From david turgeon Sent Tue, Aug 17th 1999, 21:40
From david turgeon Sent Tue, Aug 17th 1999, 21:40
this is an old release, but it surprised me so much when i first listened to it on the subway that i figured i'd talk about it a bit -- vvv 'endless', the collaboration between panasonic & former suicide frontman alan vega. i'm not familiar with suicide at all, & the only panasonic i had heard previously was 'kulma' (which for the most part bored me to death) so i guess it's safe to say i didn't have too many preconceptions. i suppose you better not have any when you encounter this for the first time. the vocals actually mix very well with panasonic's impossibly bare sinewave grooves. it sounds really awkward for the first track (especially thanks to the overkill echo effect on vega's voice which makes it contrast too much with the rest) but afterwards it's almost as if vega was simply translating the machine's thoughts in plain english (provided that the machines have a huge fixation on christianity). the lyrics didn't annoy me as it did some; in fact, the likeliness to ian curtis' voice is almost uncanny, & being quite fond of old joy division, this certainly doesn't bother me. as for the music part. very raw. very solid (even the more abstract moments). never feels like noodling. repetition abounds, of course, but here again, vega's voice adds the extra dimension which makes the thing sound quite alive. what i'm wondering though is what would have happened if the vocal parts, rather than being simply overdubbed to the mix, had been mulched with by vainio/vaisanen(sp?) the same way as they destroy every other sound they work with. that would have probably made for an even creepier robotic nightmare. a relatively standard 4/4 beat is prevalent throughout, thumping more on some songs than on others (some of them just totally ROCK, like track 1 on 'kulma' does) but overall keeping the thing firmly framed together. anyhow -- this is definitely a cold, mechanical, trance-inducing record, yet with a definite human element in it which makes it possible to appreciate it on another level than the purely academic 'oh look at the cute little dsp noise with the furry ears & the fuzzy logic' type of thing. approach with some caution still, though, because i have a hunch not everybody is going to be into that (& especially not those who long for a 'return to feeling' in idm.) -- david