IDM Mailing Archive

quoted 5 lines A friend in the UK sent me this gift...

>A friend in the UK sent me this gift... > >ï Repeat: Canada 12" (Unexplored Beats UNEX003) > >This is a stunning 4-tracker...[hyperbole deleted]...10/10

i was extremely excited when this item came up on the fax. imo, unexplored beats is one of the most innovative, forward-thinking labels for new-school electro, far more so than retro namecheckers like clear and rephlex. the first two uxb twelves--"skool beats" by mark broom and "turnip in the mist" by kruton--left me breathless, and i still have a rough time getting my heard 'round "skool beats" a full year after it was released! the repeats one, however, underwhelms in extremis, imho. while i liked what i heard on the group's "south of market" ep on reflective, these tracks just go nowhere special, flitting about with uninspired, complexity-by-numbers (math electro?) rhythmic programming and not much development anywhere else--a problem plaid tend to have in general, and one present on "canada" to pretty glaring degree. (i think what made plaid-era tbd so special--ken's melodic and thematic depth combined with plaid's crazy beatwork--is also [with exceptions...the clear twelve, the studio pressure remix, and the _blech_ track] what make the two so bland apart.) also, i think comparing "canada" to the clear 12-inch (easily the best thing that label ever put out...well, maybe next to _makesaracket_) is a bit misguided. sc