well, I'm wondering if it'll grow on me (it is carefully crafted,
which can be an indication), but I'd have to say my response is
similar. the thing that bugs me is the rhythmic underpinning of the
whole thing strikes me as flatfooted. his stylistic proximity to
Autechre and Funkstorung reminds me of how those other guys really
run with the idea of hiphop syncopation, constantly playing with
one's rhythmic expectations. Devine devides each beat into four and,
with a clothespin, hangs a different sample on each sixteenth note,
beat after beat. In his favor, I sometimes find myself in a state of
fascination listening to the parade of sounds. but funky it ain't.
I really liked his Lily of the Valley track. listening to it again, I
see that it has some of the same problems as the newer (?) work, but
it has the virtue of surprise on the level of song structure -- it
morphs from one sort of song to another, a particularly effective bit
being the stuff that sounds like ring modulated string orchestra
sounds.
kurt
quoted 13 lines From: "brian albers" <brianalbers@hotmail.com>
>From: "brian albers" <brianalbers@hotmail.com>
>
>Richard Devine- Lipswitch- What was all the hype about? Doesn't sound like
>anything he hasn't done in the past. And upon reflection, all his remixes
>(Aphex, Slicker, East Flatbush, Phoenecia) all sound pretty identical to
>each other as well as to his original stuff. His style sounded really great
>a couple years ago, but too much of a good thing gets really old really
>fast. And where's all the basslines, melodies, harmonic content? Sounds like
>half a record where he just started with the rhythm tracks and didn't bother
>with completing the rest of the song. And I know this has been a topic
>lately, but why is this thing only 40 minutes long? And wasn't there an
>earlier version of this release with even fewer songs on it? Hate to say it,
>but this one goes in the "disappointment" column.