Tuesday, November 15, 2011

CD Review: Terminal White - The Color-Line

Note: This review originally appeared in the Illinois Entertainer in 1991.


Terminal White has been pursuing its own definition of industrial dance music on a series of independent releases over the past few years. Comprised of David Pistrui on vocals, guitar, and bass, and Phil Rainey on bass, keyboards, and vocals, the Chicago duo creates high energy songs with more melody and nuance that hardcore practitioners like Ministry and Einstürzende Neubauten.


With The Color-Line, Terminal White uses its first full-length effort to explore jazz and soul while maintaining an industrial edge. The opening track, “The Garden” hammers homes a message to save the environment before it’s too late. “Alley Cat” is a fun dissertation on feline behavior set to synthesized purrs and some slinky saxophone playing from guest musician Dave Best. “Wedgelock” is a soulful dance number reminiscent of ABC while “Truth In Lies” is harder rock.


The Color-Line crackles with intriguing sampling, including some tense dialogue as a marriage dissolves in “Everytime.” The title track is the real attention grabber; a percolating collection of sound bites put to an infectious groove.

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