My impressions of the most recent Jega and SP releases:
Jega - I liked the first Jega 12" but this new one is kind of hit and
miss; the drum n bass bits (especially "Card Hore") sound kind of like
"Conumber"-era Squarepusher but not as tweaked out. To his credit he
does manage more complexity in his programming on several of the tracks,
but it does sound a bit on the stiff side. I would have welcomed more
gritty gems like the original "Steel Drum"; "Houdini" comes the closest
to this and has a nice bit of pad chord-work in the background.
"Nausicaa" also starts off great, sounding like a kiddie show with a
Russian folk song for theme music. Love the chorus-y player piano. An
above average release in general but I guess I was expecting more.
Squarepusher - This is a nice EP (I like it slightly more than "Vic
Acid"), but this acid vs jazz d&b style is beginning to wear thin for
me. "A Journey to Reedham" has a nice melody, and "Jacques mal chance"
is an interesting aside. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I think
TJ ought to take his time making tunes for his next release and come up
with something *really* original.
On a personal taste note, I think that 'drill n bass' (or whatever you
want to call it) has just about run out of ideas - I'm hoping that more
artists will break from the formula a la recent releases by Bisk,
Gescom, Bola, and artists on Rather Interesting.
GD