From Tom Millar Sent Tue, Jul 13th 1999, 18:33
From Tom Millar Sent Tue, Jul 13th 1999, 18:33
This is what happens when you build up nearly fifty dollars of store credit. 808 State: Newbuild Rephlex CAT 080 CD Let's hear it for re-releases! This is surely a sign of techno's coming of age... It's not just Detroit natives putting out their old crusties on CD again, it's Manchester too! Now everybody can have a chance to listen to one of the records that made so many of the musicians whose work we rabidly collect what they are today. Or something. I think if I wasn't as experienced in basement drum-machine jam sessions, I would have a much harder time coming around to this record- it's rather simplistic from the 1999 standpoint, and the first track has that nefarious synth slap bass in it... other than that, though, this is really the triumph everybody says it is. Unsophisticated, basic, dumb, whatever. It's still a record about people using drum machines et al. in terrible, unintended ways and making it work. Soon to be included in the Norton Anthology of House, Volume 1. Roger Eno & Lol Hammond: Damage Thirsty Ear thi66039.2 Erk. Too much new-agey pianoness. Some of the tracks are sweet, but overall I felt like whatever Lol Hammond (Slab, Girl Eats Boy, Drum Club) had to offer got buried under Roger's symphonic aspirations. Sort of reminded me of William Orbit in the end- too much pressure on the melodic/harmonic aspects of being pretty when the low end and the rhythm could use some more attention. The pristine production quality doesn't help, either. I was really wishing something would peak in the red by about the fourth track, just for variety. A little too homogenous and a little too happy, but if you like lush optimitistic minimalism then this might be for you. Electro UK Version 1.0.1 VRG VRG003-2 Absolutely horrid packaging brought to you by the makers of "House Of Love 1", "House Of Love 2", and L.A. Hardcore! I picked this up as an alternative to the Botchit Breaks 2 compilation. I needed some British electro breaks and this was cheaper. I think I may have gotten the better deal- some of these tracks are sweet! More London freak action than you can shake your ass at. Certainly not for those who demand innovation or complexity, but anybody who thinks DMX Krew or AUX 88 is the shit owes it to themselves to suffer through the cover art on this one too. The breakbeat tracks are actually the more lackluster of the bunch here, which was kind of surprising considering that the tracks are all licensed from Hydrogen Dukebox in the UK. The Si Begg is a disappointment, as well as the Girl Eats Boy and Slab tracks, but the people I've never heard of seem to know what they're doing and don't waste any time trying to appeal to the frontal lobes. Lots of fun for car stereo owners. That's enough for today I suppose. Tom