From Lance C McGannon Sent Mon, Dec 1st 1997, 05:40
From Lance C McGannon Sent Mon, Dec 1st 1997, 05:40
Somoreviews... . Morgan Geist: The Driving Memories cd/2x12" (Clear) Man of the moment Morgan Geist with his first full-length release. Ten tracks of quirky lo-fi laid-back electro-house that stylistically fit in well with the rest of the Clear catalog. Imagine Dr Rockit with a house flare and you'll know what to expect from this release. Standout tracks are This Too Shall Pass, Highway Hypnosis and Detoured for their "driving" groove and smooth funky "breaks" (Sorry, had to say that). Both Clear fans and admirers of Morgan's previous works will be delighted with this release. 9/10 . Dan Curtin: Whisper to an Echo 12" (Peacefrog) Clevelander Dan Curtin back with another 12" of jazzy melodic tech-house. Three tracks here all exuding Dan's signature love of jazz. The a-side track sounds right in line with his tracks off his Art & Science lp. The b1 has a nice latin house feel. The b2 sounds like a vintage Metamorphic-era Dan Curtin track. Another good 12" from dan. 8/10 . Cron: Scalable Architectures 12" (21/22 Corp) The first new todd sines release in some time giving us six experimental electro tracks on the 21/22 Corp label. The a2 and b1 tracks have a nice techno feel to them whereas the a3, b2 & b3 are pure new skool electro that would fit right in on the Interdimensional Transmissions, Ersatz Audio or Spelunk labels. I'm not a huge fan of electro but i enjoyed this release. 7/10 . Porter Ricks: Exposed/Explore 12" (Force Inc) The Porter Ricks releases on the chain reaction label are some of my all-time favors but, with the exception of the Redundance 2x12", their releases on Force Inc have not been up to par. This new Porter Ricks on Force Inc doesn't change that opinion. Two tracks on this 12" of rather unusual techno. these tracks try to use guitars and popish melodies over techno syths and percussion with a very unappealing result. Maybe they were trying to incorp- orate a rock flair into their previously appealing basic channel sound or maybe they were experimenting. Regardless, it didn't work. Porter Ricks should stick to the grungy chain reaction label style. 4/10 . Claude Young presents Twine: Scarred 12" (Surface) On this release Claude brings on the hard stuff. No smooth stings here just hard minimal techno in the style of the previous Surface and Blueprint releases. The a1 & b1 sound more like recent oliver ho or james ruskin tracks than claude's stuff. The b2 is a haunting beatless synth piece. The a2 is the closest to sounding like a claude young track with a very distant synth line over funky minimal percussion. Don't get me wrong, I like this 12" as a minimal techno release but it doesn't contain the lush sound that claude incorporates into many of his other releases. 7/10 . Punisher: Balance of Power 12" (Matrix) Sean Deason returns under his Punisher guise to give us some stripped-down minimal techno and down-tempo techno groover. Four tracks in all with the fluttering percussion of the b1 and the bassy gurgling groove of the b2 being the favorites here. Both a-side tracks are floor friendly pounders that will sit well in any current hard minimal set. Another good 12" from the Matrix label. 8/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon) and I spin two hours of the music we speak so highly of... The show will be accessible by visiting http://www.wcsb.org every Wednesday from 9-11 pm EST. The show will be broad- cast in the AudioActive format (which is actually much better than RealAudio). You can download the Audio Active plugin for free at http://www.audioactive.com/player/ During the Inaudible show we will be giving away promo 12"s and cds so yet another reason to tune in. If you need any more info email us at xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx or xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states