Drusca <drusca@erols.com> wrote:
: . . . . I have to say I don't hear
: any jazz in Mandell's writing, only some inconsequential, directionless
: melodic noodling placed on top of another one of his percussive experiments.
: While I enjoy the "Placekick" EP quite a lot, that is due to his impressive
: programming skills (and sound design to a lesser extent) which seem to be
: getting better by the minute. I definitely think his melodic writing is his
: weakness.
What you said! The first Jake Mandell I heard ("Parallel Processes") was
pure sonic adrenaline the first two times I listened to it. It's fortunate
he didn't have much recorded at that time, or I would have gone out and
bought all of it. By the fourth listen the effect of his rhythm programming
wore off, and the amateurism of his trite melodies and aimless harmonic
progressions started to grate on me--BAD. I just can't listen to Parallel
Processes any more, and though the Placekick EP shows some improvement (and
the same rhythmic inventiveness as before), it's already starting to wear
thin.
Simple, repetitive melodies and harmonies can be extremely effective
(e.g. Ae's Amber). Perhaps Jake is just trying too hard to be "musical."
His sonic talents appear to lie outside of traditional melodic/harmonic
axes, in any case. There is much interesting music to be made that
rejects these elements in any case...
-Ed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org