Doormouse ‘Freaked Out Mess’

Doormouse is Daniel Martin, founder of Addict Records and a big name in the Midwest hardcore scene. I guess living in Wisconsin you amass a pretty large record collection to keep yourself occupied, because Doormouse throws in everything and the kitchen sink. On Freaked Out Mess (2003) you’re likely to hear anything from lounge music to cuckoo clocks, AC/DC to Suzanne Vega, with maybe some tribal beats or polka thrown in for good measure. The beats are always brutal but are barely kept alive and functioning, sputtering from one genre to another and punctuated by seemingly random vocal samples.

I might characterize Freaked Out Mess as “experimental” or “intelligent” gabber, or maybe even IDM. It takes a lot of talent to make this type of schizophrenic techno work, but Doormouse manages to pull it off. Gabber beats coexist with brutal drum & bass, jungle with breakcore, and it all seems to fit together. “Back Door Blues” is a textbook example of how to mix and match snippets of dozens of different musical styles and still create a cohesive track. For the more hardcore-oriented, I would recommend “Tardcore” and “Got Hates to Ball (Remix)”.

For more Gothic-Industrial content, along with other electronic music genres, please see the following:

• amGod ‘Dreamcatcher’ Box Review
• Cock E.S.P. / Panicsville: Last Train to Cocksville (review)
• Doormouse: Messed Out Freak (review)
• Earth Loop Recall: Compulsion (review)
• Jihad | Live In Bratislava 28-02-2015 – Dark EBM Souls
• N3VOA: Wasted Memories (review)
• Red Reflection: Prelude to Annihilation (review)
• Rob Gee: Na Na / Fuck Osama Bin Laden (review)
• Suicide Commando: [Cause Of Death: Suicide] [One Nation Under God]
• Ulver: Teachings in Silence (review)
• Ulver: A Quick Fix of Melancholy (review)
• Various Artists: Interbreeding II: Industrial Mutation

This review was originally written for Industrial Nation Issue #20, published in August of 2004 (estimated). There were 15,000 copies printed.

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