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On top of releasing a live album and DVD that pretty much sums up all the best bits of the Mad Capsule Markets, they have seen fit to bestow this upon us. This DVD takes in all of the videos made between 1997 and 2004, and acts as a partial best of because MCM were formed in back in 1990.
This collection starts off with Systematic, a song that shows exactly where Mad Capsule Markets were before things started to click. The electronic madness is in place, as is the storming Pantera style guitar riffs, but unlike many of their songs, this is a much more stripped down offering. Systematic veers far closer to a punk sound that their later output, but that still doesn't make it a poor song.
Tribe is the next step on from Systematic, and by now, their electronic influence has found a perfect foil in the insane metal sound of the likes of Sepultura. Unfortunately, computer graphics have yet to come a long way and the video has all the punch of a screen saver.
Other than dodgy computer graphics, part of the problem with these videos is that the band obviously feels that they have to be seen to be playing. So they turn up and rock out in a darkened room, or a wooden box slowly being hacked to bits with a chainsaw, or in the front seat of a van. The Mad Capsule Markets might well be great live (they are, check out the current live DVD), but we don't really need to see it time after time on a promo video. That should be where they can let their imaginations run wild.
In fact of all these videos, probably only one is essential, which is a shame, because most of the music that accompanies them is phenomenal.
The video for Gaga Surf is good enough to warrant a second look. It features a large Japanese chap (possibly a sumo wrestler) being relentlessly pursued by a gang of children. It straddles a point where Chris Cunningham's videos for Squarepusher and Aphex Twin meet the Carry On Films, and with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, it's the pick of the videos on offer here.
Other than Gaga Surf there's nothing on this DVD that compliments the chaos and inventiveness of the Mad Capsules Markets approach to their music. If you have any sense you'll head back to their CDs and 1990 where it all started.
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