Described on the Bunker web site as "minimalistic robot electro with a twitch," this record will remind gullbuy readers of bands like Smash TV or Bell. Each have tuneful instrumentals and songs with lyrics, and each take the ideals of electro quite far, producing music which sounds like it was created by the Emperor's Imperial Force drones in Star Wars.

I have made it a point to listen to all the Bunker 12inchs as they arrive in stores, but I have never bought any. To my untrained ear they have been instrumental electro that sounded similar from one release to another. I have been enjoying the 12inch releases on Bunker subsidiary Crème Organization, particularly Bangkok Impact and Lolita Strap. Clone Records, another Netherlands electro label, has released ADULT. singles and the 'We Still Kill the Old Way' compilation. Viewlexx has released Parallax Corporation's CD 'Cocadisco,' and Cocadisco 12inch records.

So what we have is an enclave of labels and artists - hard for entry level listeners to come to grips with: which record do you buy - where do you start? That's where 'Audio Warriors' comes in. This record is very accessible and representative of the best of the Bunker/Creme Organization/Clone/Viewlexx sound.

1. 'Audio Warriors' starts off with The Swedish Code. It is a top notch song with lyrics that make you feel like a conspirator in a scheme being discussed in a Blade Runner noodle stall.
2. I'm Your Magic Man is electro with a snapping beat and lots of rhythm. There are vocoder vocals, but they are not overbearing or excessive. The song changes before the vocal comes in, and the change is a hook that draws you in.
3. Akupunktur Hours is named after the studio where this record was recorded, in Gothenberg (port city in Sweden). There is a lot of electronic percussion on this track. Every single sound on this record is synthetic in origin (except the voices).
4. Akupunktur Hours and Asberger Touche are consecutive instrumentals designed to draw attention to the spaces between the cracks.
5. Worship Services has a grand sound with layering of a Hammer Horror styled keyboard over a determined electronic melody. By the time the vocodered vocals come in (briefly) after three and a half minutes the song has already got you. Worship Services is one of my favorites, all seven minutes of it.
6. Stiff White Funk has the most active rhythm so far. The sound chitters in a robotic mockery of a Giorgio Moroder riff. In the same way that James Chance subverted funk to his own ends, Stiff White Funk is a subversion of funk by hotwired robots.
7. Split Personality is an instrumental with a slightly sick synth part, like that of Mass Production on Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot' LP.
8. Audio Warriors earns its right to be title song by delivering all best Luke Eargoggle features in a single song. The vocal reminds me of the Kiki song Hott!. It is a deep voiced uttering reminding me of the oil can zombie which says 'brains!" in the movie Return of the Living Dead (which featured scream queen Linnea Quigley as the gravesite dancing character Trash).
9. Millimeter Try has the most typically 80s electro sound. Fans of that sound will love this instrumental. It is not one of my faves.
10. Chiccawow is an instrumental that brings the sound back to the UK band Bell or the Berlin band Smash TV.
11. Don't Go to Work has bending synth notes and a very electro sound. The vocals are computer treated like Smash TV do.
12. In Your Pyramid ends the record strongly. It is an instrumental with a melody that sticks in your head. I could almost hear something that might have been written by The Cars in this song, but in the end it is Luke Eargoggle and Luke Eargoggle alone.

A nice record and an unexpected treat.