I am offering my first in a series of reviews of old personal IDM personal
favs in my attempt to increase the peace on this mailing list. To all my IDM
brothas an sistas - squash it like Jason Priestly. Word booty. The Worm
Interface comp "Alt. Frequencie$" came out in 1996. I got it when it came
out and it has stood the test of time. Unlike, say, Endlessnessism, which I
mostly don't care for anymore. My review:
Dunderhead:Doditsu - Down tempo dub with vague mid east theme. The hallmark
of track is a pleasantly warbling vocal that sounds like it's sung by a
sandaled bald guy in some sort of robe. Wonderful echoing clickish panning
percussion and ascending/descending tonal counterpoints emerge. Slow and
funky and dubby, I love it.
Tom Jenkinson:Vogon and I - An optimist opening melody is quickly discarded
in favor of a monolithic swaggering drunken distorto hip hop beat. Fuzzy
kick drum and laser snares. Elements are faded in and out but the main
elements remain pretty consistent.
Freeform:Dice - Bouncy, light-hearted, squeeky. Like the previous two songs,
the song doesn't stray much from the central beat. I got Freeform's full
length "Elastic Speakers" because I liked this track. But I didn't like
"Elastic Speakers" too much.
Gescom:Skfl2 - This is da shiznaught. A great polyrhythmic workout, with
clicks, kick, and snare wrestling for control of the time signature. A 7/4
(or 7/2, or whatever - it's seven beats) pattern emerges, with two
complimentary melodies. Then the kick and snare wrestle control of the
conductor's baton. It's my metronome and if you don't like to play by my
rules.... Nyah nyah nyah. The tempo slows. The melodic elements cough up
there lunch money and return, now in a sort of triplets swing tempo. Really
cool. A sense of restraint throughout.
David Kristian:Ooohville - The first four tracks have included various
d'n'bish clicks and drills. Now the ante is uped, at least in the frantic
percussion department.
Tom Jenkinson:Happy Little Wilburforce - "Don't try to out-program me mate.
I eat chaps like you with buttered scones and jam at tea-time," replies Tom
Jenkinson to the previous track. I'll see your "Ooooh" vocal pads and raise
you several garbled human beatbox noises. When it comes to lightning fast
distorto drill workouts, Tom J (ca.1996 at least) had an ace in the hole.
Coma:Zero - A more standard d'n'b offering. Nice filtered drum part
breakdown where the breaks fade in and out, and lots of squelchy synth
lines.
Replicant:Analiz - Ambienty. Lots of echoing rhythms. Smooth and
nonabrasive. Push it along.
Further:Aleisters Requim - Angelo Badalamenti freebases heroin and Prozac
while overlooking a melancholy 25th century LA skyline and sobbing on Rutger
Hauer's shoulder. Actually it's curious that the artist of the previous
track is called "Replicant" (a reference to Blade Runner), because this
track sounds like it could be from the Vangelis score to that movie.
Plasma Lamp:Lounge Lizard - The ambient theme continues and closes out the
album. Repetitive sine wave noodles and drum machine tom-tom accents. Calm
and sleepy.
This comp covers a lot of ground, from super crunch drill and bass to pretty
ambient with few beats, to techy Ae-style tempochangers. Total time is
reported on cover as 73.98. (?)
Oh, wait, shit, there's a bonus track. Who's this? A happy little
straightforward ditty with repeating music boxish melody. And I'm ghost like
Patrick Swazy.
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