From Tom Millar Sent Fri, Jun 4th 1999, 20:54
From Tom Millar Sent Fri, Jun 4th 1999, 20:54
Boom Boom Satellites- Out Loud (Sony) If anybody remembers the review I gave of Co-Fusion's album Co-Fu (big beat meets Jeff Mills meets Squarepusher, minus only a few quality points) then you can probably go re-read it and get the beef of what this record is about, too. Boom Boom Satellites are another japanese break-beat techno duo, albeit with enough popular appeal to get a domestic distribution deal through a major label. The drill-and-bass fills and breakdowns are there, stuffed in between long sections of pop-like and acid-jazzy big beat chunks. The IQ is still fairly high, however. BBS spend a lot of time playing with odd rhythmic intervals and syncopation, especially in the bass. Sometimes they delve into scary industrial territory, with wailing guitars and shit, but I can stand it for some reason- perhaps because it is, in the final analysis, all very well done. Earlier tracks I heard from them didn't hold my attention very well because of a lack of compositional and arranging finesse, but somewhere between then and now they seemed to have picked it up. Quite interesting, and for those looking for Japanese techno/"electronica" that falls somewhere in between Ken Ishii and Towa Tei, this might be it. I'm listening to it now; I don't think I emphasized enough how much they like to use non-standard time signatures and overlapping rhythms. Fucked up. I keep liking it more and more, even with all the guitars and distorted shouting and other rock shit. V/A- Electro Lounge (The Right Stuff) This is another "remix project" type comp. This time the topic of additional production and rearranging is old cocktail music, loungey jazz and film themes, plus some apparently unrelated shit. Tranquility Bass takes Louis Prima's overexposed swinger "Jump, Jive An' Wail" and fucks it over but good- first thing I've ever heard from TB that I liked, probably just because of the novelty. Tracks to annoy the fuck out of your neighbors, for sure. There are some severely low points: The James Bond theme is thoroughly ruined and oversimplified by Gearwhore and The Utah Saints (ugh!) put their traditionally horrifying basketball-stadium dance moves on King Curtis' "Watermelon Man". On the other hand, I now have a version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme worthy of ghetto blasting (courtesy of Gus Gus) and an Eat Static-styled cut of Duke Ellington's smash "Caravan." If you ever wondered what might happen if people like µ-ziq, Omni Trio, Wagon Christ, MBM, and Uberzone went around covering the same songs that popular musicians are always ripping off for their next hit, then this is your answer. That said, the comp as a whole is pretty poor and not much more than a novelty album. I'll probably start feeling guilty and used in a day or two. Enough! Tom