| To: Intellectually Dismissive Muzak <idm@hyperreal.com>
| Date: Wed, 07 Feb 1996 15:09:34 -0800
| From: ozymandias G desiderata <ogd@organic.com>
|
| The Higher Intelligence Agency: Freefloater CD (ACV)
|
| OK, you ambient dub freaks, you're falling down on the job! HIA
| kicks the snot out of that lame _Last Train to Lhasa_ and Loop
| Guru crap and you know it, but still you fail to fess up. What's
| up with that?
I agree, for the most part.
I can't quite bring myself to call _...Lhasa_ lame, but this is because I
recently heard it in full quadrophonic glory when Toby Marks performed in
Seattle. Admittedly, all but a few tracks on the first _...Lhasa_ disc pale
in comparison, and I consider the second _..Lhasa_ disc disposable (at least
they didn't charge for it).
I asked around locally about both discs before hearing them, and like you, I
can't figure why everyone was so excited about _...Lhasa_, and yet seemed
matter of fact about _freefloater_.
| Here's one of the finest things to _ever_ come out of the Beyond
| stables and I see nary a mention of it [...]
Don't forget Electronic Eye: closed circuit. I've been surprised by the
people who've liked this when I played it at work, because I assumed Richard
H. Kirk was a little "out there." Check it out if you haven't.
| [...] In most ways, this is just an extension and refinement of
| HIA's sound, but it sounds so lush and warm. [...]
Roger that. I found the HIA's first album, _colourform_, a bit simplistic.
I could never quite put my finger on what I thought was missing, since
simplicity is not a problem in itself - but surprisingly, I could also never
quite stop playing it! I guess it was just a foreshadowing of what was to
come. With _freefloater_, there is no mistaking the perfection that HIA have
now achieved. The HIA take the excellent engineering of their first album
and, with the new album, add evidence of songwriting abilities that I had not
discerned.
Brian