On Tue, 25 Mar 1997, Chris.Hilker wrote:
quoted 8 lines This isn't necessarily IDM material, but has anyone listened to any of> > This isn't necessarily IDM material, but has anyone listened to any of
> >Rising Sun/Utu/Ken Ishii's lps? I've heard that over in house-land they're
> >considered pretty good. Opinions?
>
> It is absolutely IDM material!
> As far as I'm concerned, Ken is as important an artist as anyone in IDM.
> He can do your head in with seriously fucked-up sounds and then the next
> thing you know you're right in the middle of a gorgeous cloud of a track.
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!
Where most dance artists want to twist your head around with "fucked-up
sounds" (which I love, don't get me wrong), in Ken's music, somehow the
sounds add up to something that often reaches the sublime. My fave tracks
of his:
N428 (UTU) -- this track is the main reason I bought the Ethnotechno
comp, which otherwise doesn't hold up over time so well. It's impossible
to say in a few sentences what makes this track so utterly exquisite.
"Out of the Inside" (Ref. to Diff.) -- the opening: fantastic random
cross-relations from out-of-sync loops, and then that bassline! both
implying and denying a sense of progression at one and the same time.
Tasty perc., a lot of it coming from squelchy overmodulated FM stuff
"Nervewrench" (R to D) -- Wack! Makes me chuckle.
"Morceau" (R to D) -- out of tune chords you wouldn't want any other way
"Non essentia" (R to D) -- swooping, sliding melodies that are twisted
and graceful at once
Thanks Chris for the brief discog -- I want more of this stuff!
Related question: on the old recording of Steve Reich's _Music for 18
Musicians_, the cellist is listed as none other than Ken Ishii. Is this
the same guy? It seems unlikely that there are two musicians of the same
name, both into repetitive musics. J
NP: Non essentia
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