From Michael Upton Sent Sun, Feb 21st 1999, 21:15
From Michael Upton Sent Sun, Feb 21st 1999, 21:15
Not earth shatteringly recent, but current... All IMO, tra la la.. 'Dialogue' - Four Tet As nice as people have suggested. It's a more earthy sound than a lot of so-called post-rock, but also uses a lot of cut ups of hiphop beats, alongside flutes and sax and clean guitar, so it also has a trip-hop flavour. However many years on, I still hate the word "trip-hop". :-) Anyway, the album's good and crusty, has a really nice subdued mood, and tracks vary between grooves that just sit there and more progressive stuff. 'Tee' - Sun Electric 'Tee' is the opening track of 'Via Nostra'. The A-Side has a SE version, and one or two other tracks by them, neither of which really grabbed me. The B-Side features Plaid and Modernist mixes, both of which could've been potentially great, and neither of which were. Plaid do their usual fiddly clean electro thing, and the Modernist does a pretty generic little house mix. I'm not sure exactly why it seems generic compared to his own stuff, but that was the impression I was left with. 'Illuminati' - The Pastels I'd never heard the Pastels until this, which, as has already been discussed on this list, is a bunch of remixes. As an album, it's not life-changing, but definitely enjoyable, with a few really superb moments. Generally the mixes I had highest hopes for didn't get me, eg. Mouse on Mars, Jim O'Rourke, and John McEntire. My favourite is definitely by To Rococo Rot, which starts with some gentle guitar, giving way to a sparse and delicate wee drum machine and digital burbles. It's just really light and nice, without being too sweet. The Cornelius and Stereolab mixes are also loads of fun. Michael ____________________________________________ "His eyes are TV cameras" http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~michael/jj.html