(Artificial Intelligence II) - More electronic listening music from Warp
WARP LTDCD23 - total time ninety-five. twenty-five
CD0,1
0,1 Mark Franklin (release To The System) (8,35,,)
0,2 The Higher Intelligence Agency (Selenite) (6,59,,)
0,3 Link (Arcadian) (9,29,,)
0,4 B12 (Scriptures) (6,55,,)
0,5 Autechre (Chatter) (7,33,,)
0,6 Speedy J (Symmetry) (6,06,,)
CD0,2
0,7 Beaumont Hannant (Utuba) (8,08,,)
0,8 Richard H Kirk (Reality Net) (6,43,,)
0,9 Balil (Parasight) (7,31,,)
1,0 Seefeel (Spangle) (7,18,,)
1,1 Darrel Fitton (Blipsalt) (9,37,,)
1,2 Polygon Window (My Teapot) (3,56,,)
1,3 Kenny Larkin (Maritime) (6,35,,)
(Scanner)
In 1992 Warp released the album 'Artificial Intelligence' and
started the AI series to promote creative electronic music. Because
of this Warp became an important and influential label.
Now, in 1994, Warp release 'Artificial Intelligence II'.
I really expected a lot from this album, but when the first names
became known i was a little bit disappointed because i expected some
new artists instead of people who already released albums (on Warp or
elsewhere). But, OK, the line-up for AI2 is actually quite impressive.
CD-1:
The first track is by newcomer MARK FRANKLIN (never heard of him).
It is OK, but as it is a remix by Beaumont Hannant, i can't really
say anything about the talents of mr. Franklin.
The HIA track is surprisingly good. It is a bit different from their
album 'Colourform', more experimental, less acidic.
'Arcadian' by LINK (=Reload) is a really beautiful track. It starts
atmospheric with lots of strings and stuff, but after 2,5 minutes a
nice metallic beat enters the arena to live things up a bit. This
beat disappears and reappears a few times at exactly the right spots.
B12 disappoint me a bit. 'Interim/Outerim' was very good, but this
sounds uninspired, it doesn't really go anywhere.
AUTECHRE also don't deliver one of their best tracks. Nice beat, lots
of reverb, but not much else. A bit boring in my opinion.
SPEEDY J's track is a lot better. This track slowly builds up to a
climax that never exactly arrives, but still some nice melodies here.
CD-2:
BEAUMONT HANNANT is one of my favourite artists of recent times, he
never disappointed me so far. This track is good, but i think he can
do better, although this track has got a great beat, nice melodies
and some steamy sounds. It also seems Hannant discovered the
pitchbend wheel on his synths.
I have have been a fan of RICHARD KIRK and his band Cabaret Voltaire
for years now, but he never released as much as the past 12 months.
This is OK, but it sounds a bit uninspired. Kirk can do much better.
BALIL (=Black Dog) are some of the most interesting artists at the
moment. They are very innovative and manage to mix experiments with
beautiful music like no one else. 'Parasight' isn't very
groundbreaking but none the less very good. It's quite a busy track
with good melodies and a groovy 303.
SEEFEEL's track is OK, but i don't think it really fits on this album.
DARREL FITTON is another newcomer. I think i like his track, but my
opinions on this changes all the time. Nice dark atmosphere, slow
strings, nice rhythm, but maybe a bit too long. I'm looking forward
to hearing more from Darrel.
POLYGON WINDOW. I guess Richard has had some funny (lucid) dreams.
'My Teapot' is different from a lot of his other stuff, but it's not
an improvement. A funny rhythm and some random notes is everything. A
filler really.
KENNY LARKIN's track is much better, but a little bit retro. His
His track on this album has a great electro beat Kraftwerk would be
proud of. Minimal space funk.
than....after a few minutes:...............a (secret track)! It's not
much cop though. A telephone conversation with some strange sounds.
Conclusion: this is a pretty good album, but i think if everybody
who is on this album actually delivered one of their better new
tracks, AI2 could have been a _lot_ better. It's still much better
than most other compilations but it could have been a great album with
_real_ innovative music. There are too few real highlights and too much
pretentions. Buy it though.
Cheers,
--
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| Hans Veneman |
| E-mail: veneman@tv99ad.hacktic.nl |
| phone: +31(0)3200-35266 |
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