(idm) review: christoph de babalon - if you're...

From Arthur B. Purvis
Sent Tue, Mar 9th 1999, 16:28

Christoph de Babalon - If You're Into It I'm Out of It
6.5/10

One can only listen to so much of Alec Empire's "The Destroyer."
Apparently Alec realized this and as a result didn't put out any more
records quite like that one, but he also signed this
de Babalon guy to DHR. Smart move, because this record is really an
excellent example of what is possible even when one adheres to the DHR
aesthetic.

To be honest, it won't blow you away quite like "The Destroyer." But on
the other hand, this record is a sheer joy to listen to all the way
through, because it is a truly cohesive album (first
one I've heard on DHR), not just a collection of tracks. The dark,
beatless, wonderful analog synthesizer washes of the long opener, "Opium,"
give way to an impossibly jittery, just plain
wonderfully _tweaked_ techno stomper "Nostep" (just try dancing to it).
>From there de Babalon wanders all sorts of territory, all of it involving
permutations of sterile, beautiful electronic
sounds and noisy, distorted breakbeats, unfolding into an amazing record
all the way through. Also of note: De Babalon's production is much cleaner
than most DHR records - this is not
to say the record is not noisy (it is) but everything doesn't sound all
muddled and thrown together, everything is kept sealed and compact in it's
own space. Not much more to say; an
excellent record.

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the humble abbott arthur purvis set his hand hereto