Re: all the Black Dog bitings, I think it's too bad Ken's kissed the list
goodbye, since he brought a soap-opera angle to the whole breakup that was
mildly entertaining. Seriously though, as good as the upcoming Plaid album
might be (when and if it comes out, probably around the same time as the new
My Bloody Valentine album), we'll probably weigh both that album and Adverts
and realize nothing beats Bytes or even-earlier 12"s.
Sure, I realize that a lot of the Bytes tracks were not done by all three
members together: many were by one member alone, many by Plaid too. My
long-time favorite, Object Orient, is a Plaid track. But I get the feeling
that they influenced and fed off each other, affecting the individual
compositions, which led to a bunch of tracks that hasn't been and IMHO won't
be matched in their complexity, melodic-ness, and all that good stuff. It's
like how the recent Plaid tracks/remixes, while still really good, just
doesn't stand out or stand on its own like the Bytes tracks. There's a
sameyness to them. A wonderful sameyness, sure, but certainly no surprises.
Adverts let me down with its lack of simple & catchy melodies and quirky
polyrhythms that have become Plaid's trademarks; and I'm guessing that the
Plaid album will leave me wanting for a kind of depth, full of textures and
mystical sounds, and a grasp for ambient compositions, all of which Ken showed
off on Adverts. Hopefully Plaid will prove me wrong.
Anyways, I eagerly await the reunion tour in year 2014. :)
On now:: Dif Juz (whatever happened to them?) : Marooned
James Jung-Hoon Seo // Oracle New Media
(415) 506-3829 // jseo@us.oracle.com
My whole thing is to take completely retarded songs and turn them into
something of my own. What can I bring to a song that's already been done well?
// Mark Kozelek