From Zenon M. Feszczak Sent Thu, Jul 15th 1999, 17:12
From Zenon M. Feszczak Sent Thu, Jul 15th 1999, 17:12
Sorry about that. Using that dreaded term, I mean. I won't say it again. "Trip Hop", that is. Oh no I said it again. Anyway, any recommendations on smart trip hop? By "smart" one does not mean to be elitist, but only to ask for music better than all that garbage everyone else listens to. Oops. Looking for surreal mood, beauty, surprise, the ability to withstand repeated listenings and frisbee tests, fine cover art, and beats to die for. Bjork without Bjork, so to speak. Comps? Full-lengths? Looking for music in the vein of Red Snapper, Ghittoni, Moodorama, Nano-head, Anthea, William Orbit, and so on. Vox are fine, if in the right mood. Just say no to Big Beat. Rather listen to some John Bonham for the real thing. Rock is dead, blah blah blah. Does anyone hear/remember laughter? Speaking of Red Snapper, "Prince Blimey" was never released U.S. domestic, was it? Not to be find anywhere at a reasonable price. Loopascoopa is a lovely thing, except for the rather disturbing cover. Reminds me of that numbers game in the school in Riven. Still can't count in Rivenese. ...and while I'm complaining, what's with the rappers on the "Making Bones"? If I wanted rappers, I would have bought - well, no I wouldn't have. The TripHoprisy series looks swell, but also import only in the U.S., and quite expensive. "Mind the Gap" seems to have a mix of the fab and the flab, the fortifying and the nauseating. Some interesting comps recently unearthed: Songs of the Siren 2, Dream Injection 6 (great idm-y series; earlier volumes are more ambient, later volumes more beat-oriented - check out track listings on www.cddb.com), Classica (with the Glass/Aphex track). Art of Noise Debussy album - the cat at A.K.A. music played this for me in-store recently. (Philly is sprouting music stores at an astonishing rate - 5 years ago there no DJ stores, now there are four within walking distance). Disappointing. The raps sound like pandering. I want Art of Noise to push the boundaries of pop, not rehash the cliches. Some of the instrumentals were enjoyable at any rate. AoN samples itself - "Moments in Love" segments appear in toto. I'll stick to "Who's Afraid of..." and "Daft". Some of those instrumentals will make you weak in the knees. Thank you for your patients (sic). (The preceding multiple bad pun was funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. We wanted to use a much better pun, but the censors would not allow references to varmint sex in a public forum). To answer your gestating question, have not even had any caffeine yet. Babbling, 3