si-{cut}.db : behind you (sprawl/suburbs of hell)
while admittedly my rate of acquisition of new music may not be as high as
some of the more, shall we say, _landed_ of the idm crowd, i can with
confidence recommend the new si-{cut}.db recording, _behind you_, as some
of the most amazing music i've heard in the last, oh, six months or so.
si-{cut}.db is, apparently, a collaborative side-project involving none
other than robin rimbaud, aka scanner, who here appears to have "produced
and remixed" all of the tracks, credited to one "d. benford" (info
please?). note: ABANDON EVERYTHING YOU KNOW OR HAVE EVER HEARD about
scanner. regardles of what you may think of his ambient voyeurisms, this is
ambient-electro-jazz-jungle-dub of the naughtiest sort; adopting a similar
tone as some recent mung/bowling green, bisk's _time_, elfish echo's _sato
yumiko_, or the more schizophrenic leanings of atom heart or berndt
friedmann (drome, nonplace urban field, etc.), si-{cut}.db is some of the
most amazing abstract electronica i've ever heard. period. (the lads over
at blue planet are _kicking_ themselves for not landing this one!) at times
the tracks are so chaotic and involved that it's a wonder one is able to
make out anything at all other than noise. however, remarkably, the music
retains a coherence and cohesion from end to end; rimbaud/benford's
arrangements are some of the most accomplished i've heard since black dog's
_spanners_ or recent luke vibert. however, neither is _behind you_ simply
reducible to a derived "more-eclectic-than-you" type of stance, integrating
as it does an astute and at times quite beautiful melodicism drawing vibes,
guitar, deep, warm, evocative synthwork, tympani and steel drums (!), etc
into the mix. the result is a complicated web of compositional amalgams
(read: "songs") that take that crucial step beyond artful self-reference
that so few of the recent crop of cross-pollinators have been able to
manage, a step that leads ultimately to beauty and delight (GOD that
sounded cheesy!). anyway, great record. SC
rating: 9 (<--- this would be a ten if it were available on vinyl)
1. the small music (8.53)
2. behind you (5.58)
3. spectral reach (6.34)
4. one size fits all (8.07)
5. what i have discovered (6.39)
6. arbant (6.00)
7. at all (5.32)
8. tourist zone (6.30)
9. mute point (6.12)
10. spectral reach - scannered (4.48)
11. arbant - scannered (4.36)
sc