I realize I might be a little bit behind but hopefully not EVERYBODY has
gotten their copies of these already... here goes.
D'arcangelo: Shipwreck (Rephlex CAT 078 CD)
Not as much depth as I expected on a lot of the tracks. Sticks to a lot
of simple (if good) chord progressions, keeps transitions to a minimum-
which is to say, it sounds a lot like old AFX in some spots. Sort of
makes me think of pre-techno synth work made slightly darker and shot up
with beats unheard. The rhythm occasionally plods along in workmanlike
fashion, as if they came up with a wonderful pattern for the hi-hats or
the BD/snare and then couldn't counter it very well with other sounds in
the kit... More or less, however, this is pretty damn good. High on
atmosphere and 80's OB bleepitude, dissapointing mostly in the higher
realms of compositional know-how. Strikes me as good now but I suspect
that there are mighty few tracks here I'll be digging out in a couple of
year's time (never a good sign when you can absorb most or all of a
musical work in two sittings, unless you can really get down to it).
Electric Company: Omokase (Vinyl Communications 166 LOHD 2)
Q: What do you get when you cross a brain afflicted with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder and a 56.6 modem?
A: This record.
Not to oversimplify or marginalize Brad Laner's work, but a longer
explanation would end up being fundamentally innacurate one way or
another. I suggest newcomers try out his last album, "Studio City" on
Island records, and if you like that enough pick up this one. Not very
easy to come to grips with at first while on the other hand not
radically different from his other work either. Maybe that's indicative
of how weird this bastard is.
Art Of Noise: The Seduction of Claude Debussy (ZTT UD-53235)
Ugh. Homogenized throughout, operatic vocal samples and some dude
talkin' all French-seductive and shit about nothing I care for really.
New Age influences abound... Gag me with a reverb unit. You can also
hear 'em trying to imitate the remixers from the last two or three
compilations released under their name but they can't pull it off very
well. Makes me think they might have been better off sticking with the
80s white-boy beats they started with. Not to sound like an impetuous
youth dissing on the masters of yore, but this ain't it.
To Rococo Rot: The Amateur View (Mute 9095-2)
When I first heard To Rococo Rot it was too guitarified for me- sounded
like an instrumental from one of about 5000 indie rock bands that were
playing with analog gear at the time trying to discover new horizons in
twee pop. Improvements have been made. Some of this still reminds me a
great deal of Komeda's instrumentals on their last album, but that's a
GOOD thing. Layers upon layers abound as well as connections to Mouse on
Mars's dub-inflected work. Lacks the fluffy fuzz distortion you might
expect but benefits in the long run by being clean, because otherwise
you might not notice just how well constructed this album is.
immediately after putting it on I called it "music for eating soup",
probably due in no small part to the fact that the kind of filters and
tones they use remind me somehow of having my stuffed-up nose cleared by
steam inhalation. Mmm, mmm good. So here's To Rococo Rot, back with
another one of them soup eatin' beats!
Tom