IDM Mailing Archive

Hi there, Well, I, too had to check out this Squarepusher thing because almost everybody seems to think the stuff is the better thing since sliced bread. I went to the record shop intending to buy the Flare CD "Reference to Difference" which I have been hunting for ages (I saw it there another day as a reissue, I think). Well, just when I was going to pay for the thing I saw "Feed Me Weird Things" and something went into me and I grabbed it instead (I didn't have money for both), and didn't even listen to it beforehand. Oh well, after a few listenings (with speakers and earphones) I have to say that I can't see what's so very special about it. Some of the tracks (the first one for example) are quite o.k. but some others sound kind of dated and remind me of the RDJ tracks I've never liked (some of them I _do_ like quite a lot). Actually quite simple and a bit daunting fast percussion plus "old" sounding synth doodling. All in all, there is nothing very interesting sonically. And the "production" is a disappointment. You notice this when you listen to it with earpones. Most of the tracks sound even monophonic and kinda dry. Some people don't care for these things but I do think that in electronic music this is important since it is actually part of the work (and the composer usually does it him/herself). It almost sounds like it was coming from an AM radio. As I said, some of the tracks are quite o.k. in a freely progressing kind of way but the others are downright boring. And it is not because it is "junglish" since I like the T-Power CD (for example) clearly more. I guess I should have got that Flare CD... (Well, maybe this teaches me not to go blindly after hype again :-) Greetings, Jouni Alkio

Jouni Alkio wrote: af> I went to the record shop intending to buy the Flare CD af> "Reference to Difference" which I have been hunting for ages af> (I saw it there another day as a reissue, I think). Reissue? I got it on tape from Japan about two years ago, but only recently the cd came out in Europe. af> I guess I should have got that Flare CD... af> (Well, maybe this teaches me not to go blindly after hype again :-) Or maybe, you should give it another good listening to ... groetjes, Helen

re: Flare's "Reference to Difference"

quoted 4 lines HA>Reissue? I got it on tape from Japan about two years ago, but only recently

>HA>Reissue? I got it on tape from Japan about two years ago, but only recently >HA>the cd came out in Europe. > >Are there any tracks from 'Nettin Pure' on it?

No. There have been two Flare releases in the last year, the first of which was a rerelease of the oop Sublime RtD from 94 or so. Of course there are some different tracks (why do labels DO this?), but with the added bonus of vinyl availability (for RtD and NP(?)). By the by, if any o' youse know of any stateside or SF Bay Area sources for both these, I'd be stoked to hear of them. eric

eh == Eric Hill <ehill@best.com> eh> No. There have been two Flare releases in the last year, the first of which eh> was a rerelease of the oop Sublime RtD from 94 or so. Of course eh> there are some different tracks (why do labels DO this?), but with eh> the added bonus of vinyl availability (for RtD and NP(?)). By the eh> by, if any o' youse know of any stateside or SF Bay Area sources eh> for both these, I'd be stoked to hear of them. Oakland's Rasputin's has the Jasmine re-release of _Reference To Difference_ on CD for dirt cheap ($14) and San Francisco's Virgin Megastore has it for heinously expensive ($24). I don't know about vinyl availability, though, because I buy more "listening"-oriented techno on CD and hence tend to ignore things like that on vinyl. While I'm at it, Rasputin's is way keen. I found a used copy of YO3's excellent _Bitter Sweet_ there for $6 and the Sun Kings' similarly excellent _Hall Of Heads_ for $8. Yay! It sure is nice to fill in the holes in my GPR collection so cheaply! Plus they also had _new_ copies of Fugazi's _In On The Killtaker_ for SIX BUCKS, but I doubt y'all would care about that. Do any of you know what Richard Brown has been up to recently (BESIDES Husikesque, about which I will merely say, "it's not my cup of tea.")? Cherry Bomb's _Electronics For Dogs_ is a well-done slab of electro- influenced rhythm and weird synthesizer noises, and YO3's album is a fine fusing of Brown's and Beaumont Hannant's sensibilities (if, in fact, Hannant is involved. At one point someone was making this supposition), but I haven't heard of him doing anything recently besides the Hannant / Husik collaboration. What's the story? ozymandias . . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . . ozymandias G desiderata ogd@organic.com Desperate, Deathless (415)278-5674 http://www.organic.com/Staff/ogd/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::