IDM Mailing Archive

Boy am I glad that somebody decided to reply to my review -- I was beginning to feel all sulky because it seemed like it had just dropped off the edge of the world. ha == Helen Adriaens <helen@syncnet.xs4all.nl> ha> oc == ozymandias G desiderata <ogd@organic.com> ha> Spooky 'Schmoo' [GRRR45] ha> ha> 1. original version ha> 2. stripped down dub mix ha> 3. steppin razor mix ha> 4. underworld mix ha> ha> I got Schmoo a couple of months ago, paid a hefty price for it ha> too. In all honesty, I got it for the Underworld (re)mixes as ha> 'schmoo' itself reminds me too much of dutch tv adverts for ha> telephone sex. 'oooh ahhh' and 'come to me' repeated ha> threethousandmillion times ... (1) and (2) for obvious reasons ha> don't differ much from the two versions on 'Gargantuan' (schmoo and ha> schmoodub) in their ooh-ahh-ness. I really like (3) and (4) though ha> ... the Underworld touch saves this 12" for me. The steppin razor ha> mix gives us clanking sounds, Russian gibberish and distorted ha> ooh-aah (in the beat). Underworld drive the 'old' Spooky motor ha> extremely well ... Well, exactly. The "Steppin' Razor" and "Underworld" mixes are the ones that I was talking about. They're definitely two of the weirdest tracks to appear on the early Guerilla releases. I'm fond of the first two mixes, but I'm fond of them more out of nostalgia than anything else. Guerilla played a major role in my early DJ career. I have the "Steppin' Razor" mix on Guerilla's _Dub House Disco 2000_, and it's my favorite thing on that compilation, if not the entire Guerilla label (although Aerothrob's "Barracuda" is a close second -- anybody know who Aerothrob were and where they ended up after Guerilla's demise?). It is indeed clanky, echoey, and very dubbed out -- it actually prefigures the later Spooky sound nicely, as well as managing to sound a little bit like G-Man (Gez Varley) at the same time. ha> Talking about Underworld: how come I rarely see anybody write about ha> them on idm? Are they not intelligent enough (anymore)? ha> Dubnobasswithmyheadman certainly threw my brain into another ha> dimension ... I've been wondering that myself. _Second Toughest in the Infants_ is easily the equal of _Dubnobasswithmyheadman_, and many of the singles Underworld has been putting out recently contain tracks that are nothing short of masterpieces (my personal favorite being "Cherry Pie" off the "Pearls Girl" single). Plus nobody seems to have noticed that the CD "single" (all 78 minutes of it) of the combined vinyl version of "Dark & Long" has been reissued and is now easily available (albeit as an import). My respect for Underworld has grown considerably since I first heard (and disliked) them many years ago. ha> I fully agree with you that Spooky deserves another chance. The ha> new Spooky bears little resemblance to the old. Getting rid of the ha> all pervading soul divas was the best thing they ever did. Hmm... in the 'old' Spooky's defense I will say that although _Gargantuan_ has plenty o' diva on it (which I don't particularly like, although it made it possible for Spooky to be one of the few dance groups that both my househead friends and I liked Back In The Day), it has plenty that's relevant to listeners in IDM-land as well -- especially those that think of William Orbit's music as somehow being intelligent (*whistling innocently*). ha> It took me a while to get used to what I rather derogatorily called ha> 'church music', i.e. the organsounds on Stereo, but once I put my ha> bias out to pasture I fell for it. Still more 'dance' than 'brain' ha> though, is what I thought as I danced my feet off when they played ha> in Amsterdam last March. I guess what my review was trying to say is that I think they strike a good balance of both 'dance' and 'brain' music, if you consider their entire recent ouevre. "Clank" and "Stereo" are definitely dance records, but "Shunt" and _Found Sound_ are altogether something else. While I'm flogging tragically neglected IDM, why haven't more people talked about the amazing stuff that Tony Thorpe's been putting out on Language Records? I know that the breaks crew generally think highly of the records that Endemic Void have put out (which, for my money, are far more entertaining listening than the Plug series, although not as good as Squarepusher (just to show you guys that I'm not unduly biased against overhyped breaksters)), but I thought that Biomuse's LP of last year (_Wrong X_) was a beautiful piece of completely unclassifiable industrial acid-jazz techno squeaky headfuckery. It wasn't at _all_ what I expected from a label run by a Moody Boy. ozymandias . . . the self-reflecting image of a narcotized mind . . . ozymandias G desiderata ogd@organic.com Desperate, Deathless (415)278-5674 http://www.organic.com/Staff/ogd/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::

quoted 2 lines I've been wondering that myself. _Second Toughest in the Infants_ is

> I've been wondering that myself. _Second Toughest in the Infants_ is > easily the equal of _Dubnobasswithmyheadman_, and many of the singles

Absolutely. My personal fav is the first 7 or 8 minutes of the first track, Juanita, where they start right in on stream-of-consicousness vocals. It's challenging enough figuring out what they're saying, let alone what ideas they're trying to get across. From what I can gather by the track sub-section titles, and lyrics, it's about one of them losing some kite, and a coca-cola sign. Not much, I admit, but can anyone else help piece together the first song?

quoted 5 lines Underworld has been putting out recently contain tracks that are

> Underworld has been putting out recently contain tracks that are > nothing short of masterpieces (my personal favorite being "Cherry Pie" > off the "Pearls Girl" single). Plus nobody seems to have noticed that > the CD "single" (all 78 minutes of it) of the combined vinyl version of > "Dark & Long" has been reissued and is now easily available (albeit as

I've got one vinyl single of Dark & Long, with the Spoon Deep and Thing In Book mixes. What other versions are there? -- guyjr@cc.gatech.edu | I.D.M.- That stage in sleeping when your feet are a.k.a., Guy Elden Jr. | moving faster than your eyes.

On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, Tohao T. Nguyen wrote:

quoted 3 lines besides the new rule about sales/trades, aran should add something about

> besides the new rule about sales/trades, aran should add something about > > kicking off people for wasting bandwidth by just stating "____ sucks".

thanks for the opinion. for the record, I will be taking a less active role in policing the list, simply because it's a waste of my time to do so as it has little to no effect on the abusers. however, a ironed fist approach to abusive posts will remain held behind my back at the ready should it need to come crashing down upon some subscribers inability to express common sense decency. with regard to the "IDM only" for sale portion of the new policy, I hope this does not discourage people from selling, say, their Coil discs, or old fripp/eno LP's and the like. the definition of IDM remains as loose as ever, for better not for worse. the most important portion of the new policy is the attempt to REIGN in the recent wave of users who feel the need to update the ENTIRE idm-list about ongoing auctions. despite the fact that I get queasy viewing the prices people pay for things, I find the continous updates a waste of resources and a disregard for the technology at hand. simply put, if you're going to fatten your pockets with auction money, you are not going to use the IDM list technology to simplify your task. you may, as stated, announce your pocket fattenning intentions ONCE and proceed with interested parties OFF LIST. your points with regard to not just posting "so and so sucks" are precious words of advice which should (and will) also be included in the idm.info re-write. easy, tp np: the cure - cold colours