So as a little public note to everyone: sorry
if my postings seemed off topic, but I wanted
to provide a catalyst for more discussion.
Hopefully this will be my last post on the theory
of criticism and I can from now on focus on
just the music. I thank everyone for their
opinions, and Michael I especially appreciated yours
as I think your interpretation hit the nail on the head.
Just to give an example of some more reviews
I plan to write, here are two I came up with for
a pair of CD's: the first review is ultimately negative,
the second ultimately positive, but I think both
are informative and allow people to make their own
decisions while I share my viewpoint and serve
to illustrate what I'm trying to do and likewise
encourage others to do: be as descriptive and
informative and helpful as possible in reviews/discussion.
Hrvåtski: Oiseaux 96-98
CD, Reckankreuzungsklankewerkzeuge, 1999
Debut full-length for Keith Whitman, following his
nigh-anonymous work as many different artists on
the off-kilter “compilation” Attention: Cats 12” in 1998.
This album is less an album than a compilation of
unreleased tracks from (you guessed it) 1996-1998,
and is a more professional and overt disc than its
companion, Okapi Tracks (only available as a collection
of MP3’s). At heart of this we have a great deal of
fascination with Squarepusher and the rest of the
Spymania/Rephlex “drill n’ bass” crew, but instead of
Tom Jenkinson’s spastic creationism and driving bass
assault, we have refined, educated musical structures
laden with samples, derivations and almost indie guitar
noodling. There are touches of lots of things, from
Stockhausen to Digital Hardcore, but ultimately this
for me ended up being just too all over the scale.
It was almost like Finnegans Wake: it seemed to be
attempting to be a comprehensive summa of 20th
century experimental works, containing aspects of
composition from classical Italian machine cuts to
DJ Scud, from Sahko-esque bleep to Auto Bulbian carnage.
Most of the tracks don’t work for me, not because of the effort
involved in their creation (of which there certainly was
some), but because of the somewhat cut and paste
approach to amalgating various music genres (like
electro-acoustic and jungle, for example), and that
the substance of a record is found in a unifying sense
of purpose and a clear vision. Hrvatski didn't convince
me that was present on this record, and in fact I return to
Attention: Cats in its universal, exciting uptempo
blasting intricacy much more than this, which simply
tries to serve too many purposes for me. This is less
a new work in a new genre of music than a record
collector and music enthusiast assembling a Frankenstein
out of his diverse interests. However, when it works,
it definitely works: "Routine Exercise", the album's
opening track, was one of the most exciting and interesting
tracks I heard last year. If more of Hrvatski's tracks had
this wonderful synthesis and the cohesiveness that turns
his raw talent into realized composition, his next release
would be anything but routine - it would be a landmark.
-
Worth checking/avoiding if you like/don't like:
Squarepusher, the Hangable Auto Bulb EP's,
John Cage with drill and bass / super jungle sensibilities
Pole: 2
CD, Kiff SM / Matador, 1999
Second disc from Berlin mastering engineer
Stefan Betke, whose perhaps overly intellectualized
conception of dub through a crackling, damaged
Waldorf filter took the adventurous music crowd by
storm in 1998. Pole returns with thirty more minutes
of analytical imperfections, suitably minimal and
haunting: you’ll see no one dancing to this. Instead
imagine the dub played in a graveyard at midnight,
and perhaps a university library in mid-morning, and
you’ll have something of the effect this music gives
to careful listeners. The stir of echoes, the transient
transparency of bass dub and the crystalline purity
of refined Jamaican rhythms are all present on this
disc, muted by while yet muting the everpresent
crackles, pops and hisses, the expulsion of which
provides Betke a day job. Said glitches serve a dual role
as rhythm and focus on various tracks, either hiding
in the reverberation of the dubby warped dancehall or
meandering along beside it, and their impact can be
either ignored or intensely scrutinized appropriately.
Whether or not this aspect of the music entices you
will perhaps filter and reflect your reaction to this disc:
either as the proud realization of Betke’s thesis or
abstract conceptual wankery. If you relish it, you’ve
already stopped reading this review and put the disc
on your “to acquire” list. If not, what we’re left with
is somewhat spectral, austere dub, and if a less
rhythmic or developed, yet suitably eerie and pulsating
take on King Tubby or Lee Perry appeals to you,
by all means purchase this. For this reviewer the
music itself is mesmerizing and elegant, and the effect
provided by the crackling serves mostly to give it the
remarkably effective impression of being a transmission
from the depths of the past, reflecting the inherent
decay of the physical universe. For introspective sunsets.
-
Worth checking/avoiding if you like/don't like:
King Tubby's darker minimal works, Maurizio or Burial Mix,
generally experimental/intellectual interpretations of dub/bass
Finally, whoever mentioned Thug sounding like a BDP
out take - I _love_ Thug's Isolated Rhythm CHock, but I
was quite enamored with the work's emotional sensibility
while trying different structures and sounds than say
Rhythim Is Rhythim or BDP. I think Thug sounds less like
an out take from Bytes than an interpretation of Black Dog
with less emphasis on vocal sampling, jazzier interludes or
one underlying gorgeous hook but retaining a lot of the
essence that made BDP great. In short, Thug is one of the
artists who has helped in the evolution of this genre rather
than the constant reworkings in a lode already mined.
Peace,
Matt
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