Within the past decade Rachel Haywire has managed to pick herself up from meager and adverse beginnings to achieve a status as a well known recording artist, label owner/proprietor, aspiring author as well as provocative performer and visual artist. From her Experiment Haywire project to her machineKUNT label, which seeks to diversify the Electro/Industrial scene through the contributions of great female artists, Rachel doesn't rest. Her latest offering, a remix album entitled Remix Riot, enlists the assistance of a number of great and creative minds to interpret her work while she catches her breath before assembling the next collection of EBM/Industrial stompers with angry Punk viscera.

This riot begins with some of Rachel's earliest noise efforts and Mark Miller of Out Out shows a willingness to enrich the sound with the sort of roar that strings together Haywire's evolution nicely, all in just under three minutes. This collection was Mastered by Kolja Trelle, aka Soman, so he gets the first shot at reconfiguring Rachel's vision and he does just that with the quick-step floorshaker that is his version of "Stereotype." Uberbyte step up to the plate for last year's "Cooler Than Genocide" adding in their own trademark expansive synths which stands in direct contrast to Caustic's version of the track which slices at you with a rusty machete and accentuates the stomp within the song.

"Game Called Life" is given a treatment by artists as diverse as XP8, Leæther Strip, Necrotek and even Autoclav1.1. A track that musically seemed to owe something to Soman from the onset is interpreted through the lenses of classic EBM, Industrialized club techno, and Breakcore. Of these, Autoclav1.1's emerges as the leader with its grinding backbone and lush atmosphere tempering Haywire's, uh...temper with not just mere adequacy but bold audacity. One of the main things people are turned off by when it comes to this act is the take-no-prisoners Punk rock vocal delivery that hearkens back to the Eighties heyday of frontwomen such as Dinah Cancer of 45 Grave and Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex (with whom Haywire shares a passing resemblance). She doesn't intone her phrases so much as spits them out, occasionally over-enunciating to accentuate the derision, and it's interesting to hear how each of these invited artists treat her stylized approach.

"Occult Casualty" and "Decapitation" are the last two songs featured and of these the Amassador21 mix is guaranteed to blow you away. It's absolutely vicious and unrelenting, using up the full range of your speakers' capabilities while injecting plenty of interesting sonic layering that will have you listening again and again to pick up on everything you didn't catch during the previous spin. The way the disc is laid out each song is reinterpreted numerous times before moving on to the next one and that can be a little irritating but the remixes are divergent enough that you can't completely rule out listening to this disc from beginning to end. Besides, if it were such a problem most players are equipped with a "random play" feature that you probably aren't using enough as it stands.

While Rachel Haywire might strike some as the type of figure who is "militant" solely for attention's sake I believe they are selling her short. Her musical instincts are sound, her heart is strong, her attitude is fierce and her will compels her to push her own limits as much as anyone else's. Beyond that she's a vibrant personality within the Industrial scene who actually has something to say as opposed to so many others composing the same rote lyrics and well traveled beat patterns. She continues to grow as an artist and has put herself in a position to nurture others that could very well influence the evolution of styles like these. For this release she has wisely assembled some quality musicians in an effort to deliver something beyond the standard throwaway remix album. If you're unaware of her work to this point or have been on the fence this may very well serve as the collection which brings you around to her focused vision. Remix Riot isn't just another fragmented foray into associative avarice, it's a well thought out journey laying out a number of possibilities for a driven artist breaking through by her own means and on her own terms.

See also: Rachel Haywire: The DTC Interview

See also: Review: Extreme Women In The Dark Future