pseudo IDM-times
Not really an IDM Times, but close enough for a look and feel lawsuit.
The Drum Club - Drums Are Dangerous
Instinct EX 286
This is more like what I expected from a band named Drum Club, ie: lots of
drums. The title cut starts it off in grand fashion with a slew of
polyrhythms, digeridoos, 303s and some repetitive yet not annoying vocals.
Odd melodies. Hooky yet off-kilter. I like that. Unfortunately, it gets a
little dull as the album progresses until everything is just simple two-note
progressions (oxymoron?) and some hand drum samples. "Reefer", the
mandatory Slow Track, takes things on a predictably stony path, with lazy
dub bass and echoplexed reggae vocal snips. Not bad, but could be better.
Orbital - Snivilisation
FFRR 697 124 027-2
snivilisation is definitely the best orbital album yet. but that's not
saying a lot since i don't particularly like the other two anyway. however,
this one is at least varied enough to hold my interest, most of the time.
the "jungle influence" is just a few chopped up breakbeats, not hard enough
to be annoying, thankfully. in fact, most of this album isn't even
particularly danceable. the faster stuff with beats is a little too
self-consciously tricky to work well on the floor. suppose we'll have to
wait for the inevitable slew of big-name remixes for that. (not that i
mind, the underworld mix of lush was worth waiting for. love them guitars.)
they've got a singer on a few tracks and she works really well. they don't
use straight verse/chorus stuff anyway, lots of chopped up and manipulated
vocals.
one final note: the cover art is really great.
And now a special report: INSTINCT AMBIENT
featuring musings on Omicron "Acrocosm" (EX 289), Seti (EX 287) and Terre
Thaemlitz' "Tranquilizer" (EX 283).
This whole "ambient" thing is getting to be really annoying. "Just take a
load of synths, tape down a few keys making weird pulsing noises and leave
the room for 75 minutes while the DAT runs." Bingo, instant album. Seti is
particularly guilty of this. The textures change, true enough, through the
course of the album, and every once in a while a beat pops up, but overall
it sounds empty, like two guys messing around without a clear concept or
direction. Let's just make some noise, as long as it's electronic, it'll
sell. Even the cover looks cheap and quick - a pixelized photo of a radio
telescope dish.
Terre Thaemlitz is fortunately not in the same category. Some of his tracks
miss the mark for me, and I'm not exactly sure what the mad runs up and down
the keyboard are doing in an album with pillows and clouds on the cover, but
the bullseyes are great. "Hovering Glows" is a particular favorite - weird
noises, rhythm loops, incomprehensible muttering voices. It sounds like
there was some thought or at least a general idea in action. Ambience is
supposed to be "a tint, an environment" and too often today's ambient
releases just don't have any sense of place or time. Nods to Thaemlitz for
conjuring up a bizarre and highly personal space.
Omicron's "Acrocosm" is not similarly blessed, however. Empty electronic
noodling, cold and academic. What's the point? I've got a synth and I'm
gonna lean on it. Swirls, twangs, bleeps and bloops. No feeling though.
Soundwise, it's impersonal. You can throw together the sounds used on this
album in ten minutes with a suitably intuitive analog synthesizer.
Well, it was bound to happen. Ambient is the "hot" thing this week. You're
gonna be deluged with ambient discs and most of them are going to suck hard.
As always, caveat emptor.
ONE FROM THE CUTOUT BINS:
Source - Organized Noise
R&S rs93005cd
How did I miss this one first time around? This is a classy record. Hard
yet melodic, melodic yet original, trancy yet not boring. Taking ideas from
Kraftwerk, Detroit, 70's euro-synth-wank and UPDATING it. Yes, by god, this
actually shows some sign of being able to move on from its reference points.
I'm quite pleased. Cut-out price: $4.99