From Dave Segal Sent Fri, Jul 2nd 1999, 16:17
From Dave Segal Sent Fri, Jul 2nd 1999, 16:17
>From: Tom Millar <xxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxx.xxx.xxx> > >Flanger: Templates >Ntone CD33 > >What? Huh? Did I say Bernd Friedmann? I believe the guiding light on >this record must have been Atom Heart. Bernd Friedmann, whatever his >choice of sounds, never really composes music you can call "sparse." >This is sparse. Two-bit Acid Jazz all over the place. When Friedmann >does whip it out it's pretty obvious, because suddenly everything gets >this lush dubby feel and I start enjoying the record. Then it's just >back to sad little vamps and organ doodles which I couldn't give two >shits about really. God Dammit. I was really looking forward to this one >and it's boring. Guess I'll listen to Deutscher Funk 2 again. Or >Deutscher Funk 1, for that matter. Or my old Nonplace Urban Field stuff. >Hell, it's all pretty much more interesting than this turned out to be. >I think this is what happens when you work too hard, Bernd & Uwe. Calm >down, release a few less records a year, guys. Look at what happened to >Pete Namlook! Hey! We like you too much for that! > >Tom I must humbly disagree with Tom's assessment of Flanger's Templates. It's one of the *least boring* releases of the year. It sounds positively restless with ideas, in fact. I haven't heard a record that toggles between the organic and synthetic with such rewarding results in... well, a long time. Kind of conjures what I imagine a collaboration recorded in Mego laboratories between Matmos and Luke Vibert would sound like. It's a subtle, headphone album, with all kinds of interesting microscopic sonic events happening in an ADD-friendly manner. I often agree with Tom's reviews, but I think he was off the mark with Flanger. Dave Segal Managing Editor/Alternative Press Reviews/BPM/Reissue Redux/Origins Of Cool Secret Ions on WCSB Thursdays 9-11PM EST www.wcsb.org np: flanger- templates [ntone]