single // Push For The Love Of Life
According to something I read back in 1993, Mute
had not signed any new artists to the label for some time, the last
new artist being Moby who joined the label the
year before. Parallax, whose first single 'Push
For The Love Of Life' was released by Mute that summer, were supposed
to be Mute's hot new talent. The project of Jason Young,
Parallax were a bratty outfit grappling with the vernacular of hardcore
rave, mixing those sounds with harsh industrial noise blasts and
the type of rapping favoured by the likes of Pop Will Eat Itself.
'Push For The Love Of Life' would prove to be one of just two singles
released by the band before promptly disbanding. 'Push For The Love
Of Life' was written and produced by Jason Young and engineered
by Julian Briottet, brother of Renegade
Soundwave's Danny Briottet.
Though at times it feels barely a fraction above
demo quality, 'Push For The Love Of Life' remains a personal favourite.
The song is characterised by a frantic (if far too quiet) 4/4 drum
rhythm and urgent bass line. Over that Young drops in a concise
array of droning sounds, rave whistles, sampled snarling metal guitar,
sirens and so on, topped off by impassioned and defiant rap. Whilst
this brand of agit-rap hasn't aged terribly well, there is a desperate
quality to it, the track ending with a frustrated 'never let
go' from the frontman. In addition to the main single-length
Savage Mix, the 12” and CD also features two further versions
– the Valentine Mix and an instrumental version (credited
on the promo 12” as an extended instrumental mix). The Valentine
Mix ditches the vocal and adds acid-style synths which would give
this mix a dancefloor appeal were it not for the simplicity and
lack of club-friendly punch that characterises the track's beat.
Some 'Join In The Chant'-style insistent howling is a nice touch
and there's still nothing quite so thrilling to me as a 303 sound
operating on the edge of being out of control.
The release is rounded off by a demo version of
the track 'No Concept' which was mixed by Paul 'PK' Kendall.
Someone has said that the track samples Faith No More's 'Crack Hitler'
but I wouldn't be able to verify that. 'No Concept' has a nice breakbeat,
droning washes of nagging feedback and a distorted rap that feels
like it would have suited Nitzer Ebb's Douglas
McCarthy. There's a sense of dystopian helplessness on
this track, signalling the rise in quality that would characterise
Parallax's second (and final) release, the Bullet-Proof Zero
EP.
12"/cd:
A1. / 1. Push For The Love Of Life (Savage Mix)
A2. / 2. No Concept (Demo)
B1. / 3. Push For The Love Of Life (Valentine Mix)
B2. / 4. Push For The Love Of Life (Instrumental Mix) [Extended
Instrumental Mix]
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