From Arthur B. Purvis Sent Fri, Sep 18th 1998, 07:48
From Arthur B. Purvis Sent Fri, Sep 18th 1998, 07:48
>how does the ice album & new kingdom's "paradise don't come cheap" >compare to godflesh's "songs of love and hate in dub"? i bought it >primarily from arthur's review on his web site & since have been a >little underwhelmed. the d'n'b track (almost heaven?) is utterly brutal >& amazing, but the hip hoppier pieces are pretty dull. i was hoping for >louder, crazier, dirtier & it didn't deliver. can you make any >comparisons? Paradise Don't Come Cheap is nothing like either, at all. It's a brilliant record that just came out of absolute thin air - three black guys from Brooklyn (whoever said they're not from the US is sorely misinformed - in addition, El-P and Sensational are also from the US, but most importantly, to say Sebastian Laws is anything less than the greatest rap lyricist ever is just dead wrong - granted it doesn't show much on the Ice record, but still) who listened to too much Def Jam, Foetus, 60s psych, Grand Funk Railroad, and Black Sabbath just came up with something utterly brilliant and unlike anything. Extremely gritty, almost funky at times, totally spaced out - maybe a good term would be hip-hop psychedelia, but a lot "heavier" (not in the metal way, just in terms of production - thick, thick layers of sound). I'm not sure it it's what you're looking for - it's totally off the wall, extremely dirty and crazy, but not really "hardcore," but I can say it's literally the only record in a collection of hundreds that still gets pulled out on a very regular basis. It's not much like the Godflesh remixes either, though it's closer to that than to New Kingdom. More noise, less stupid repetition, less bad vocals (the Ice record would be better if Kevin Martin just got the fuck out of the mix altogether, but it's not done too badly) much more wierd stuff - I'll agree that the rest of in Dub can be tedious (just started to bore me after the initial shock, though I still kind of like it), but man, Almost Heaven - utterly perfect dark, hardcore drum and bass. Still listen to that track every once in a while. So in sum, I would say it's a vast improvement on the hiphop inDub remixes, but you might want to check out the Techno Animal - Demonoid record (or Phobic, but that's out of print, and Demonoid's a $6 domestic) first, as it might be more in tune with what you want (unless you want the hiphop funk, in which case maybe go for Ice). Oh and if anyone else is interested in my review archive (I do reviews for a radio station), I just put up 10 or so new reviews, many IDM related (burger/ink, leo anibaldi, morton subotnick, the weakener, tear ceremony). http://www.princeton.edu/~abpurvis One last thing, if you don't like the Ice record, try listening to it very, very loud. --- the humble abbott arthur purvis set his hand hereto