IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 5 lines Infonet: Usability Now Infonet

> > >Infonet: Usability Now Infonet > > can someone direct me to a review of this, or even just a track list? >

This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet, track listing as follows: 1. Sons of the Subway - Upstart 2. New Adult - Common Law 3. Reload - Peschi (Original) 4. Bandulu - Downward Glance (Demonz) 5. Rev One - Synth-less 6. Thunderground - You Missed 7. Sons of the Subway - Locked Out 8. Up-surge - Loopholes 9. Bandulu - Open Gate 10. New Adult - Hometown If you like the first Bandulu album, you may like this one. However, I was unimpressed and would be willing to part with my CD copy if anyone's interested. -- Mark Turner mturner@netcom.com

Teep wrote:

quoted 3 lines Infonet: Usability Now Infonet

> > >Infonet: Usability Now Infonet > > > > can someone direct me to a review of this, or even just a track list?

Mark Turner wrote:

quoted 2 lines This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet.

> This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet. > If you like the first Bandulu album, you may like this one.

I have to say I disagree with you, Mark - this certainly was my favourite compilation in '94. As on Infonet's previous 'Beyond Machines' collection, many of these songs were penned by Bandulu under their various guises. This one was published when Infonet was still Creation Records' sublabel, but as I have heard lately, they have switched or about to switch their label to somewhere else. For anyone interested, here's an excerpt from the review I wrote for the Finnish dance music magazine _ex_ last April (as a rough translation from Finnish, hope you can forgive me my crummy Anglais - and the more pathetic bits :-). "Typical for all these songs is the dark, brooding, jagged-edged and acidy (as in to burn) sound, which turns the echoing warehouses of rave parties to seedy catacombs. If you were into Reload's 'Collection of Short Stories', you just have to love this collection. This compilation is subtitled 'The Interaction of Man / Computer / Machine', and we are talking about the paganistic alliance of Man and Machine, and not necessarily for the good of the former. NOTHING EVER CHANGES PROGRESS IS A MYTH, declares the CD's inner sleeve. In this music one can hear the desolate industrial sites covered by fog and the cold stone walls of concrete blocks, which give no hope for their inhabitants. There's no future of love and happiness for the shiny happy flower children on this record. Not that you'd expect any future at all after having kept your eyes and ears open for the last ten years worth of news of global overpopulation and the threatening eco catastrophe. These things are something to which inevitability we have all grown accustomed to. But maybe there's a way to get used to the chaos, maybe to turn it to your advantage - 'Usability Now'. In twenty years time people may have to wear protective clothing to keep them safe from the radiation and acid rain. People will have build dams to keep at bay the water raised by the molten arctic glaciers - and by this time no one gives a damn, because all this will be accepted as given. The ecolocigal pessimists would deem these ideas immoral, but as we know, man is an animal prone to adapt. The record is concluded by 'Hometown' by New Adult, which already offers some lighter shades, like sunshine shyly peeking from the cloudy sky darkened by industrial chimneys." Sorry if this was a bit angstful (the Finnish springtime always does this to me :-) and strayed a bit from the actual music, but I hope this gave you the idea of the very _mood_ this compilation expressed to me. Maybe someone else could tell us more about the songs, as I feel the technical details (the use of 808s, 303s, etc.) were never really my cup of tea :) Radiatingly Happy New Year to everyone :) ERkki OnNow: Beastie Boys - Check Your Head

quoted 2 lines Infonet: Usability Now Infonet

> > > >Infonet: Usability Now Infonet > > >

I said:

quoted 3 lines This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet.

> > > This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet. > > If you like the first Bandulu album, you may like this one.

Then Erkki Rautio said:

quoted 5 lines I have to say I disagree with you, Mark - this certainly was my favourite

> > I have to say I disagree with you, Mark - this certainly was my favourite > compilation in '94. As on Infonet's previous 'Beyond Machines' collection, > many of these songs were penned by Bandulu under their various guises. This >

Well, that's why I compared it to the first Bandulu album, which I also found lacking in variety. You gave "Useability" a very thoughtful review, though, and I thank you for sharing it. My problem with the comp is that it all sounds the same. Creating a mood is certainly a worthy goal, but if nothing changes after the first few tracks then why keep listening? Since you mentioned Reload, let me say that I consider "Short Stories" to be a *vastly* superior album, both for creating a mood and for originality. I cannot agree with your statement, however, that anyone who likes "Short Stories" will also like "Useability," since that was not true for me. If you're a DJ, then "Useability" might be a good mixing album. Most of the tracks are closer to rhythms than actual songs. But for sustained listening, most of the other comps I bought in '94 were much better. IMHO, of course. -- Mark Turner mturner@netcom.com

Erkki Rautio (c'est moi, mon freres et soeurs) wrote:

quoted 3 lines I have to say I disagree with you, Mark - this certainly was my favourite

> > I have to say I disagree with you, Mark - this certainly was my favourite > > compilation in '94. As on Infonet's previous 'Beyond Machines' collection, > > many of these songs were penned by Bandulu under their various guises.

To which Mark Turner answered:

quoted 2 lines Well, that's why I compared it to the first Bandulu album, which I

> Well, that's why I compared it to the first Bandulu album, which I > also found lacking in variety.

What did you think of their second one, 'Antimatters'? Was that more diverse sounding to you? I thought there was a nice try on old school dub ('Agent Jah') amongst the others.

quoted 2 lines You gave "Useability" a very thoughtful

> You gave "Useability" a very thoughtful > review, though, and I thank you for sharing it.

My pleasure :) My problem with the

quoted 7 lines comp is that it all sounds the same. Creating a mood is certainly a

> comp is that it all sounds the same. Creating a mood is certainly a > worthy goal, but if nothing changes after the first few tracks then > why keep listening? Since you mentioned Reload, let me say that I > consider "Short Stories" to be a *vastly* superior album, both for > creating a mood and for originality. I cannot agree with your > statement, however, that anyone who likes "Short Stories" will also like > "Useability," since that was not true for me.

Well, I was just trying to give the people, who had not heard 'Usability', just some kind of idea of how the music - or its mood :) - on the comp was. Too bad I just couldn't assure you. Apples or oranges? :) And I do think there is many a good album where nothing actually changes after the beginning. Wasn't that the idea behind Brian Eno's original concept of ambient music in the mid-70's? That the music doesn't change itself or changes very little, but instead your *perception* of the very music changes, or your perception of how you listen to it changes... But maybe this is getting too far from our original topic, and I can well understand, if you found the comp a little monotonous after a while. Opinions differ, and I'm glad we both at least agreed on Reload's album, which I actually preferred over their Global Communication stuff, which was a bit too newage-ish for my tastes.

quoted 3 lines But

> But > for sustained listening, most of the other comps I bought in '94 > were much better. IMHO, of course.

Yeah, I do have a respect for your opinion. It's just a matter of personal taste: nowadays I tend to be more into darker stuff like this one was to me. And I do admit there must have been loads of better records and compilations in '94. This one just sounded OK to me, when I purchased it last spring, and still does :) Enjoy the music, enjoy the life ERkki trerra@uta.fi OnNow: Tackhead - Mind at the End of the Tether 12"

Erkki Rautio wrote

quoted 5 lines What did you think of their second one, 'Antimatters'? Was that more

> What did you think of their second one, 'Antimatters'? Was that more > diverse > sounding to you? I thought there was a nice try on old school dub > ('Agent > Jah') amongst the others.

OK so you weren't asking _me_, but I like this LP a lot. Also "Original Scientist" is a very good dub track. I had read good reviews and bought it after a listen in the shop. I enjoyed it so much that the next week I took a listen to the first LP, and I was sorely unimpressed by comparison, and didn't buy. The diversity just wasn't there. Just my $0.02 (as you 'merkins say.) J ^ James Skilton aka Steady J - jamess@firefox.co.uk ^---+ What's in the basket? My Brother!

quoted 21 lines Infonet: Usability Now Infonet

>> >> >Infonet: Usability Now Infonet >> >> can someone direct me to a review of this, or even just a track list? >> >This is a rather pedestrian techno comp on Infonet, track listing as follows: > >1. Sons of the Subway - Upstart >2. New Adult - Common Law >3. Reload - Peschi (Original) >4. Bandulu - Downward Glance (Demonz) >5. Rev One - Synth-less >6. Thunderground - You Missed >7. Sons of the Subway - Locked Out >8. Up-surge - Loopholes >9. Bandulu - Open Gate >10. New Adult - Hometown > >If you like the first Bandulu album, you may like this one. However, I >was unimpressed and would be willing to part with my CD copy if anyone's >interested.

Well, this CD is basically all Bandulu under different names, except for the Reload track. The original "Peschi" is simpler but more propulsive than the album version, and (Demonz) is IMHO less interesting than the excellent cut on _Phase..._e.p._. For my money, though, the Thunderground track is the jewel with a blasting 202 line and blippy syncopated undercarriage. (Even better, though, is the fantastic "Illegal rush" on _Beyond_the_Machines_.) --Jeff Kihn Visible Records LastRelease: >>Aonox<< by Joey Beltram NextRelease: Not Breathing >>Event Horizon e.p.<< Odyssey Nine "Forklift/Drama 20" (ltd 10" pic disc)