The Vitals:

Label: Botchit & Scarper
Genre: Electro & Breakbeat
Number of Tracks: 3
How to Obtain: www.atomichooligan.com, www.botchit.com

Factor Scores:

Production Quality: 8.0
Programming and Arrangement: 8.0
Entertainment Quality: 7.9
Total: 7.9 – Very Good

Chris' Take:

Matt Welch and Terry Ryan are Atomic Hooligan, and I can best describe them as "DJ meets Rock music". It's definitely music for the dance floor, but it kind of plays out like a rock track, and I am a fan! They have already had huge success remixing Underworld and Lee Coombes & Andy Gardener (Plump DJs), as well as their 2005 release, "You Are Here". Today, they bring us the release of the enormous, soon-to-be-smash "I Don't Care", a synth-driven, attitude-filled stomper of a track.

The original version is probably the one that will get the most radio play due to its structure. It starts off almost immediately with the first verse and goes right into the chorus. After a short instrumental section, it slips into the second verse and chorus. So...song structure? Big deal, right? No no no.... This track is all about the lead singer's vocals, which grab you right away and pull you in. They're so cool in this nonchalant sort of "I don't care" sung way. Add to it the fact that it's easy to sing along with, this should be a huge success for them.

The Control Z & Pyramid Remix is my favorite of the three tracks in this release. It captures the attitude of the original with a lot of the crisp punchy-ness that you expect from a great breaks track. It plays a lot with the bassline and some high-pitched synth hits borrowed from the original. Lyrically, it focuses more on the chorus than the verses, although it does tease some of the verse lyrics here and there.

The release closes up with the Tomcraft Rmx, which is less than active compared to the original and the Control Z remix. It's actually quite mellow for an upbeat track. It focuses more on a deep prolonged synth bass note that kind of sits there and every other measure goes up and down depending on the musical structure of the track. They do manage to get all the lyrics of the song in and do some playing with the music in the background during the sung parts. Maybe this is typical Tomcraft work here, but I don't get it.

So to wrap things up: Overall it is a fun release with a lot of punch and attitude. Look forward to hearing this in a lot of DJ sets!