On Wed, 15 May 1991, rd wrote:
quoted 1 line wow, i've been so far gone into FAX land that i almost let a> wow, i've been so far gone into FAX land that i almost let a
great > thing like wagon christ pass me by...truly great stuff...what i'd
like is > to get some opinions about the redone ep and phat lab
nightmare...i know > this has probably all been discussed before, so sorry
for bringing it up > again, but i'd really like to get some more info on
these other releases. > recommendations for similar sounding material
welcome. thanks thanks > thanks! > > r. > > rdudley@mindspring.com > the
reply:
i take it you have throbbing pouch?
Throbbing pouch is vital; it's got absolutely swinging beats, crazy
shifts in sounds and rhythms, and is almost instantly accessible on the
first listen, very cheerful, even. I love the way he drops off 90% of the
mix and keeps some background loop/shuffle rhythm going, real
quiet, something that was in the background for the past 2 minutes but
you barely heard it. it's formulaic? but i don't care,
it is smooth. In 1989, i would have expected that the groundbreaking hip-hop
genre back then (de la soul, bdp, pe, eric b, etc) would in five
years evolve into something that would produce work like
throbbing pouch. Do you know what i mean? (By the way the
"hello" sample on one song is from de la soul's "buddy". What's the
"flavor hits yr greedy tongue" from? I think it's on "reedin") We've heard a
lot about plugs 1
2 and 3 (also a tribute to "3 feet high and rising" era de la soul, i
believe, where they call each other plug 1 2 & 3. Or is there a more
common colloquial meaning to "plug 1" that i'm missing?
Hey wait: 3 feet high and rising, rising high records, hmm.) ... so I
won't speak on those. But here's how some other wagon christ compares, as i
see it, all on rising high records, in reverse chronological order, i think:
the REDONE ep: 3 mixes; 1 by aphex twin, one by wagon christ, one by
voafose or boymarang, i can't remember and the sleeve is confusing anyway.
The afx remix is sort of rdj's
take on jungle, but not really, only in the sense
that it's got super breakneck percussive tempos. it's not at all vibrant
like the throbbing pouch album
is. it's too manic for me. i much prefer rdj's calm, melodic stuff. the
remix wagon christ did himself is pretty good, but
it's got a lot of the same elements as the original.
RICKALESSI ep: 3 new ones, one off tp, by wagon christ. some excellent
remixes with elements of the title
song off throbbing pouch. contains a song with an abrasive "you should
see how i'm feeling" sample of some grating annoying limey dwarf.
AT ATMOS ep: 5 songs. THIS is the one to get as, IMHO. dubby,
mature, constantly evolving tunes. a couple tunes begin w/ off kilter warbly
feeble legged
rickity noises, which slowly evolve into rythmic melodies, become
complemented by other elements
that drift into the mix, until the whole becomes coherent, complex yet
not at all confusing, and it really does swing.
PHAT LAB NIGHTMARE: full length eight songs. an appropriate title. bad
dreams; unexpected, experimental changes; solitude, yet some definite
grooves. more "ambient" or spacious than
his later work; less beats. what beats there are are on the mechanical
and inorganic side, some 808 sounding stuff peppered in. no one would call
this "trip-hop",
whereas many feel "throbbing pouch" falls into that category. phat lab
nightmare has a lot more synth textures, rather than samples. some of
the songs:
"mahadelic" is the strong opener; lush trebley synth slides and holds,
with a ramshackle percussive bell melody line that eventually manages to
undo the bandana its got wrapped around its mouth. then everything drops
out for a shuffling bongo solo.
next song "glass world" slowly introduces a synth
gurgle, which starts out really quiet as barely sputtering periodic
bubbles and gestates into a echoey acid tweaked out lonely wasteland figure.
the middle song in the "aerhaart" trilogy
begins with some gigantic
bass reverb monolith slams, they give way to some breathy voiseish chords,
then you realize the bass
reverb monster footsteps are still there, at 120% the original volume.
the third "aerhaart" track presents us with the only obviously sampled
drumbeat on the whole album; black sabbath's "wasp", stark and narcotic.
the upbeat closing track "dances with frances", give us a forecast of
the throbbing pouch style.
phat lab nightmare is probably the closest
thing to fax. this especially makes sense in light of the story
that vibert was unexpectedly invited by rising high to make an
"ambient" album. supposed, he was like, uh, yeah sure, i'm an
ambient artist. And then he made up a bunch of stuff real quick.
Regardless, it's quite an album.