Due to the stunned near-silence which greeted my last missive, I find myself
in the lamentable circumstance of replying to my own message.
Here goes:
Does no one find it odd that LP5 contains verbatim (or close to it) excerpts
of Cichlisuite? Typically, Ae treats their their own work with the same bold
approach as that of others, that is, their remixes bear scant resemblance to
the original tracks involved. Witness Cichlisuite: ostensibly a remix
project, it is, essentially, an all-new mini-album in its own right. Or,
refer to the Envane/Chiastic duo. While neither of these is a remix of the
other, many might reasonably (I say reasonably, not rightfully) expect that
a single released just prior to an album, might actually contain a track or
two from the upcoming LP. I am not dismissing Ae's approach as wrong; in
fact, I have always assumed that we, the listeners, were the happy
beneficiaries of a duo so prolific, that to release a track twice, on the
single and the album, while convenient for those of among us who don't
usually buy singles, would prevent the release of a new track we might
otherwise never hear. By releasing EPs rather than singles Ae have made it
very easy for the album buyer to add between-album material to their
collections without duplicating tracks they already own.
It is this full-steam-ahead approach, very much in evidence until LP5, which
makes me wonder: what has changed? Why are excerpts of a remix of a track
off a previous album appearing on a new album. Is this an older, more
meditative Ae? Perhaps they are at their peak and have found sounds they
want to play with a little longer, sounds to hone, to craft, sounds in which
they have immersed themselves. Perhaps they are washed up and haven't got
any more ideas? (Could be, I don't think so, but could be.)
Mr. Coffee
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quoted 5 lines From: "Matt" <jarsky@iname.com>
>From: "Matt" <jarsky@iname.com>
>To: IDM <idm@hyperreal.org>
>Subject: (idm) Ae: Cichlisuite vs LP5--
>Date: Tue, Oct 20, 1998, 3:26 PM
>quoted 22 lines sorry if this message appears twice...
>sorry if this message appears twice...
>
>
>
>Anyone else notice startling similarities between the above mentioned
>releases?
>
>Track 5 on LP5, "vose in" appears to be a remix of yeesland, track 1 on
>Cichli.
>The bassline (I dunno musik so gud; I am referring to the low part of the
>harmony, a lush sounding pad) on track 2 of cichli sounds very similar to
>the pads on track 1 of LP5. There are more similarities, but I was too busy
>painting to keep switching between disks. (I was painting abstract-is that a
>derogatory term?-watercolours to an all-Ae accompaniment, Chiastic, then
>LP5, then Anti, followed by Cichlisuite, its all so good, those of you who
>have lukewarm reactions to Chiastic, should try again. All that static isn't
>just superfluous noise--it IS the music and music it IS.
>
>
>
>Mr. Coffee
>