Alec Empire – Alec Empire Vs. Elvis Presley

Officially Empire's send off to his classic abrasive breakcore jungle sound is contained in this wild premise of a record, in which he remoulds and destroys various Elvis Presley songs with film dialogue lifted from some of his films. as stated the story of how this LP came to be is that in 1998 Empire made this record after a lengthy tour in ATR and became transfixed with Elvis Presley, to which the result according to when this acrid bastard pop release was finished, causing a partner to leave him. (this I don't believe, as Empire loves to drum up some drama in his liner notes, as I previously discovered in many of his old DHR newspaper and releases of this era) Sensing he probably couldn't get away putting this on DHR Limited due to its unlicensed use of Elvis it somehow ended up on Matador Record recording artist Khan's El Turco Loco label, which previously had released LPs of the infamous Black Sabbath Riot at one of their shows.

The first half of LP itself is particulary hilarious and abrasive, as he seems to have sourced bootleg live and outtake records of the king's work (which explains the rough around the edges mastering of some of the songs) and completely smashes them to pieces with his innovative destroyer sound of mutilated amen breaks and glitching vocal samples. Empire even drops a verse "I'm going insane without your love" but it's unintelligible to what he's saying over the carnage.

The second half of the album ends on a lighter note though, with an out of place interlude that sounds like it should have been at the start of the record with a distorted female voice talking over a sample of the Gameboy Camera's music, a brief sample from the film Jailhouse rock in which Elvis discusses the recording industry and an ambient reworking of Blue Moon, which wouldn't sound out of place on his previous Mille Plateaux material.

So in short, I doubt this will go down as a collector's item in later years (I thought so when I got a copy years ago) but stands as an interesting and enjoyable record if you are familiar with Empire's work of his 1994-1999 period, as soon in the early 2000s after he took on a less Jungle/DNB take to his music to splice together live instrument-based outputs with "intelligence and sacrifice" and "Futurist" before yet again changing his style to a more Gary Numan based output with "The Golden Foretaste of Heaven" to which i've been never too fond of before the dreadful ATR reunion took place. But it is a record that'll make Elvis Presley purists whimper in terror and that's what i do love it for from start to finish. just don't go in expecting a JXL type tribute and you'll do fine.

If you enjoy this work of Empire, but it on vinyl.
It makes me shake my hips, bang my head and sing along.
One of the more fun releases from mister Empire.

There is a lot of odd stories indeed on how this release surfaced (some sound completely dubious, as the NME review truly hammed up the story about Empire losing a partner due to the music on this release) but this is a truly fantastic send off to "The Destroyer" era of Mr. Empire. not as brutal as No Safety Pin Sex or Miss Black America, but certainly packs a punch!! the usage of Elvis sampling and tracks on this release is no Junkie XL type tribute here, as Empire destroys, re-moulds and stretches the old Elvis tracks to a whole brutal level. my personal fave is "come on, fight you punk!" as starts off as the most normal sounding track and then Empire wades in with amen breaks aplenty. My only complaint due to the bootleg quality of this release (the back cover claims it was "recorded in the highest quality") the mastering of the tracks is really rough, which just adds to the experience. in retrospect this release a neat little vinyl which will disgust hardcore Elvis fans and alienate dancefloors.

I don't believe the stories Alec tells about this record's history for one second. They're the perfect cover though.
Alec is a master of altering/re-writing history to come up with whatever sounds best or coolest.
A perfect example is the story of the $$$ from ATR's aborted first album that was supposed to come out on some major label was used to start DHR. But that's false. Do a little digging and you find that that's not the story at all.

I'd bet anything he was fully behind this release and then said "I didn't authorize it's release, blah blah blah" and came up with that story so as to shift the legal blame and cause a tangled mess.
I mean, listen to some of the vocals in this thing, it says it's released on Digital Hardcore Recordings. So,.... he recorded this thing with the intention of releasing it on his own label.. but then realized he could get in some deep legal trouble over using so much Elvis... so he then makes up a story and has it secretly released on another label with all fake info on the back cover.
It's a smart move and I don't blame him for it at all.

Anyhow, amazing album!
This was Alec's final great work. His farewell to breakcore and the amen break. And it really does sound like the logical endpoint of breakcore. It was the end of the 90's and everything was ready to burst from a constant ramping-up of each release. Pushing things further and further. After this album, everything was just weak and shitty and forced. And now he's making boring, pretentious synthpop. It's funny because he abandoned breakcore because it was dead... and then he makes something as normal as rock and synthpop and acts like a rebel? What the fuck? You should've stuck with HARD/WEIRD music, Alec. I mean, he invented, innovated new sounds and styles... c'mon!

I also love how totally organic this album sounds.
It's erratic, but not random like most modern breakcore (which sounds like marbles in a tin can being shaken).
It's erratic and fluid like some bebop trumpet player just jamming away and dripping sweat, not consciously knowing which note is coming next. It's instinctual.

this record is very hard to listen to. lots of distortion and screaming and craziness. Cool cover art though.

An underground classic this is. And yes, this is a bootleg. Alec gave the tracks to an Australian dj-friend of his, and a few months later this record appeared. Scientology, Presley, Heinrich Himmler, who believes that? The Chicago address is that of Jesse Jackson's house.
Anyone else got a signed copy of this? :-)

This is Alec Empire's artistic interpretation of the death of the breakbeat. He has said that the Amen break has been done to death so he used the death of Elvis as a way of expressing this. Throughout the record, I can hear the soundscapes which represent the birth of a star, following up to his peak and leading to his death. Alec has made something truly artistic here and it takes a bit of deep thought to understand.

Alec Empires cutting up of classic Elvis songs is the funniest hardcore record Ive heard. He makes the king sound like hes a screaming psycho and every time Ive played this record to people they laugh. A welcome variation on empire's part while still being aimed at the crazy mans dancefloor.