From Jon Drukman Sent Mon, Nov 3rd 1997, 21:04
warning: this message contains talk about music only. nothing about - aphex twin (he's barely musical anyway) - cover art - what chicks dig - the fact that my fridge died and i spent all morning driving around looking for dry ice suppliers. these are the musical things in my life this week. i will put real audio snips of the good tracks on my web site at http://sticky.bud.com. please check them out before criticizing anything written here. LISTEN LOUD AND CONCENTRATE. - eat static - science of the gods. number of goofy samples of people talking about aliens and flying saucers and abductions and implants: 0 number of ethnic vocal loops: 0 percentage of incredibly weird kick ass machine music: 90% this album is so far into its own space, it's almost impenetrable. no happy melodies, no cheesy snare rolls (well, maybe one or two, but i forgive them). just strange grooves and noises. the sounds of people who really know how to program their synths. the sounds of people who know how to mix a track so it sounds like a mountain is falling on your head. a good mix of jungle, downtempo breaks, and straight ahead four on the floor chugga chugga trance. my favorite track so far is "kryll" - it has some totally funky breaks and lush synth whirls. if this album has a failing it's that it's so out there that it takes multiple close listenings to see the method to their madness. as usual, patience is rewarded. - bentley rhythm ace cartoony breakbeat music, with a sense of humor that doesn't get in the way of the tunes or the groove. usually so-called "funny" music either isn't, or is utterly juvenile (cf: that guy i promised i wouldn't talk about), or is funny at the expense of the music. let's examine a track like "whoosh": it starts with something that sounds like an old tv show theme and then cranks into a nice dusty groove with lots of grunchy noises and a whispery voice saying "whooosh!". a fat bassline comes in, some synth bleeps, and the groove slowly starts to mutate. as the bleep line changes to a melody, the drum track gets some reinforcement, but it's subtle, unless you're really listening to it, you wouldn't notice exactly what happened, you'd just feel that the track got indefinably "heavier". then we break into that tv theme again and the beat comes back with a weird funk tune sample layered in, we break out to that alone and then in with a nice timbale solo. this is the way to sustain interest over several minutes. we're only two minutes in but already BRA has thrown in more sounds than lesser acts use in twice the amount of time. suddenly when you think you've got the whole track figured, it busts into a sorta electro-acidish thing with lots of synth pings & swirls. it builds and builds and breaks back with that damn tv show theme again and then into the full on funk thing, denser than a cheesecake. pure genius. if i have any complaints its that the album is really long so that listening to it all in one sitting is rather uncomfortable due to the sheer amount of information coming at you. that's not much of a complaint tho! - oil - slight of hand the first non-FSOL release on fsol's EBV label? anyway you slice it, leon mar is kicking ass left and right. i can't wait for the arcon 2 full-length. anyway, as oil, he seems to be into exploring the downtempo arena, with lots of funk and dub influence. if squarepusher is jaco pastorius gone jungle, oil is tackhead gone jungle. or maybe cameo, i dunno. "slight of hand" has some kickass minneapolis funk drum groove with lots of atmospheric synth washes and a lead sound that sounds like a heavily sampled & messed with vocal. then a guitar lick comes in which is half-forward, half-backward. the previously live-sounding drum groove gets lots of sampled trickery (beats spinning backwards, filtering, machine gun rolls). the bass then busts out with a superfly walking line and some thumb popping, the guitar answering in true funk call and response fashion. overall the impression is of a live funk band captured and manipulated by machines. very clever and very satisfying. you want to pop it in your trunk of funk and drive down the strip at night with the subs booming. or at least i do. - download - iii previously i have raved about this disc, saying its the techno direction i wished cevin key and the ex-skinny puppy crew had taken a few years ago. well, better late than never, right? i've given this the extreme test (lying in bed with the lights out listening to it cranked) and it passes with flying colors. despite the apparent simplicity, there is a wealth of subtle detail throughout. the drum tracks are always going through some sort of morphing processing. the melodies change and evolve. none of that "loop it for a few minutes" bullshit here. "sleeping souls" is a great example, starts off very pretty and uplifting, the pads keep swirling and changing, percussive elements come in and out, there's a backspin and some breaks to keep things lively, something that sounds like a highly processed vocal peeks out from the shadows. halfway through there's a wheezy distorto break that autechre would die for. notice how when beats come back they are always slightly different. is that a guitar at the end or just a very distorted synth? - clavia nord lead synth this is one of the new generation of "virtual analog" devices. it has no analog circuitry in it - all the sounds are generated by computer models of other analog devices. what's the point, you ask. well, analog synths are expensive, go out of tune, need lots of care & feeding, and are generally not as flexible and capable as their more modern digital brethren. the nord sounds every bit as good as a real analog synth (you'd have to be pretty sharp to tell the difference, especially in a mix), and has tons of modern features. it has a knob for every parameter - and they all transmit MIDI controllers, so it's a sequencing wet dream. the mod wheel is made of stone and the pitch bend lever is made of wood. the synth itself is bright red. aesthetically, this kicks ass. it takes normal PCMCIA ram cards (convenient!). the envelopes are at least as fast as the arp 2600 so it's perfect for electro blips. the THWIP factor is through the roof. it has 12 voices and is four-part multitimbral. i am in love all over again. first synth that's got me excited in a looong time. now they have a version 2 model, but i picked up a used version 1 as everybody seems to be dumping them for cheap now. see www.clavia.se for details. -- Jon Drukman xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx SpotMedia Communications This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.