“Do not buy this CD! You can get it free via our website!” No, not our website, but from the people who organised this surprisingly good compilation CD. Check www.varia-compilation.org out and get this CD, because it’s a truly wonderful journey through electronic sounds.

"This should be played at high volume" is a statement made during opening the drum `n` bass oriented song “Sumbuddy Say” from 273 Blocks Over and that’s the truth. Hypnos covers the ambient site of electronic music during “Claustrophobia”. Dogwalker shows that the Crüxshadows have some electro following in Canadian soil, although his second song “Betrayal” proves that this band can create an own mixture of drum `n` bass as well. Metha Mean could be a brother of Rob Zombie during the heavy parts of “Offering”, but “Simile” sounds like a clash between the Sisters Of Mercy and Iggy Pop. “Drunk On Die Autobahn” and “Fleishmann Do Your Wurst” shows that pleasure punk isn’t dead for The Subumlauts. Jett Monette is in “Teutonic Sensuality” also inspired by the German language, although he definitely is in much darker soundscape grounds.

The other contribution from this band is “La Marée Est Haute”. It’s a combination of male and female voice with distant electronic sounds (do I hear an electronic sea?). The completely hopeless “Faithless” of Scrape is dark electro you can expect from the likes of Hocico and Suicide Commando. Tectonic Plates is an ambient journey with slide guitar “Through Dirt”. JVSCant has with “Ember” a distant alternative song and Koin in the end combines tribal rhythms with electronics we know from the Belgian This Morn’ Omina…

VARIA 2002 confirms that there is a lot more to Canada than The Tea Party and Nickelback. VARIA 2002 provides a good view on electronic music in a part of Canada and although you normally wouldn’t expect a full score for a compilation album, keep in mind that this album is for FREE. The combination of good music and (apparently) people who believe in this is in absolute harmony with what we do here on Rockezine…