!!! Mail forwarded by idm-owner, fluid@hyperreal.com !!!
!!! Original message and sender below !!!
From: NH6957@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU
Date: Sun, 07 Jan 1996 23:23:05 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Reviews of new & older stuff
To: idm-reviews@hyperreal.com, idm@hyperreal.com
I got some new music over the Holidays (new for me...it's mostly older
stuff, really) and a great *book* as well, so I thought I'd do a quick
review....
::CJ Bolland - _The 4th Sign_ (R&S 92024 CD)
Awful album cover...I'll take RDJ's painted self-portrait from _I Care
Because You Do_ over this any day. The music? Mostly harder,
floor-oriented techno tracks. Basically decent stuff all around, I'd say.
::Eat Static - _Epsylon_ (Mammoth MR0117-2)
Wow. This is the best stuff I've heard from these guys. In fact, it's
some of the best tripped-out trance I've heard by anyone in a while.
Granted, the last 3 tracks are old re-issues from the _Lost in Time_
ep, but that disc isn't exactly easy to get here anymore. Highly
recommended.
::Thomas Fehlmann - _Flow_ (R&S 94044 CD)
I'm sorry I waited so long to pick this up...it's absolutely fantastic.
Lighter, dubby beats that remind of early Orb, but with a sound
not unlike Sun Electric (and not surprisingly so, either). I love
all these groups, so this ep is *essential*.
::Various - _Hardkiss: Delusions of Grandeur_ (HK 19001-2)
I gather that at least some of these tracks were written or remixed
(or both) by the Hardkiss "brothers." The first disc of the 2-CD set
is more laid-back and features Rabbit in the Moon, Drum Club,
and God Within. The second CD has harder beats by Hawke
and Little Wing. All the music is well-made and impressively
mixed, but the synthesizer sounds and the melodies are a bit
generic-sounding to me. Not bad, just not great. Maybe it'll
grow on me....
::Microglobe - _Afreuropamericasiaustralica_ (MFS 7055-2)
Mijk Van Dijk's debut album is pretty representative in places
of that Berlin MFS Trance Dance sound I love. (One of my first
trance discs was the _Tranceformed from Beyond_ comp on
MFS, a who's who of the best of the Berlin scene circa 1992.)
Some of the tracks on this disc have unfortunately cheesy vocal
samples, which IMO detracts from the effect of the great analog
synth sequences prevalent on MFS releases.
::Morganistic - _Fluids Amniotic_ (Input Neuron INM CD1)
Luke Slater under an alias doing very minimal hard trance. At
first listen a lot of the tracks sound same-ish, but on further play
the elegance becomes apparent. Desolate-sounding and quite
good.
::Orbital - Times Fly_ (Internal LIECD 23/850 281.2)
Orbital staying on the lighter side of things, and with a distinctive
jungle flavor. I don't have much jungle, but this I like lots. I wonder
if this is a preview of the sound for the next album (whenever *that*
is)?
::Luke Slater's 7th Plain - _The 4 Cornered Room_ (GPR LP3)
Slightly less minimal, a bit more melodic (perhaps), and definitely
more lush-sounding than his Morganistic stuff. I haven't heard
a lot of this yet, but so far these electronic sketches seem to
achieve as much in the way of serene beauty as the Morganistic
tracks do in the way of bleak tension. Two sides to an interesting
artist.
And now the book:
::_Techno Style: Graphics Fashion Culture_ (Martin Pesch, Markus
Weisbeck, c. 1995 Edition Olms Zurich, ISBN 3-283-00290-8)
A very few pages are devoted to fashion models and snapshots of
ravers, and a few more to a rather spare timeline that traces the
appearance and development of various genres of techno, leaving
most of the rest of the book's 132 pages for graphic art. Some fliers
and a bit on typography, but mostly lots and lots and lots of album
covers. Designers Republic and tons more -- all in a large (11.5
x 12 inches), nicely done layout. Beautiful.
Oh, and there are appendices with lists of techno clubs, record
& clothing shops, and radio stations in Europe and North America,
plus the addresses & phone info for all the design firms featured
in the book, and a (small) list of techno-related sites on the Net
(Hyperreal is included). Smart, and highly recommended.
Neil Hetrick
nh6957@wcuvax1.wcu.edu