Richard Kirk - The Number of Magic CD (Warp)
_The Number of Magic_ is Richard Kirk's most cohesive and
consistent work since the heyday of Cabaret Voltaire. Styles explored
individually on previous fuse here into an eclectic amalgam that escapes
easy categorization. Elements of dub, funk, ambient, and jazz dissolve
in Richard's cauldron only to re-crystallize in fantastic new hybrid
forms.
The album sustains its gentle locomotion over nine varied tracks.
A bubbly dub bassline stokes the engines of the elastic flanging of "Lost
Souls on Funk" before diffusing its energy into "Love is Deep"'s serene
polyrhythmic symmetry. "So Digital" translates P-Funk into the Warp
vernacular and "Atomic" inserts wailing flute into an electro-remix of
some never-played Police instrumental. "Indole Ring" and the title track
tip the hat to important inspirations. Perhaps only the dark
voodoo-jazz-flamenco of "Monochrome Dream" reaches the feverish
psychedelic intensity of the second half of Sandoz's _Digital Lifeforms_,
but those are truly lofty peaks.
_The Number of Magic_ is a definitive statement-of-the-art from
the man Dave Stein dubbed "the Captain of the Techno Starship." An
essential transmission.