Review:
Cocteau Twins: Otherness (Recycled by Mark Clifford)
Picked this one up a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen any mention of
it on idm, but I was away for the holidays. Listed in Muzik as a vital
single, they certainly weren't exaggerating. Mark Clifford (of Seefeel)
last year listed the Cocteau's as one of his major influences in the
NME. All four tracks are pre 1990. 'Feet like Fins' is a wonderful
ambient pop track. 'Seekers who are Lovers' is easily the best track,
with the simple but stunning rhythmic variations. 'Feet like fins' only
works if your speakers are 3 feet tall. This height is essential for
picking up the marvelous dub bass line. 'Cherry Coloured Funk' contains
delicate chords backdropping Liz's beautifully looped samples.
Closest comparison: Cross the Starethrough ep with Victorialand.
Marks: whatever scale you want, it gets a 100%. Best ep I've heard in
ages.
To clear up all this slowdive stuff. The 5 ep is Creation release
CRESCD157. The In Mind (Remixes) is CRESCD157R, containing only the
Bandulu Remix and Reload remix. The american release of souvlaki (black
cover) contains 4 tracks the import doesn't. Some Velvet Morning is a
cover of an old Lee Hazelwood track. You can only get this on the US
release, Volume 6, and Sharks Patrol These Waters. The next three tracks
are all from the 5ep. They can't even compare to In Mind, (which could
easily fit onto the Otherness ep). Slowdive composed the 5ep after
'listening to lots of Aphex Twin and Orbital'. If you want to pigeonhole
Pygmalion the proper label is avant-garde pop. For more info there is a
slowdive web page out there. Has anybody ever heard their Sarah records
material? I find it hard to imagine slowdive doing twee pop.
Canadian idm only:
If you have chronic insomnia, check out Brave New Waves on CBC Stereo
every Thursday night. from 1am-3am is usually completely idm. And for
the most part very high quality too. This past Tuesday they played the
entire Drum Club Live album for an hour. Much better than Drums are
Dangerous.
Phil Downey