IDM Mailing Archive

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

On Fri, 17 May 1996, Greg Earle wrote:

quoted 3 lines But I'm wondering

> 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?

The thing that really gets me going about the Plug stuff is Vibert's *drums*. The context is drum'n'bass, yet he's able to bring a real lightness/swing/variation to that type of rhythm that one would normally associate only with jazz trapsmen. Yet a lot of the actual percussive sounds and effects he creates can only be done electronically, which is where the idea of fusion comes into play, IMO. There's also a real attention to detail and freshnes in his rhythm programming that very few other d'n'b producers even bother with.... - Matthew

quoted 8 lines - I bought a Japanese (on Sony!) Jeff Mills mix CD called "Mix-Up Vol.2

> - 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 ... >

--Got this CD approx. 2 weeks ago, and it is absolutely fucking brilliant. Jeff Mills is absolutely fantastic, and his Dj skills to boot are equally impressive. The three deck wizardry is completely and totally live; IE no bullshit studio editing ({this} is how a mixed music tape/cd should sound like!!!) The Circuit Breaker track rocks the house, and the Advent mix into the Skull song into Strings of Life rules!! For all the Advent lovers out there, the mix of Shi-Take is awesome, just got it today. ADVENT is the teacher...... 30303030303030303030303030303 James Benjamin Gill jgill@u.arizona.edu check it on the www, even though it sucks :(

On Fri, 17 May 1996 22:10:45 -0700 (MST), James B Gill wrote:

quoted 17 lines - I bought a Japanese (on Sony!) Jeff Mills mix CD called "Mix-Up Vol.2

>> - 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 ... >> >--Got this CD approx. 2 weeks ago, and it is absolutely fucking >brilliant. Jeff Mills is absolutely fantastic, and his Dj skills to boot >are equally impressive. The three deck wizardry is completely and >totally live; IE no bullshit studio editing ({this} is how a mixed music >tape/cd should sound like!!!) The Circuit Breaker track rocks the house, and >the Advent mix into the Skull song into Strings of Life rules!! For all >the Advent lovers out there, the mix of Shi-Take is awesome, just got it >today. ADVENT is the teacher...... >

I posted this to 313 a week ago, but avoided crossposting, but since it's come up here, here's my take on this tasty oddity. there's a fullon HTML version with graphics, soundclip, links, automatic transmission, drivers side airbag, etc. at http://hyperreal.com//music/reviews/davis/mills.mix/ peeeeeeeeeeeeeeece, ============================================================== [Liquid Room Manga] At first glance the exterior presented excessive signs of invention. It was as if the zest for advancement lurked here sometime ago, the look, feel, essence of conforming to the countless possibilities of what could be or more ; than likely, what should be became institutional habit. Checking in to their system is, I believe, alluring as well as unretractable. I became overwhelmed and employed this unique form of cultural fixation. As the outsider, I became the highlighted spectator in the rush of organization. Graciously transported from location to location, I quickly became a working fixture in the system. To say it looks futuristic is valid hut only if you have seen the future. I saw in the eyes of the insiders a schematic rendition of the destiny of mankind. I approached them in hopes that I might find another part of myself. This part being the component necessary in self-advancement of my given craft. This was found but only in an uninterpretable language. The first encounter was much too brief to sustain an equation. I needed another chance. The opportunity came again 10/28/95 -Jeff Mills --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Segment 1 Utopia Jeff Mills The Extremist Jeff Mills Magneze Surgeon The Start It Up Joey Beltram Step To Enchantment (Stringent) Millsart LifeCycle Jeff Mills Untitled A Jeff Mills Work That Body DJ Funk Run(UK) DJ Funk Play With The Voice In The USA DJ Joe Vanelli Clementina Wicked Wipe i9 Jeff Mills Changes Of Life Jeff Mills Overkill Circuit Breaker Eternal Sun iO Gameform Joey Beltram Club MCM Club MCM AX-009 Jeff Mills Move Surgeon Wet Floor Traxmen Detached Jeff Mills Nocturnal Claude Young Segment 2 Bad Boy Advent The 187 Skillz DJ Skull Strings of Life / Rhythm Is RhythmMayday Loop 3 Jeff Mills Untitled B Jeff Mills Extra (Luke Slater Mix) Ken Ishii Avion Damon Wild Intro (X-102) X-102 Growth Jeff Mills Suspense H & M The Other Side The Shadow FlowerchildA Dan Morgan Bazeltoya Hell & Jonzon Segment3 Casa Jeff Mills LifeCycle Jeff Mills Step To Enchantment (Stringent) Millsart Those of you that have been to Liquid Room in Tokyo will know that it is a "different' kind of space for a party, much in the same way that this CD is a "different" delivery medium for minimal groove techno. Liquid Room is at the top of a tiny seventh floor elevator in surreal, Bladerunner-like Shinjuku. You enter the party amidst the bustle of post-working week Tokyo all-night happy hour, and leave to the rising sun of a littered city silent, save for the carving and sliding of the local street skaters. The room is highly compressed with an energetic crowd of local kids, average age = 17.34. I wasn't there for this Mills gig, but I've seen Ken Ishii there twice, and it is definitely a "different" forum for a party. This disc is different. Nearly 70 tracks (35 slabs of vinyl and at least 35 "third records"). Lollapalooza-like crowd noise. Bass maxed out to the point of muddiness, though the bins at LR are quite clean. A quirky track selection that I enjoy, but that doesn't really bring out the most of Mill's set development capabilities. The set basically hangs in at 150-160BPM throughout all three segments, except for the -8 / thumbdrag wind down into X-102 Intro or the transitionless slam into the Mayday history lesson of an audibly worn, tried but true Strings Of Life. Along with Beltram, pre-Plastik Hawtin, wicked Damon Wild et al, the trackselection includes a heapin' helping of Mills' own children, and justifiably so. I find it fascinating to simultaneoulsy hear Mills as artist and interpreter, bypassing the 1200's, mixers and bassbins for the CD listener so that we can hear exactly how he intended these grooves to be interleaved. Two simple minimalist mantras like Growth and Suspense do a thing of beauty make when overlaid and underwoven at Mills' hand. Even with creatures that aren't peas in a pod, like Hawtin's acid growler Overkill and the simple off kilter bleep of iO's, Eternal Sun, Mills stacks to good effect. He even collects the offering from those whom we alternatively classify as JM peers or wannabees, Surgeon and Claude Young. Respect. Though not all the mixes are flawless, it's great to have Mills' technical turntable wizardry in a CD format that allows multiple cue and reviews for maximum appreciation. All we need now is an interactive CD-Interactive with video. The mixing is frenzied, aggressive, in your face and cocky, and there are plenty of tricks to be found. He can hit the bottom of the EQ so hard that the bottom drops out. Mills loves the backspin as transition glue, and he can crank it back very, very fast. He vollies back and forth between percussion and squelch with as much heat and frantic energy as a carnival in Rio. A simple driving house groove becomes a wicked razzmatazz rope-a-dope beneath the skilled hand of the Purpose Maker. When he drops a crowd favorite like Changes Of Life, he does it as a tease, allowing just a whiff of the well ridden track. He plays knick-knack-paddywhack with the Surgeon's goods, starting and stopping on the dime. Mills wickedly timestretches the vinyl to coax growling scary monsters and purring kitty kats out of the mix. The tricks are flashy and exciting, but it's the mixes that really improve with repeated listening. It's common knowledge that Mills does things with the wheels that 95% of the general public can't even perceive in real time, and if the number of subleties that keep creeping out of these mixes with each playing is any indication, I'll be popping this CD in frequently for some time. 1996. all rights reserved, all wrongs reversed. Jeff Davis (pHlow) jjdavis@xnet.com [Image] http://www.xnet.com/~jjdavis/ =========================================================================== Jeff Davis <pHlow> ____--~~~~~~vvvv~~~~ oooo812.831.7846 jjdavis@xnet.com____---- ( ( ( vvvv ~~~~~~ooooooooooooo ___----( ( \ \ \ \ \ vvv ooooooooooooooooooo ____---- ( \ \ \ \ \ \ \ http://www.xnet.com/~jjdavis/

On Fri, 17 May 1996 15:30:44 -0700, you wrote:

quoted 4 lines - Some some new compilation on Rough Trade that looked like it would have

> - 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?

That'll be the 2xCD Electric Community Compilation, compiling together a load of recent Warp and R&S tracks. Rough Trade is of course a licencee for both labels. Check out the dedications ;) g.