scanner "lauwarm instrumentals" sulphur
on "lauwarm instrumentals" robin rimbaud has almost totally stopped
using scanned mobile phone conversations in his music. the result is to the
music's advantage, it gives it more focus. and scanner har really grown as
a musician on this album. not content to be pigeonholed as an industrial
ambient an techno musician, he draws heavily on influences of modern
classical music - do i hear steve reich influences on the first track? the
stunning "lithia water" contains classical strings, howling guitars and
massively phat dark breakbeats. the way scanner on the symphonical
"vertical line" puts a very slow rhythmical bassline, to mix different
musical genres, evokes strong emotions in the listener and make the album
the triumph it is.
it's currently battling for my "best album of the year (so far)"
award with cabbage boy's excellent "genetically modified".
kid loco "blues project" (yellow/eastwest)
a minialbum instumental hiphop with blues pretensions, a la dj cam
and dj shadow. sampled capitalistically religious americans bring on that
southern feel - not in the music, but in the experience of it. even if you
can tell the tunes are from 1996 it sounds very good - much better than kid
loco's long player of last year. a well motivated re-issue.
michael wells presents s.o.l.o. "out is in" (sulphur)
micheal wells had (has?) with robin rimbaud a club called the
electronic lounge. which is also an exellent description of this album:
electronic lounge music - sampled bits of lounge tunes and electronic
rhythms. similat to and a development from well's latest signs of
chaos-album, "departures". shame i didn't much like "departures". "out is
in", though, is likeable (a-little-more-than) background music. even though
it contain a porno flick sample (lukewarm).
the swarm "forsaken: the music" (no bones)
maybe you miss something when you don't, as i don't, play computer
games all day long. "forsaken" is a game with apparently a somewhat good
soundtrack, and of course the music is now available on regular cd, with
remixes by people like t-power, russ gabriel (ferox), bedouin ascent and
andy hughes (the orb). the best track is the first track, "pure bitch
power", a lovely red snapper-reminicient stomper with mc burglar on ragga
vox. the rest of the cd is filled with lite drum'n'bass/techno, pretty nice
but not super-impressive.
reviews written and translated from swedish by henrik strömberg
hs
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the soul is just a waste product that disperses
in the atmosphere and jams the tv broadcasts.