Legion of Green Men "Spatial Specific"
(Plus 8) PLUS8045
SUMMARY:
This is an odd record -- a real grab bag of styles, odder still that
it's on plus 8, since it's more an ambient record more than a dance
record. Each cut is in and of itself pretty strong. Not quite 'easy
listening' or 'new age' but they stick to pretty accesible
harmonies. They seem influenced by artists I like a lot, but at the
same time they have a certain something of their own. And it's
brilliantly recorded. They favor beefy synth sounds with enough
reverb to give them some space, but not so much that it turns muddy.
In comparing it to other +8 releases it shares a common theme of
carefully, almost academically exploring a particular musical
substyle, trying to come up with the perfect thing. Speedy J tries to
be perfect trance, Plastikman tries to be perfect minimal acid, Sysex
tries to out-minimal Plastikman, and LGM tries to be the
quintessential ambient.
Whether in fact they turn up as 'perfect' is open to debate, but the
intensity of focus applied does yield interesting results. +8
doesn't push the envelope as much as it tries to be best of breed.
PACKAGING:
CD comes with a clear Moire toy, which you can move around on the
various patterns on the packaging for hours of blunted fun.
OBLIGATORY NAMECHECK:
Delirium, Namlook, Richard Kirk
TRACK BY TRACK, BLOW BY BLOW:
To Kiss The Hare's Foot
Tiny Intro 'Bolt' -- studio silliness.
Zero Equals Infinity
A bit more silliness with the 'S&H' patch on a DX21 .
Synaptic Respone (faculties of cognition)
A relaxed boombap 120bpm outing most reminiscent to me of
Delerium/Intermix. Very pleasant, especially the subtle ping pong
snare tattoo that runs through it.
Mosaic Eye
Pushes all the old AI series buttons -- overlapping 4 bar loops of
16th note arpeggios. The pan pots have their day, and then the
trance beat kicks in.
Time Tunnel
Another Bolt -- scratching phono needles
Veneration of the Goddess
A droner, complete with tabla, kicks into a slow Richard Kirk ethnic
syncopated beat. Could actually get the dancing if pitched +8. A
nice warm bed of drones and some funky beats.
Interim Opuscule #57
Bolts again. Ring Mod and Delay, in 5/4 time. Then comes the
applause. Nice little Ice Cream Man melody.
Extended Shadows
Lush, Elegaic pads, slowly building up a beat of sorts. This is a
truly lovely track that zeros in to a 7/8 rhythm. Music for Daddy
Long Legs to dance to.
Logarhythm One Point Two
A Bolt -- drones under sequencer loops, for two minutes.
Ashes Rolling Over (still or nearly still)
Flanged drum dub under more Kraftwerkian sequencer loops. Morphs into
a double time section with the choir from Namlook's 'Air'. This is
really a journey.
The Philosopher's Stone (part two)
Echoey reversed sounds, & strings. This one is in a minor key and
goes by rubato for quite some time, before bringing in the analogue
bloop sequences. Then there's some cricket noises and other ambient
sounds with a plucked autoharp. Are we back in 'Air' territory?
You betcha. Wind chimes. Slow throbbing sounds.
Noise Floor
Bolt: Do filters sweep the Noise Floor? And How! Digeridoo sounds and
buzzing.
External Opuscule #55
The Noise Floor buzz sampled and looped and s l o w l y filtered. The
most droned out cut. Interesting, in that the rhythm is
provided by the clicking you get when you loop a sample without
picking a zero crossing point. This one gives Experimental Audio
Research, Labradford, and other drone merchants a run for their
money.
--
kent.williams@cadsi.com -- All views expressed are.
First rule of smoking: Light the brown end.
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