Collide-Like The Hunted

Their music is made at the point where cool precision, passion and mechanical frenzy intersect. They synthesize elements of gothic, industrial, edgy electronica, darkwave, ethereal pop, modern rock, and trip-hop into a style that is uniquely theirs, soothing yet powerful, smooth yet dangerous. They are Collide: a Los Angeles duo with a knack for intriguing arrangements and compelling performances. Principals Statik and kaRIN, have over their decade together written some of the catchiest songs that will ever haunt you to distraction. Although Collide has won thousands of appreciators, and established a reputation for recording excellence, they'd never performed their music in concert until 2004. Like many electronic acts, Collide was a studio entity. They'd used their machinery, their voices, and their mixing board to generate a sound that's best described as extra-personal: suggestive not of a band playing in the back of a room, but of a dream playing in the back of your head. Transposing an experience this hallucinatory to the stage felt daunting to Statik and kaRIN. Could a group so dependent on electronics for their ferocity "even one this accomplished" manage to replicate the passion, the menace, and the magic of their music live? This DVD is proof that they can. Like The Hunted is documentation of the concert tour that brought Collide's dreams alive. Expanded to a six-piece, the live iteration of the electronica powerhouse brings new dimensions to familiar songs. Guitarists Scott Landes and Rogerio Silva weave alternately processed and raw riffs around Kai Kurosawa's percussive bass and Chaz Pease's thunderous drumming. Statik stands omnipresent behind his electronics, as the virtual sound controller. The band looks and sounds terrific: the five instrumentalists attack their instruments with authority, and kaRIN leads the band with sultry charisma.