From Brad Shelton Sent Wed, Apr 7th 1999, 13:26
From Brad Shelton Sent Wed, Apr 7th 1999, 13:26
> anyway, i thought lp5 suffered from the same problem as
> _cichlisquirt_ did at first, too much technicality, not
> enough of the weird uh, emotional stuff as say _tri
> repetae_; after a while i started getting into it, and
> it does have some really excellent moments ("arch carrier,"
> "under BOAC," whoo) but it also has some total wank
> ("vose in," "acroyear2"). i'm actually revising my
> statistical Ae enjoyment curve graph because of it -
> peaking at _tri repetae_, bottoming out at _cichlisuite_
> and beginning a new rise with _lp5_. i just WISH they
> would drop the hyper-speed thing.
So you consider acroyear2 um, wank! Actually, I used to too, the first few
times I heard it. Here are some thoughts I wrote about it at the time..
track 1: Ok, 30 second intro.. then what? Upon first listen, I didn't know what
to make of this. The tempo did not make sense. The tinny, cheap sound used for
melody over the ludicrously speedy programming did not make sense. The chords
never seemed to go anywhere. (except in a 4 stage loop) Then 1:52 happened.
Resolve. All of a sudden, gone are the non-resolving wanky-'ominous' chords
that these guys use here and elsewhere (Arch Carrier and the Keynell remix on
Skampler, for example). Much more familiar territory, musically. 2:53 the
non-resolving chords are back.. but now it's ok, it goes down smoother, because
we now know that the composers aren't going to lean on the unsettling chords
the whole track.. we know (from 1:52) that they are ready and willing to bring
the track back to more a more musical place if they so choose. which happens at
3:22-- the chords resolve with an increased urgency.. this really moves! Ah,
the mix is getting thicker.. new sounds weaving in and out.. 5:32, 'percussion'
drops out, the track begins to taper off.. but no! 6:02 percussion back in
subtly, vintage Autechre beat. While the component sounds are all
aeishly-abstract, the music itself is not difficult at all. The track is now in
groove mode.
After hearing the track completely, and discovering the rock-solid resolves and
grooves that it eventually achieves, I was able to better handle, and even
greatly enjoy, the more abstract, unconventional beginning. In fact, a very
enjoyable anticipation and payoff is developed as you listen to the
non-traditional-scale, holding-pattern chords of 0:30 and 2:52, waiting for the
almighty chord resolves of 1:52 and 3:22.
Another good example of this is track 5. Again, we start out with a chord
progression that is not ugly, but isn't really very conventionally appealing,
either. This continues with some variation. The sound design is fascinating,
but the chords are not carrying us anywhere in particular. Then 1:10 happens.
As with track 1, the chaos and sound-for-sounds-sake immediately shifts
slightly to form a cohesive musical work, complete with head-bobbing groove and
textbook, user-friendly chord resolves. What started off as an interesting but
in large part non-musical technical exercise is quite emotive and musical.
Brad