IDM Mailing Archive

From Within 2 (FAX PW 22) Richie Hawtin/Peter Namlook I've actually fallen off on my FAX buying of late -- this is the first one I've bought in a couple of months, primarily because there's such a thing as having enough of a particular style of music. But, I'm a Hawtin fan and a Namlook fan (so sue me). I haven't found the first "From Within" so I jumped on this one. It's been on constant rotation at work here for a day or two and my impression is: meditative, smooth, harmonically interesting. The first track "Do Bassdrums have Feelings" starts out with a neo-classical rubato section, complete with ahh-chorus, before going into a more rhythmic section based around a nice little one measure groove. Then you get a percussive section with rising and falling sub-bass that would be deadly on the bins. In my opinion this is not one of those "doesn't go anywhere" tracks people slag FAX for. This one covers some ground and has a sort of pleasantness and harmonic interest you don't often find, impeccably sequenced to rise and fall in intensity. 'Brain to Midi' is more in deep chill territory, starting out with quiet ring modulated speach sounds and distant rumbling. Eventually a solo synth comes in and meanders about pleasantly, to be joined by a one measure bassline pattern. It's a kind of long jam on a spanish-sounding modal scale. Finally about 13 minutes you finally get a little of Richie's Devilfish 303, and then it's gone again almost as quickly. It's as well structured as 'Bass Drum' but it's not as immediately inviting. And the name is something of a misnomer, as the piece sounds like it was mostly done with analog-style sequencers and live playing. There is such a thing as a brainwave-to-midi convertor, but I seriously doubt they used it here. 'Future Surfacing (What Lies Ahead)' is somewhat mistitled as well, it sounds a lot more like an early Tangerine Dream piece than anything 'futuristic' Again we get a combination of pattern sequencing with solos from Namlook. The pleasures here come from slow introduction of one-bar melodic loops in counterpoint over the course of the piece. Well into the piece comes a nicely syncopated 909 pattern. And then (drumroll please) the only readily recognizable 303 pattern. Richie is, of course, a past master of Accent and Slide, and for several minutes you get some trademark low-key Plastic, with some 909 crash bringing things to a climax. Throughout there is good use of harmonic modulation. After 25:00 you get about 2 minutes of silence, a little varispeed 909+303 snippet, and then at 31:00 another 'hidden track' that sounds more Plastic-y than Namlook-y. There's even a short section with some 4 on the floor bass kick and handclaps on 2 and 4. Then Peter comes in with an analogue string pad to tie things together. It's as though he left the room for a smoke and when he came back, Richie was up to his old tricks again. So there you have it. I think it exhibits the strengths of both artists, and creates a definite warm mood, and it is not an aimless tweak-a-thon. Enjoy! -- kent.williams@cadsi.com [Kent Williams/CADSI/2651 Crosspark Rd/Coralville IA 52241/(319)626-6700] 3 Reasons Why Not to use OS/2: Half of the prisons in the United States are run by OS/2. The federal judicial system in many states is run on OS/2. Nearly every computer in police cars across America run OS/2.