While still vainly searching for the Andrea Parker 12", I went into a store
yesterday in deepest, darkest Orange County California (intent on nicking
things so Fresh couldn't get them hee hee hee (-: ).
A couple of things to note:
- Bluff Limbo has washed ashore on the US West Coast ...
I'd forgotten that "Commemorative Pasta" nicks the melody line from the
Beatles' "... And I love her" (or whatever the heck that song's called)
I'd forgotten what a magnificent track "Organic tomato yoghurt" is
I'd forgotten what a horrifically duff track "Sick porter" is
(small-"p" porter edition) What was Mike P. thinking?!? Did he have
a secret "I-really-wish-I'd-been-in-Spiritualized" thing going at the time?
Vocals, guitars and real bass? Blecch.
Anyway, the rest of it is predictably Godlike, albeit much like a
"Tango N' Vectif++" in many ways (which was my only real complaint with it
originally, when Andy Thomas played me a dub tape of it)
- Shock at finding a Model 500 12" sitting nested in the "Jungle" section
- In Order To Dance 6 (Drum N' Bass edition) is out now
Lots of people on here whom I wouldn't have expected to see on something
labelled as a Drum N' Bass compilation
- Some some new compilation on Rough Trade that looked like it would have
been called "Artificial Intelligence III" if it had been on Warp (I don't
remember everyone on it, but I know "Donkey Rhubarb" was one track). Has
anyone mentioned this before?
- I bought a Japanese (on Sony!) Jeff Mills mix CD called "Mix-Up Vol.2
featuring Jeff Mills - LiveMix at Liquid Room, Tokyo 10/28/95". More 313
than IDM, it has 3 "Segments" with 38 tracks mixed together all told, with
lots of Mills' own stuff (shout outs to Dave Walker ... I got my one-stop
shopping extravaganza here), a Ken Ishii track, Joey Beltram, IO, Claude
Young, The Advent, Richie Hawtin (as Circuit Breaker), and so on ...
More to come when I get a chance to listen to it ...
- I saw a Jammin' Unit 12" on Rising High with a Plug mix, for you Plug
watchers
Speaking of Plug ... they had the Plug 1&2 double 12", so of course I had to
give it a spin ... lots of bizarre weird-ass noises on this one ... and it
mutates quite a bit, put the tonearm down into a lounge-Jazz segment and push
it over a quarter-inch further and it's in clattering bass-heavy land again ...
That said, it still didn't really click. I'm curious as to what people like
about the Plugs so much. It seems to be Drum N' Bass and Jazz done in a
style that involves taking the other (non-rhythmic) sounds that you might
"expect" to hear, and replacing them with clattering, weird-ass oddball noise
stuff. I can appreciate the other-wordliness of the noises, clearly Mr.
Vibert spends his time finding sounds that others don't. But I'm wondering
if it's the oddball noises that people like, or is it the entire thing in the
context of Drum N' Bass/Jazz done with a different twist?
I think I'm beginning to understand my reactions to each of these Future Of
Music phenoms a little better ... you have someone who's taken genres I
like - Industrial and Funk and a pinch of a slight Jazz influence - and mashed
them together in new ways, and you end up with something I really like. Mu-Ziq
& Jake Slazenger et al., in other words. Meanwhile, you have someone else
who's taken genres I *don't* like - Drum N' Bass/Jungle and Jazz - and mashes
them together in new ways (the Plugs, Mr. Squarepusher), and the result may
well be new and innovative for the genre(s), but I still can't get my head
around them because of the lineage. I think I'll declare defeat and let all
you folks dig it and stop trying to pick up on stuff I'm not likely to like.
On now: Bluff Limbo
- Greg