Karoshi

Purposefully anonymous technotica groop SALARYMAN have previous experience in a well-known band, who's name you might remember from our solicitation for their 1997 debut CD release, but who's name I won't mention, they're so mysterious. What isn't mysterious is this new monster slab of funkified, rhythm-driven, synth-propelled, instrumental techno-ambient-rock, slinkier than their awesome debut, groovier too. 'Karoshi' (Japanese for "death from overwork") is a dark, moody, sometimes scary album, that rocks like KRAFTWERK's tricked-out muscle car driven recklessly by Nobel Prize nerds KING CRIMSON, like ambienteers ORBITAL tied to TANGERINE DREAM's relentless rhythm tracks. 'Karoshi' is enhanced with video and what the band describes as an "irritating" computer game for Mac/PC. Looky what Mojo said about them, will let them spill beans on who this mysterious collective actually is (not me, I didn't tell anybody, I played the game, it wasn't me). "Indie-rockers by day, moody synth-punkers by night - Salaryman's second album gets funky, and how! From Karoshi's agitated breakbeat and guitar-free kick-off it's clear there have been some changes made in the Slarayman camp since their first outing circa 1997. Like Sub Pop's Six Finger Satellite these sometime POSTER CHILDREN, still their full-time employ apparently, have sacked their trusty metal strings in favour of some way cool vintage electronics (do the '80s count as vintage now?). Where SFS take a more Devo-inspired New Wave angle, Salaryman choose instead to weld their analogue noise-makers to some ass-kicking dance beats. My Dog Has Fleas hits a frenetic groove and rides it, while Taco Muerte comes off like old-school electro-techno from the wrong side of Detroit. Karoshi's twisted synth grooves come at you like Kraftwerk or Gary Numan on some very bad drugs, which is no small compliment by the way." --- Andrew Carden in Britain's esteemed MOJO Music Magazine/Album Reviews/November 1999.