Redefine the Enemy: Rarities and B-Sides Compilation 1992-1999 gathers Atari Teenage Riot’s odds and ends, including live performances, remixes, and alternate versions of singles and album tracks from throughout the group’s career. Most of the collection focuses on work from their later albums, The Future of War and 60 Second Wipe Out, with remixes of “Deustchland (Has Gotta Die!)” and “Destroy 2000 Years of Culture” and live versions of “No Remorse” and “Revolution Action” from one of ATR’s last U.S. tours chief among the work from this period. Earlier tracks, like a 1993 remix of “Midijunkies” and a 1995 radio mix of “Not Your Business,” trace the band’s development from loud, fast anarcho-jungle to really loud and fast anarcho-jungle, though the original 12″ version of “Sex” from 1993 offers a relatively quiet respite to the rest of the collection’s Sturm und Drang. Ironically enough, Redefine the Enemy’s most revolutionary tracks might be the a cappella versions of “Death of a President,” “No Success,” and “Waves of Disaster” — stripped of the theatrical bluster of their backing tracks, the vocals gain the power and impact that the original versions were striving for in the first place. While there aren’t many radical discoveries to be found on Redefine the Enemy, die-hard Atari Teenage Riot fans will probably enjoy rounding out their collections with this retrospective. – Heather Phares
more »
