Windowlicker is another in a series of CDs that are in turns
beautiful and frustrating. The 'Windowlicker' track is at
it's root a rather nice introspective downtempo track, whose
tranquil party is crashed by any number of DSP effects run amok,
and consequently refuses to get into get into a groove. It's
a tour-de-force for strange sound effects, but for me sets no
particular mood except a Spike Jones jokiness.
The 'Symbol' track (not really a symbol, but a calculus
formula that may or may not mean anything) has a little more
funk to it, and spares no expense in the odd-twist-and-turn
department.
Then comes 'Nannou' which is a completely lovely bit of
neo-classicism done with music box samples. There's even
a spot where the music stops and you hear a music box
being rewound. THIS for me is where Richard James shines --
when he lets his lyrical side take control, and cuts
out the musical gurning. These moments seem to come only
once per record -- "Polynomial in C," and "Alberto Balsam,"
come to mind.
And the production values of Nannou if anything are more amazing
than on the other two tracks. James spends the sort of time building
up the samples into a 'real' soundscape, that indicates where his
genius is -- he listens deeply to music and sound, and then,
by how he reconstructs a new auditory environment, draws the listener
into a similarly intense listening experience.
The Windowlicker video is, with it's babes-in-richard-james masks a
solipsistic fantasy, is hilarious. RDJ and his co-conspirators have
made a sort of totem out of his manically grinning face, starting
with "I care because you do." It's an ironic twist on the idea
of 'faceless techno bastards,' the much vaunted anonymity of the
producer, that has always been more of a marketing ploy than a reality.
Maybe it's a sign of a baby step towards maturity -- he's gone from
the infantile eroticisim of the milkman song to solipsistic, masturbatory
fantasy. The idea of him getting down in the limo with women wearing his
face is way creepy, but no creepier than Mick Jagger marrying Bianca Jagger,
who looks enough like Mick to be his twin...
kent williams -- kent@avalon.net ICQ:33001909