Just three this time, IDM listmember reviews coming as soon as they
forward the Dated comp to my current address...
Theorem: Ion
M-nus th5cd
This CD combines nearly every take on minimal techno I've heard from
CR-style to the Japanese Sublime square-wave addiction to the original
Detroit strings & 909 framework. Fascinating in its craftsmanship. Like
most music in this style, it's not particularly surprising, but anybody
who listens to minimal techno for novelty needs to have their head
examined anyway. Loops carry on ad infinitum like white dashes on the
highway while Dale Lawrence adds just a bit here and there until you get
home. No landmarks, no exit ramps, just a huge all-encompassing road
atlas of every trip you've ever taken. Or, if you prefer, like a
majestic throne room or the vacuum of space- all the rich embossed gold
monuments and the shining nebulae just serve to remind you of how
astounding the sheer emptiness is in between. An absolute must-have;
Featureless Platinum Cylinder winner for best smooth techno this year.
Fluxion: Vibrant Forms
Chain Reaction CRD-07
A friend told me this was psychotically repetitive. It's on CR, dumbass,
what did you expect?
Somewhere between Porter Ricks' evil dementia and Substance's slightly
happier dementia. Headnodding bad-posture fun for the whole family.
Another one of those chain-smoking records in the sense that there's
nothing in it for you until the next reoccurence of the same experience
you had last time around (mental note- may have just discovered
significance of label name). If you like CR, get this, it's goody good.
If you can't stand that heroin house 4/4 trash, buy it and go to school already.
Bogdan Raczynski: Samurai Math Beats
Rephlex CAT 085 CD
Once again proving to the world that they alone among the seven largest
labels in the world are unafraid to sign truly demented and unrestrained
wankers, Rephlex has put out the seoncd in the three-album series by new
find Bogdan Raczynski (Hey, his name's Bogdan Raczynski!) Bogdan's
revolutionary, unheard-of production style (he uses a computer) makes
his music some of the freshest ever pressed. Several of the rhythms are
composed of sounds not normally found on drum machines! Some might think
this is already a step too far down that road we call madness, but
Bogdan goes further still. On the first track, taking "techno" music
into new territory, he adds his own unenthused, tuneless vox to the mix
for a truly uplifting pop experience. If you ever thought about putting
those "kabooosh" explosion sounds you used to make while playing with
your action figures as a kid in the breakdown of a track, well, Bogdan's
beat you to it. This man is truly the future personified- on several
tracks he pitches his voice into the sky for a "chipmunks" effect,
putting a childlike spin on tunes which obviously are unfit for ears
under the age of 18. All these amazingly fresh tricks which nobody else
has ever tried or probably even thought of really make for a great
record all around- remember, innovation is key!
And I'm still listening to that Boom Boom Satellites record.
Beats Orbital hands down. (even with those TRUMPETS in it).
Tom