From Noah Sent Tue, Dec 16th 1997, 17:14
Review: Download III (released 10/21/97) After listening to the latest release by Download for a few moments, it becomes immediately obvious that the musicians responsible are not only some long-standing, highly influential veterans of electronica, but also that they have an exceedingly expansive repertoire of techniques to allure zealots of ambient, IDM, house, trip-hop, and industrial alike. These styles are all here, but the music isn't retained by an all-too-common genre-emulating approach that bewilders the waves nowadays. Download currently consists of cEvin Key (the multi-instrumentalist behind Skinny Puppy, Doubting Thomas, Hilt, and Cyberaktif as well as member of The Tear Garden), Phil Western (Philth of Off & Gone, Cap'm Stargazer, XMT), and Anthony Valcic. Fear not, for even if you weren't a person who could cuddle up to a band whose songs were littered with scraps of brief, yet haunting cinematic incidents whilst the unignorable voice of a being named "Ogre" free associated at length on the horrors of humanity, the recent experiments from SubConscious Studios in Vancouver have achieved a certain release from the confines of contemporary music. cEvin has steered the collective away from the grime of past industries and has chosen, finally, to focus his refined abilities on a more dance oriented full-length that eludes categorization. What makes this release stand out is the unprecedented engineering involved. This album will sound refreshing even to the most burnt-out reckid-lectin' fanger-lickin' vinyl-spinnin' gotta-get-them-last-few-limited-press-must-haves trance-inducin' ring-smokin' headphonauts (awe-yeah). The tracks contained on this disc are visionary in that most sounds and instruments used seem to continuously morph in texture, pitch, and along a number of other pleasing parameters. Drum patterns and sounds shift positions to accommodate an unusual, almost-continuous stream of twisted melodic profiles, shape shifting snares, and fleeting speech phrases. The entire album has a very realtime sound. "Toooly Hooof" opens the exhibition with assorted urban drum loops brought together with grinding toms, winding rim shots, and some funk-electro clips. A women with a velvety voice similar to Isabella Rossellini's advises: "Get up out of it." You will, and after you've shaken the initial shock of enchantment, you'll be on track 2, "Cunning." This one's got some nice spacious melodies and that housey kind of steadfast bassline. Sounds interact, come the fore, hypnotize, and recede. Cunning melts into "Moth," another solid track (this disc just happens to be full of them). If I recall correctly, all the tracks on the album are under 7 minutes long, meaning you aren't waiting around for things to happen. Our hosts display an amazing degree control over their machines, songs are saturated with a indescribable sounds that are merged into a unique atmosphere of musical soundtrackadelia. "MZEO B" and "Beauty in the Eyes" will no doubt be favorites in the ranks of Ae, Black Dog, or even FSOL fans. Near the middle of the album, "Streaked" is a more downtempo chillage track with a nice collection of drum sounds, and it's not without a certain abrasive, neo-industrialized edge that cEvin Keys compositions often retain. A distant ethereal piano passage gushes into your airplane-hanger sized headphone arena. The Beauty track is strongly reminiscent of Doubting Thomas, as a voice speaks from the spiritually thick layers of sound. "Sleeping Solus" blends a quasi-cocteau voice fragment with a 303-ish sound pulsing out every now and then. III is definitely a disc to be heard. Nettwerk says that "Download will be releasing remixes by Autechre and Berlin's Chain Reaction crew derived from tracks on III, as well as a video by award-winning director Rod Chong (Front Line Assembly, Marilyn Manson). A subCONSCIOUS label tour will follow." Good news indeed. Also, if it turns out that you like this disc (likely), you may want to seek out the related project PlatEAU which is more minimal, but similar. In fact, some of the PlatEAU tracks like "Purple Passion" and "Dutch Flowers" would be right at home on the new Download. "With the incredible speed of a rocket, your trip is short..." xx@x . . . . . . ..... . . . . . .