slag boom van loon =96 ziq005
I heard many people saying that this was not what they expected, and they
were right. I found the same to be true. If you had listened to Speedy J=
=92s
last effort =93Public Energy No. 1,=94 which sounded like everything was put
through a noise filter, and distorted to fuck, but to a very good effect.
And the instant classic of last year =93Lunatic Harness=94 from Mike P., was=
a
somewhat divergent scheme of Drill =91n Bass (Who will actually admit that
they are drill =91n bass? It=92s gotten a lot of negative press here on IDM=
as
of late, why won't anyone tell me why???). So =93Slag Boom Van Loon=94=
would
seem like it would be the clashing of two of the noisiest sorts of IDM,
making some kind of mind fuck of noise. Actually it is quite the opposite.
The opener, =93Light of India,=94 is a smooth bumping number with a very
hummable melody, and little squelching effects added on top. It goes on for
about 9 minutes where towards the end it gets all disonant, then in Mu-ziq
style they find themselves coming out of it and resolving the song on a nice
note. This almost seems like what everyone refers to as classic IDM, kind
of reminiscent of =93Bluff Limbo=94 and =93Tango =91n Vectif=94. But then=
the classic
sound does not stop. Remember when everyone was going ambient?
=93Spc-ch-pn,=94 brings it all back (minimalism?), with a broken piano=
theme
reminiscent of Satie, but with a nice buzzing ambience (lo-fi?) in the
background. Why isn=92t more IDM like this anymore? Maybe I=92m not=
listening
to the right stuff. =93Casual=94 another typified piece of Mu-ziq history=
(am I
comparing this to mu-ziq too much? I haven=92t heard too much Speedy J). A
looping piece with the great Mike P. melody on top. =93Butch=94 hints at=
all
that Autechre, MAS, funked up rhythm drum patterns, probably more MAS
(funkstorung), with the quiet melody. =93Bromtollen=94 has got Bluff Limbo
written all over it. =93Poppy Seed=94 has the first sign of Speedy J=92s=
harsh
filtered kick drum, and other filters attached to things. =93Mooshy=94 goes
back to that old ambient design of all the first two Mu-ziq albums, almost
better than them too. Great song. =93Sutedja=94 hints back again at that=
weird
drum looping of MAS releases, but with a cantantonic loose melody
(funkstorung anyone? That=92s probably too harsh of a description). The=
last
two songs =93Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium=94 and =93Pedals=94, get=
into that
long winded ambient thing that was in back in the S.A.W. 2 days. These are
however not long winded songs. Just excellent tunes that rank up there with
the best idm ambient tunes ever made.
Slag Boom Van Loon, for all the old idm folks that can appreciate songs that
don=92t sound out of the Autechre/MaS/Chocalate Ind./Thomas Brinkmann;
progressive rhythm type gents of now. Just the good old chilled out
melodies. An excellent release. Will appear on my top ten list this year
with all of the aformentioned villains of idm. Quite a standout release.
Rusty