A long overdue review of idm with emphasis on the d.
Artist Title Label Score
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Dred Macrocosm R&S +1.5
Mike Dred Fu-Chin-Ra Machine Codes +2
Jeff Mills Cycle 30 Axis +2
Various Acidic Alteration... Vmax +2.5
Scoring: +3: buy this
+2: probably worth buying
+1: maybe worth buying, but listen to it first.
0: completely neutral. no regrets, but not
excited
-1: maybe not worth buying, but listen to it first.
-2: probably not worth buying
-3: don't buy this
Mike Dred -- Macrocosm (R&S) +1.5
I like Mike Dred.
Honest.
I just feel this release is... well... a little weak. I
mean.. I'm glad I own it (thus, the plus rating), but all it
is is good solid acid, but I have lots of good solid acid
albums. The A side, Macrocosm, clocks in at a grindingly
slow 120bpm, and might be useful for that reason alone. The
mood is nice and dark without seeming cheezy or evil, thanks
to a sample of.... what's that instrument called? The one
that sounds like a wooden dowel being taken across a cheese
grater?
The B side, oxycute, is a happy, almost giddy acid track
clocking in at around 140bpm. Nice.
Mike Dred -- Fu-Chin-Ra (Machine Codes) +2
Machine Codes is Mike Dred's own label (or so I've heard)
and (unsurpringly?) home to the better of his two recent
releases.
The record starts off with a nice, but short, intro track
of whirling, confused bleeps, followed by a stormer of a
track which clocks in at an agressive 165bpm. The machine
gun sounds, screeching synths, and pounding drums conspire
to produce a track which is... shall we say... not for the
faint of heart. The next track is a nice, slowly building
140bpm acid track with a warm 303 bassline, quiet scritchy
303s on top, and floating synth sounds over the whole mix.
Think of it as Aceperience's kinder, gentler cousin. Like
Aceperience, the song builds and builds energy.
The first track on the B side is a slowish 130bpm, and
features an 80s cowbell which some will find nostalgic and
others annoying. The final track is a 123bpm groover with a
floating synth melody over the acid. Not my cup of tea, but
then again, I just don't like melodies.
Jeff Mills -- Cycle 30 (Axis) +2.5
Hot off the presses, although available for a while as a
white label, this is a wonderful album: complex, richly
layered without being cluttered, and full of interesting
sounds. Much softer in tone than his recent stuff, the
record is (dare I say it?) beautiful.
The A side has 3 tracks. The first two are repetitive a
la basic channel, but with better sound quality. The last
track is an almost completely beatless wash of sounds,
suitable for any chillout room.
The B side has eight (count 'em... eight!) locked grooves
with a classic jeff mills sound. Enjoy.
Various -- Acidic Alteration / Dark Carousel / Electrospasm
/ Rezomatrix (Vmax) +2
Mostly acid, but with other sounds thrown in. Much more
interesting to these ears than the two Mike Dred records
reviewed above. All the tracks ride the border between
being beautiful/trancy and harsh/noisy. Very smooth, but
with a faint noisy sound. Well... all except for the last
track, which is the opposite: noisy, with a faint hint of
grace and beauty.
Patient and intelligent, ugly and beautiful... My kind of
record.
-Sho
--
sho@physics.purdue.edu <<-- finger this account to find out what I'm
having for lunch!
<A HREF="
http://physics.purdue.edu/~sho/homepage.html">Sho Kuwamoto</A>.