Die Kranken Katzchen

Twenty-one-year-old Patch, the sole member and producer of Die Kranken Katzchen (“The Sick Kitten”), files herself under “Industrial/Goth/Techno” on her MySpace page, and has also likened herself to “a female Nine Inch Nails.” But the atmospheric compositions on Transude are way more experimental than anything Trent Reznor would dare do now. DKK throws sliced-up samples, experimental vocals, and synthesized layers into a sonic stew that’s both sweet and scalding. Some of the tracks are dark but danceable — namely, “Outside” and the “Monkey Mix” of “Undone,” which sounds a lot like the Lords of Acid’s “Rough Sex,” but with some scratchy guitar thrown in. Other tracks are ambient mash-ups, incorporating everything from trance-hop beats and frenetic digital drum sequences to vocal distortion, tinkly ’80s New Wave keyboards, and samples from old horror movies and children’s records. Despite the numerous intermittent digital effects, many of the tracks resonate one long, sustained sequence, so DKK has to know where she is at every moment in the track — she’s not randomly chucking sounds in there. The best song on the CD is “Baksheesh,” a throbbing lil’ number, naked except for drum ‘n’ bass, meaty synthesizer keys, and fuzzy vocal samples.