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Title: It Could Have Been Sooooo Much Better.
Review: At the height of drum-and-bass's popularity, the electronic outfit Baxter releases its self-titled debut in 1998. The first two tracks, "Television" and "Fading" effectively provide chilly landscapes of hyperactive drum beats, eerie synths, and an overall dark and etheral environment I haven't experienced since Portishead's debut. But, boy, is it a steep dive from there. Tracks get repetitve when there should be variety. The record gets boring when it tries to be mellow. And the lyrics, sung in a spoken-girl voice by lead singer Nina Rambsy, are simplistic and embarrassingly plain. "Baxter" gets the mood and feeling right when it wants to, but it's way too uneven for me to recommend.
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