary, like I'm trapped in a nightmare. There are voices whispering different things from both speakers, but I can't understand what they're saying. I'm tiptoeing through the garden, and everything is moving in time -- just like in that car commercial -- to a trip-hop beat. I'm somewhere where I don't know where I am.

If you see towels, you're probably in the linen closet again, Dave.

Wherever these tracks take you and wherever Hellbent is taking electronic music, we've heard what is to come when the computers take over, and it isn't "Also Sprach Zarathustra."

We're going to be Hellbent. Oh, yes we are.