From Noah Sent Tue, Dec 16th 1997, 17:14
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
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