IDM Mailing Archive

Review: Tranquility Bass "Let the freak flag fly" Don't pick this shit up. It's cheesy as hell! Although the song "we came in peace" (I think from the MoWax Headz or something) was pretty good, and although this record is on Astralwerks don't let it trick you into buying this crap. This is mostly cheesy 60's pop music mixed with a bit of Bootsy Collins-rip off bass playing mixed with a heap of Arlo Guthrie and corny "be free" and "love each other" folksy dittys/samples. Yuk! I'm returning this shit tomorrow! At best it is a bit like Land of the Loops, but with so much granola-crunching folksy hippy virtuosic gratefuldead stuff to cance out any lushness of the sounds and textures. I shouls have been able to tell by the cover art (looks like a hippy quilt) that it would suck, but I am a free thinking kind of guy, open to the creation of new mixtures of ideas. But this just sucks. -CF

Arjun Mendiratta writes:

quoted 2 lines Review: Tranquility Bass "Let the freak flag fly"

> > Review: Tranquility Bass "Let the freak flag fly" > > Don't pick this shit up. It's cheesy as hell!

quoted 3 lines I recall seeing a rave advance review of this one maybe a month back. Does

> I recall seeing a rave advance review of this one maybe a month back. Does > the original poster (or anyone else, for that matter) care to defend > themselves? ;)

i love it. still can't get it out of my head. no doubt it is cheesy with all the references to "freaks" "heads" and "the man". so what. about as idm-relevant as mike & rich or jimi tenor. which is to say: not at all. -- Jon Drukman jsd@gamespot.com SpotMedia Communications How the drunk and the maimed both are dragged forward out of the arena like a boneless Christ, one man under each arm, feet dragging, eyes on the aether. (David Foster Wallace/Infinite Jest)

On 16 Apr 1997 17:06 -0700 (-1200), Random Junk wrote to me:

quoted 6 lines Review: Tranquility Bass "Let the freak flag fly"

>> Review: Tranquility Bass "Let the freak flag fly" >> Don't pick this shit up. It's cheesy as hell! > > I recall seeing a rave advance review of this one maybe a month back. Does > the original poster (or anyone else, for that matter) care to defend > themselves? ;)

That may have been me.... The album may not be for the purists, but when it comes to brilliant orchestration, top-knotch sequencing, and even a fine voice, Mike Kandel really won me over for this release. I mean, I wouldn't in a million years use the word cheesy to describe this disc.... because it's so slick and subtle. Tranquility Bass doesn't grab you by the head and toss you around, it just slowly grooves along nicely.... By describing the disc as cheesy, well... it certainly shows what little appreciation the above poster has for good music. :) onnow: squarepusher "vic acid" (warp) Lame Thread Prevention in Effect: Aaron Michelson --------------------------------------------------------------------- aw-teck'r (autechre) "Everything you Know is Wrong" For reviews, interviews, art & trash http://www.on-it.net/~aaron/ aaron@defiant.on-it.net

Chris Fahey wrote:

quoted 1 line Don't pick this shit up. It's cheesy as hell!

> Don't pick this shit up. It's cheesy as hell!

Yep...I remember Jon D raving about this one a while back. :-P I love most all of the other TB releases but wasn't real impressed with that etched 12" that came out before 'LTFFF'. Last week, I got a promo copy of both 'freak flag' and 'dig your own hole'. My verdict: Tranquility Bass - hillbilly shit hop? One listen and I gave it to a co-worker who loves meatloaf, and he likes it. 'nuff said. Chemical Brothers - not very slick, rick. Pretty shitty production quality and very simplistic tracks. Sounds like something they farted out a few years back, before any of their previous releases. Gave it to my roomate who loves hip-hop and he doesn't like it either. Go figure, The Brocknest Monster. np: Panacea - 'low profile darkness' - THE FUCKING BOMB!