Product Description
2 Romantic
3 Interlude
4 Submission
5 Strange Love
6 Retro’bution
7 New Devotion
8 Sequence Of Events
9 Ultraviolet
10 In My Dream
11 Doxology
12 Romantic (Trance Mix)
13 Submission (Domin8 Mix)
14 Ultraviolet (Keep Coming Back Mix)
15 Romantic (Big Beat Mix)
Paradoxx’s debut from 2000
Paradoxx were a dark-electro, synth-pop act active in the early 2000s. With two studio albums, a remix album and the Decade best-of, these Australians were fronted by strikingly sultry vocalist Lissa Dix. Most of the music was provided by keyboardist/guitarist Ralph E Dix, though live they performed as a quartet. Their kinky-cyber-punk image belies their extremely addictive and hook-filled club-friendly sound. There are tracks that will appeal to fans of industrial-rockers Android Lust just as much as fans of the Euro-flavored dance-pop of Apoptygma Berzerk and early Pet Shop Boys with hints of the female vocal stylings of Client and Marsheaux. Available for the first time in years, the full Paradoxx catalog gives listeners a new chance to discover their passionately catchy, electro synth-pop sound.
PARADOXX – Atomika (Digital)
PARADOXX – Decade (The Best of 2000 – 2010) (Digital)
Attrition: Kill The Buddha! (with Laurie Reade of BlackTape) (CD) #CDSale
PARADOXX – Contamination (Remixxed) (Digital)
Reviews Editor –
From Electro Garden
This album from Australian 5-piece band Paradoxx seems to be trying to market itself as a new romantic/goth album, what with the medieval tone to the booklet & the heavy presence of undoubtedly photogenic singer Lissa in her velvet hooded top.
The music, though, covers a wide ground & although the use of acoustic drums, guitars & piano mean it’s not a purely synthetic offering There is still much electronic wizardry going on throughout courtesy of the keyboards of Ralph Dix. This is most obvious during the superb synthpop of “Romantic” where the line “I’m a new romantic” ought to appeal to the 80s throwbacks & the sensual.
“Submission.” The forthright bass sets the scene for Lissa’s vocals to awaken the sultry mood perfectly & when she sings “I Want Your Submission” who could ever resist her? The darker, electro-rock styles of “Strange Love” & “Sequence Of Events” bring Fiction 8 to mind, although the spacey & ethereal vocals on the otherwise essentially similar “In My Dream” do show that the band are not averse to more traditional goth/romantic influences. Such influences are stated far more explicitly during the instrumental interludes,including the opening “Procession” which offers a full-on goth experience with plaintive chanting, spoken vocals from Lissa & lush symphonic strings that make your heart soar.The classically-inspired “Interlude” brings to mind the old black & white films such as “The Man Who Laughed” and while this track conjurs up a magical feeling of longing, love & apprehension it’s just too damned short as is “Doxology” where a potent mix of strings evoke a similar kind of feel. Compared to this the techno/trance of “Retro Bution” seems a bit cheap while the lightweight dark pop of “Ultraviolet” is a little too Cure-like to be really successful (for this writer, at least!) although these differing influences do serve to underline the band’s versatility.
As with any good album the original tracks far outweigh the remixes in terms of quality & with this superb album Paradoxx prove themselves a highly talented band with many strings to their bow. Rating: 9 -Carl Jenkinson