From Sean Cooper Sent Fri, Feb 12th 1999, 23:48
From Sean Cooper Sent Fri, Feb 12th 1999, 23:48
...makes me want to mention the new album by The Fireman that came out a few weeks back. The Fireman is, of course, a side project by paul mccartney (he was in a rock band called the beatles that was pretty big in the hippie days) and youth (ex-killing joke, producer for U2, among others). their first cd, released in the early '90s, was a sort of horrendous combination of eno-esque atmospheres and uninspired headphone techno. utterly forgettable. their new one, however, _rushes_, is a wonderful revival of the sort of whooshy ambient GC, the Orb, and others were doing a few years back. that's not to say that its only joys are in the apt approximation of what's already been done, but that's definitely part of the draw for me; people, for whatever reason, stopped making music like this. there are a couple of "downtempo" tracks as well, one an abolutely gorgeous meditation on a repeating piano figure slowly building in textural momentum until an appreciably straightforward rhythm comes in. the focus here is definitely on high production values and the integration of a wide range of source materials, from the analog whooshes mentioned above to bits of nontraditional percussion, found recordings, etc. a few of these tracks stand as some of the best chill room-ready ambient i've heard in a really, really long time. sc