Clatterbox - Spatz / Easy Does It
This EP amply illustrates the sort of thing I mentioned at the end of
the Threads review. "Trip Hop" may be the world's worst-defined genre
and which peopl object for many reasons, but this injection of funk
into the ambient/techno arean has opened whole new areas of artistic
creativity and musical appreciation, whereby the territory which can
now be revisited and re-interpreted by electronic artists is much
wider than before. Witness the behaviour of Clear Records and its
roster of artists. They started with a manifesto of electro beats
accompnied by techno leanings, but now all manner of Jazzy and funky
stuff is emanating from this rapidly maturing stable. Clatterbox use
on this EP a melee of electronic strings and effects married with
supremely funky beats for some highly characterful music. By no meand
as electroey as their previous double 10" outing, this explores
undefined territory. Track B2 "Spatz" (Paul W. Teebrooke mix) is the
most extraordinary track, dropping partway to a confusing 6/8 rhythm
from its original scattered 4/4.
According to the copy accompanying this promo (the full release is
also available now) this is actually part one of the new Clatterbox
long player, as this (CLR421) will fit into the special packaging
accompanying CLR422 (no release ate is given for the latter however.
Bola 1 EP (Skam)
The work of Darrell Fitton, sometime Gescom collaborator and
contributor to WARPs Ai2. contains 4 varied tracks as follows
"Forcasa 3" is a beautiful, yearning electronic song set to a
pattering 3-beat, interrupted and terminated by a sci-fi techno
chalk-on-blackboard sound. For me, the clear highlight of the EP, and
ranks with some of the most beautiful IDM works from Autechre, AFX,
LFO, MP etc.)
"Krak Jakomo" (Where do these titles come from) is a darker, more
scarey affair, with considerable Autechre influence (Basscadet again
believe it or not), less melodious than Forcasa 3 but almost as
haunting. Ends on a bubbling locked groove.
"Metalurg 2" is a less gurgling and more clean-cut relative of the
track found on the limited extra 12" accompanying some copies of
WARP's Ai2. As such it is perhaps caught in a time warp, but it still
sounds sci-fi futuristic compared to most anything you'll hear in the
charts, and really does still sound fresh even in the light of all
this new-found funkiness as per my ramblings above.
Finally "Balloom" is dark, dense and heavy. All manner of stuff
happens here for a very claustrophobic feel, but the production is so
clean that all the individual sounds can be picked out if the
listened so desires.
Overall an excellent EP, track one being a very special track. Well
worth hunting down.
Orbital - The Box (internal)
Boy, there's been some controversy about this one on idm. this EP
consists of 4 tracks with no further information than the EP title
and all the various legal and credits. I must admit that Orbital are
by a long stretch not my favourite artists, yet most of their work
has considerable charm for me, but they tend to draw things out,
often losing my interest 3/4 through a given track. My opinion on
"Snivilisation" generally agrees with the individual who recently
posted that he felt it works better as a whole than as individual
tracks. For me, "The box" is a clear evolution onward from "Sniv"
and "Are we here", by no means a complete turn of style, particularly
in terms of rhythms. The first track seems to use a number of broadly
familiar motifs, and the end result is actually quite soundtrack-ish,
also with hints of a Sabres-ish metallic edge. This comes to the fore
in the second track, which builds to almost gothic horror movie
proportions, though it doesn't really ignite for me. The third
version is much funkier, more dancefloor oriented and my favourite
off the EP, sparser than 1, but by no means stripped, and more "up"
than 2. Track 4 is basically track 1 reprised with some lush female
vocals and the dodgy male vocal (probably not quite as terrible as
that on the "Volume" excursion "Wasted") which you may or may not be
able to ignore. Right at the end is a brief but beautiful whistled
passage of the main melody from the track.
A strange but by no means bad EP and one which bodes mixed messages
to me of their forthcoming material. There are some cool sounds in
here and the last thing Orbital are doing is standing still. I await
with interest the new LP.
ends.
__________
________.__/_____ _||_/ James Skilton aka Steady J
_[]/_____________[.__\____-_ DJ and Party Animal
| | Part Time Hedonist
|____________________________| Full Time Technohead
|__|-' '-|__| Steady-J@Firefox.co.uk