Dave Walker:
quoted 4 lines To be quite blunt about it, I haven't felt compelled to listen to>To be quite blunt about it, I haven't felt compelled to listen to
>"ephidrena" enough to gain anything near that level of familiarity with
>it. No more than I get the urge to look at the white textured walls in my
>apartment for hours trying to find the smooth bits, if you get my analogy...
sorry, i think the analogy is more like "i took one look at this
painting but it was just a complete mass of unintelligible swirls and
colors." you're looking at something like an impressionist painting
and only seeing the little dots, not the picture underneath.
quoted 7 lines perhaps FSOL is just>> perhaps FSOL is just
>> too... well... *futuristic* for the people on this list (i'm not
>> singling you out dave) who claim that they want to hear the future of
>> music but in actuality prefer a thumpin' 909, some gratuitous weird
>> noises, and a few simple synth lines around it.
>
>Forgive my bluntness once again, but that's a truckload of buffalo ordure.
well, i've already got a few letters in private from people who agree
with me on that point, so you'll forgive me if i continue to believe
it.
quoted 3 lines I don't have a really clear picture of what the future of music will be,>I don't have a really clear picture of what the future of music will be,
>and despite protestations to the contrary I'm not particularly convinced
>that most musicians and IDM-readers really know either.
i didn't mean to say that "in the future, all music will sound like
FSOL" - just that they are doing stuff that is too complicated for
some people to grok in the present day and perhaps in the future it
will all seem simpler.
quoted 4 lines So true. But it _works_. For all it's "simplicity" and adherence to>So true. But it _works_. For all it's "simplicity" and adherence to
>"standard" techno structure, it achieves more for me than the majority
>of the "listen to the wonderful noises, and pass the bong while you're
>at it" stuff on AA.
for you, yes. but i get the sense from you (and others) who are
perplexed by AA that an album full of PNG-style music would be quite
welcome. FSOL themselves realize that that would probably get good
reviews and sell quite well but they prefer to forge ahead. and i
applaud them for it.
quoted 7 lines Perhaps it's a matter of history and perspective -- I'm approaching>Perhaps it's a matter of history and perspective -- I'm approaching
>this from more of a "Detroit" direction. To me, what Jeff Mills
>accomplishes on "Atlantis" is far more impressive than what Dougans &
>Cockbain do on "Ephidrena" -- working almost entirely with
>synthesized/tweaked sounds (produced on bog-standard synths and a
>phalanx of distortion boxes) he creates a *coherent* sonic landscape
>that never sounds forced or gimmicky.
personally, i don't think AA is forced or gimmicky either - it all
flows in a *natural* manner. there's a sound on "swab" towards the
end - a sort of downward sweeping dark synth that appears and fits in
perfectly with the beat. it continues through the break and "mountain
goat" takes off around it - but the sound is still repeating at the
same interval! and it fits perfectly in both tracks. touches like
that are why I claim that AA is inspired art and not a bunch of thrown
together noodling.
listening to "accelerator" right now and totally grooving...
Jon Drukman jdrukman%dlsun87@oracle.com
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This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.