...but I swear to GOD that there is a sample from the Swans' "Blackmail"
in "Tilt the Frequency" by Subtropic, which is otherwise a tastefully-
done chunk of that weird ambient jungle stuff that people keep talking
about. Holy genre collision, Batman! "Close your eyes" indeed!
Well, OK, I agree that the term "ambient jungle" is hideously inaccurate,
"intelligent jungle" is arrogant, "deep" is a horribly overloaded term,
and "future jazz" is so vague as to be meaningless. I'll say instead that
this is well-constructed jungle that doesn't play by the numbers and
stays away from Amen and Helicopter for the most part. It has pretty
melodies and weird analogue noises. Like T Power, it bridges between the
techno and jungle worlds in an effective way. However, I'd venture that
it's more jungle than techno.
The album as a whole is fairly impressive. Yes, it's not as operatically
structured as T Power, but I don't think that it's trying to be. For my
money, it hangs together much more cohesively than Timeless (or at least
the bastardized single-CD version of Timeless). The only songs on
Timeless I really liked were the remixes of "Angel", which I already had.
Grr... "Inner City Life" does absolutely nothing for me. But I digress.
Anyway, this is good stuff, and I recommend it to people who like things
like 4 Hero and T Power. It definitely stands outside the jungle
mainstream, but at this point, jungle could use a few outsiders lobbing
weirdness in. Too many more variations of Amen and I _will_ scream.
Oh, and after listening to the live Ministry of Sound: AWOL disc a few
times I want to move to London. Really bad. A must-have for all fans of
jungle and its culture. This disc _bleeds_ personality, even though you
can't hear the music too well. Dig those airhorns! Listen to the MCing!
I'd never really understood MCs before. I sure as shit do now.
yrz,
ozy
ozymandias G desiderata ogd@organic.com Ravers Suck Our Sound
(415)284-6888
http://www.organic.com/Staff/ogd/ ::AOAIOXXYSZ::