quoted 6 lines for sure...I still don't like EP7 in comparison to
>>for sure...I still don't like EP7 in comparison to
>my utter and
>complete
>>love of their previous releases...
>
>I feel the same way. Tri Repetae was great and >then
the descent began.
quoted 1 line Despite the supposed genius behind EP7 that >some
>Despite the supposed genius behind EP7 that >some
observed, I still
quoted 5 lines think its a piece of crap. Complexity without depth
>think its a piece of crap. Complexity without depth
>is just a piece of shit
>in a nice carrying case. :)
>
>What happened to melody? Why has everyone >jumped on
this steel
quoted 1 line factory-sounding motif?
>factory-sounding motif?
************************************************
Well, the dsp craze bugs the crap out of me too, but i
can't agree at all that ae has gone downhill.
for starters, i'll agree mostly with what's been said
on this thread: usually, for most of the pop idm
coming out now, when i mentally strip away the
processing and "cool sounds", i hear a really
uninteresting underlying structure. most people on
this list seem to grant an exception to r. devine, but
i don't. anyway, i'm not here to rip on r. devine,
i'm here to defend ae!
If you can't hear melody on ep7, you might want to
listen again. Really, the whole ep is full of melody,
though not as in-your-face as the earlier material.
(read: ae has become more subtle with melody) they
don't always use the scales and harmonies that you
might be more familiar with, and they're often more
quiet elements or sounds with lots of discordant
timbres that obscure the pitch.
but the obvious examples of melodic content on ep7 are
tracks 6, 8, 9... and the one that's all BOUT melody -
track 11.
track 8 (i think it's 'maphive 6.1'... my biggest
complaint with ae is that it's too hard to decipher
what track name is for what) is a masterpiece of rythm
and melody, and is pretty unique in the "idm" genre in
that it is made up of several "sections" that relate
to each other interestingly and logically and are
bridged by transitional sections. the overwhelming
majority of "idm" tracks are very static compositions
that rarely even bother to have "sections" (variety
usually achieved more or less by bringing horizontal
layers of tracks in and out), and when they do,
usually resort to cheap tricks like crossfades to deal
with the transitions, or do really boring things like
just crank up the dsp 200% for the "wierd sounds part"
(usually the "ending"). yawn.
i feel the melody of track 8 is particularly brilliant
in the second section (beginning at 1:50). that
detuned metallic melody is beautiful, and the
transition into this section (from 1:25 - 1:50) is a
classic ae transformation. listen carefully and
you'll hear a number of subtle changes being made
which morph you through this section and shoot you
right into the next. the focus on the "standup bass"
or whatever that is at 2:30 then sets you up for that
laid back beat at around 3:00, etc. a classic.
and that's just ep7... i'll only mention one more
track: track 8 on lp5... or is it track 9? i was
never too sure because there's 12 tracks on the disc
but apparently only 11 listed on the sleeve... so i
never knew if "fold4,wrap5" was supposed to be two
tracks listed on one line, or if track 12 was supposed
to be "hidden", or what. (can someone help me out
here?)
anyway, it's the one that's mostly melody (there is a
beat - some thuds and small percussional noises - but
the melody is most prominent), with a sort of banjoish
sample that makes (not coincidentally i like to think)
a kind of blue-grassy rythm. man, that track is so
"melody". almost makes me cry just thinking about
that track. i think i'll put it in right now.
ae is one of the few artists who usually don't use dsp
beyond their abilities, i think.
funny that i should be doing an ep7 / lp5 post at this
late stage. for the record, i preferred ep7 when it
came out, but now prefer lp5.
jon
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