UNRELEASED/UNRELEASABLE VOLUME 2

This is the 2nd volume of Unreleased and Unreleasable tracks recorded by 65daysofstatic. This one was released in 2005, 2 years after the first volume, and like the 1st volume, it contains remixes and mash-ups of songs originally recorded by popular artists (hence the reason they were unreleasable) and in turn recorded by the band before the release of their debut album "The Fall of Math". This time, however, there are also some alternate versions remixed by other artists of 65daysofstatic's tracks from the debut album.

Also, as on the first volume, the music is a mix of post rock guitars with a lot of electronics. This was the band's sound before their debut album and it would also become the direction they would take later with their post rock sound, adding a lot of electronics to it.

This volume starts with "Don't Kill Me" which is a remix of the song "Don't Tell Me" by Avril Lavigne. The track takes a portion of Lavigne's song and wreaks havoc with it electronically. This is followed by "Natasha Beats the Devil", another remix this time from an original track by Natasha Bedingfield. Electronic beats are added, a portion of the chorus is repeated and the accompaniment is a distorted string/synth sound. It gets a little annoying by the end. Yet another remix of Christine Aguillera's track "Dirty" called "30 Seconds of Pure Heaven" follows this, but it is quite short and it quite efficiently destroys the track.

Next follows an original 65daysofstatic track called "Crystal Splinters, City Skies". This one is pretty much a synth/electronic track with some post rock guitars mixed towards the back of this track which gets rather noisy at times. Next is "F*cking with Pillheads", another original electronic track that features samples of various things, including Bruce Springsteen singing "65" again. The samples are quite funny and the track is quite sarcastic.

"It's Guy Time" is a hilarious remix of "Senora" by Justin Timberlake. The vocals are quite warped and the track is completely wrecked. "Uplifting Chart Trance" is another remix of a trance track "Sandstorm" by Darude, with other funny samples. "Feels Like Ecstacy" is a remix of "My Little Fantasy" a disco song by 4 Tune Fairtytales. This one gets totally destroyed.

"65's Hole Sea Shanty Remix" does sound like a bunch of sailors singing when it starts, and the band does all kinds of electronic treatments to it and even tries to get their signature post rock sound wrapped around it by the end of the track. "Aren't We All Running" is a remix done by Feedle, otherwise know as Graham Clarke. The original track is one of 65daysofstatic's tracks from "The Fall of Math". This one is reconstructed quite extensively, and almost unrecognizable.

"Fix the Sky a Little" is another original by the band, again remixed by Digitonal, this time Feedle's vocals are added right at the end of the track. This time the original track has been made quite ambient and pensive. The album ends with an alternative version of "Massive Star At the End of Its Burning Cycle". The original track has been processed and manipulated quite extensively with sudden dynamic changes.

As with the first volume, there are some funny remixes and some interesting heavy electronic treatments throughout. This one isn't any better than the last one, and pretty much is one that will be fun for the fans. However, I think that it would appeal to lovers of heavily treated and manipulated music, so, like the first volume, it gets 3 stars.