Hudson Mohawke’s recent solo output has left something to be desired, even as his work for ANOHNI and with TNGHT has been more successful. Maybe, freed from the pressures of pop stardom, he can return to the harsher, more experimental features of his early work. We’ll find out on November 11 when Warp releases his soundtrack to the Ubisoft videogame Watch Dogs 2, titled Dead Sec after the hacker collective at the center of the game’s narrative.
Lead single “Shanghaied” is at least not a lazy flip. Though, while HudMo mentioned wanting to “use the palette of some cult sci-fi movies” for this collection, I hear mostly the same patches and drum sounds of his past output. At least UbiSoft probably paid him.
Dead Sec tracklisting:
01. “Shanghaied”
02. “Burning Desire (Hacker)”
03. “W4tched (Cinema)”
04. “Haum Sweet Haum”
05. “Cyber Driver”
06. “Amethyst”
07. “Play N Go”
08. “Eye For An Eye (Reprise)”
09. “Cyber Driver (Opera)”
10. “Citrus”
11 .”Balance”
12. “Burning Desire”
13. “Eye For An Eye”
14. “Robot (Finale)”
15. “Watch Dogs Theme”
16. “The Motherload”