IDM Mailing Archive

Picked up the Subtropic 'Homebrew' on Reflective over the weekend and wow! I can't recall if anyone on the list has mentioned this recording before. It's an incedable mixture of jungle, ambient, triphop, dub and even funk dare I say. Usually I need to see something mentioned twice on this list before I say to myself "hey, I sould check that out" so if this is the second time you seen this recording mentioned, take notice!

On Mon, 4 Mar 1996, Darren T. Boss wrote:

quoted 2 lines Picked up the Subtropic 'Homebrew' on Reflective over the weekend and

> Picked up the Subtropic 'Homebrew' on Reflective over the weekend and > wow! I can't recall if anyone on the list has mentioned this recording before.

I did a mini-review a few weeks ago. This album sits right alongside the T-Power for me, in the way it uses a wider variety of sounds and timbres than run of the mill drum & bass. I did buy the "Jacob's Optical Staircase" CD on a recommend from an IDM'er in the UK, as being something a notch above the Subtropic. I'm not convinced. It's a nice record, but like Goldie, Dego seems to want to recycle 70's Soul music over jittery beats. It's done well enough, but for someone who lived through the 70's listening to the originals, it seems a little weak. If you want the recipe for 'jazzy' jungle try this -- play a C Maj 7 chord (CEGB, all on the white keys). Then transpose this random intervals, and be sure to include one 1/2 step transposition. Change chords once a measure. The point is, that if you want to be jazzy, you can't just noodle around randomly. There has to be some directed motion to the music, something that can convey human emotion. And by the way, on the JOS record, the contributions of Juan Atkins and Josh Wink are, to my ears, inaudible... --------------------------------------------------------------------- In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis. -- Quentin Crisp Kent Williams kent@inav.net (319) 338 6053 (home) (319) 626 6700 x 219 (work) (319) 626 3489 (fax)

quoted 2 lines This album sits right alongside the T-Power for me, in the way it

>This album sits right alongside the T-Power for me, in the way it >uses a wider variety of sounds and timbres than run of the mill drum & bass.

I don't think Suptropic can hold a candle to the T Power album. Yes, Homebrew employs a fairly wide sound palette, but the tracks aren't structured well, IMHO. When a track builds up, I get no sense that it's building up *to* any- thing, and when it's finally done building, usually there's no payoff. The Self-Evident Truth of an Intuitive Mind, on the other hand, contains some of the most cogently structured tracks in recent memory, for my money. T Power's tracks flow together, as well, and Subtropic would do well to learn by example - Homebrew's segues between tracks are nonexistant to the point that I wonder if the sequence was decided randomly. Subtropic is not All That. C. PS: has it been pointed out before than T Power's album cantains a few samples of Bela Lugosi from 'Glen or Glenda?' -- cspot@hyperreal.com (Chris.Hilker)

On Mon, 4 Mar 1996, Chris.Hilker wrote:

quoted 4 lines I don't think Suptropic can hold a candle to the T Power album. Yes, Homebrew

> I don't think Suptropic can hold a candle to the T Power album. Yes, Homebrew > employs a fairly wide sound palette, but the tracks aren't structured well, > IMHO. When a track builds up, I get no sense that it's building up *to* any- > thing, and when it's finally done building, usually there's no payoff.

I haven't listened to Subtropic enough to analyze it this closely yet, but it's style appeals to me much more than T-Power. The open, clean sound of Subtropic works much better than the often very syrupy stuff on T-Power. I have to admit I like them both much better when they're not working so hard at sounding like some kind of idm-crossover.