Chris Giles writes:
quoted 1 line Here follows a slab of reviews of some recent(ish) purchases of mine.>Here follows a slab of reviews of some recent(ish) purchases of mine.
...
quoted 12 lines 5. Jah Wobble + invaders of the heart. - Becoming more like god [island]>5. Jah Wobble + invaders of the heart. - Becoming more like god [island]
>
> A1: Becoming more like god, orig. mix
> A2: Wine, Women + song
> B: Becoming more like god, Secret Knowlegde 'to hell + back' mix
>
> A1 is a poweful vocal tune supported by the usual rock solid Wobble
>bass line, and some mellow guitar twiddling.
>A2: A more upbeat bass heavy thumper, this time led by hyper Ragga
>jabbering and a brass section (in addition to the wobble vocals).
> B: If it wasn't enough to have the above excellent tunes on the 12", we
>have an excellent mix by Kris Needs (Secret Knowledge, and Delta Lady above).
Kris Needs as in the old muso journalist?!? (As in either NME or MM)
quoted 4 lines It starts off with a meandering Dub section, immersed in washes of the>It starts off with a meandering Dub section, immersed in washes of the
>original tune, before building speed to the 141 bpm turbo Trance groove that
>one would expect from KN. Even brings in a FAX style filtered analogue
>sequence later. Top Quality. 9/10 cats prefer it.
Speaking of meandering Dub and old farts, did I get in the door too late for
the discussion of the latest Killing Joke "Exorcism" single?
Maybe this is old-hat news by now but I just bought it a couple of weeks ago.
The first and last tracks are standard-issue KJ fare (if you like that sort of
thing; it's kinda lost on me now but I have a soft spot for this lot - been a
"since Day 1" fan of theirs). But the middle 3 tracks are full-on, Judge Youth
At Da Controls workouts! One of the tracks is a monster Dub stormer with Jaz's
vocals pared down to the occasional far-off-in-the-distance heavily-echoed
wail, while Geordie's guitar winds away, bubbling underneath. Phenomenal.
Yet another track is a Techno workout (!!!) again using Jaz's voice in a very
minimalistic way as a sound element, rather than as The Main Frontperson Voice
That Dominates The Track Because The Singer Should Dominate The Track. And the
guitar work is very nicely integrated as well. I think that's a significant
challenge because almost invariably if I hear a guitar sound in Techno I begin
to scream uncontrollably, "No! No! NO!! Make it STOP!! Daddy Daddy, make it
STOP!" (-: Leave it to old farts like Steve Hillage and Killing Joke to figure
out how to add it unobtrusively as a sound element rather than as The Big Lead
Instrument Because Everyone Knows The Almighty Guitar is The Lead Instrument.
Outstanding to say the least.
I've been trying to convince the music makers in a certain big
useta-be-IDM-in-a-different-kinda-way "Industrial" band (no hints (-: ) that
this is the kind of stuff that they *could* be doing, instead of trying to
out-do that last Ministry (*cough*) or NIN (*belch*) record. And that was even
before I'd heard this record. Unfortunately, they've (KJ) got Youth and this
other band has (*sputter*) the only person left out from the last "old" Killing
Joke, Martin Atkins, producing them. Oh well. :-(
Anyway, the middle mixes are unlike any KJ, living or dead. A significant step
forward into the present for them. Thank goodness they knew enough to let
Youth take over the controls and leave him the fuck alone. Wunnerful stuff.
- Greg
P.S. The only other new thing I have is the IntelliNet comp, which I've seen
reviewed already. I did hear a very minimalistic thing from Cusp, who are
on said comp. It was a 12" on IntelliNet and the title was something like
"Venusian Biosphere", which I know I've seen someone mention somewhere ...