Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5
Matthew Akers has his head fused directly into to pulsating core of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream's early 80's soundtracks. The man himself suggests that this music be paired with an "Alien" rip-off, but the cover art shouts "Remo Williams." Maybe this is what "Alien Nation" would have sounded like if it had been produced five years earlier. Does anyone out there actually remember these movies?
On with the music. Akers isn't doing anything particularly new here, but he's pretty much nailing his musical targets with spare, thick production. I would recommend starting with track two. "Looting the Armory" isn't a bad tune, but the sequencer and drum machine don't seem to quite sync-up right and it produces a rhythmic stutter that I'm not down with. Fortunately, it smooth sailing in your lazer-guided retro-future Camaro after that. First, you'll get a few short-form soundtrack pieces. "They Call Him Mikos" is clearly our pastel-suit wearin' villain's theme. The ten minutes of "Neurolink" are the meat of this EP, and it does a fine job guiding you through the discotheque of 1983 and into the primordial chill out room during it's running time.
Maybe it's because I was but a wee psychedelic doctor when this kind of music made its big splash, but these kinds of sounds are coded into my musical DNA. Akers isn't aiming for innovation, just an accurate facsimile of the soundtracks for those "USA Up All Night" movies that used to crop up on basic cable, and this definitely succeeds at that.
Head here:
http://matthewakers.bandcamp.com/album/the-future-barbarianshttp://matthewakers.bandcamp.com/album/the-future-barbarians
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