Antidote

Item: Fight or Flight
Author: Nolan Shigley

Fight or Flight

(1999)

Reviewed by Nolan Shigley

Discogs YouTube

Label N*Soul RecordsOpus2005

drum and bass electronic techno trip hop

Originally published at Opus

The first track I had heard by Antidote was "Debris," which I found on the N-Soul sampler I picked up at Cornerstone for a few bucks. The song stood out among the others on account of its eerie electronics that reminded me of a dark Joy Electric song with the scratches and vocals similar to Portishead. A trip-hop beat added to the mixture led me to purchase the album hoping the rest of the tracks were equally pleasing.

I was somewhat disappointed in the fact that Leigh's voice only appears on 3 of the tracks and equally disappointed when she did not sing during the live set in the dance tent at Cornerstone. However, the album is worth buying and dancing to, or just chilling out with a graceful meditation as you listen to Jorge's creative beats covered in futuristic sounds.

Songs such as "God is Good" and "One Track Mind" bring dance house music to your ears, with "One Track Mind" teetering on the verge of techno and even adding trance to the album. Electronic praise songs are what Antidote gives to a growing Christian dance scene. Although they are praising, they keep a certain psychotic, spooked-out feel to the music ("Protected," "Deprogram"). "Everywhere I Go" finds Leigh's voice once again catching the feel of Portishead's Beth Gibbons as she sings in a haunting tone, but switches it to a more angelic feel in "Decrease." Her vocals are a compliment to Jorge's sounds and hopefully, they'll be more prevalent on Antidote's future releases.