From lwtcdi Sent Tue, Oct 21st 1997, 12:18
From lwtcdi Sent Tue, Oct 21st 1997, 12:18
>You're mad, "Bluff Limbo" is the dog's bollocks Well sorry, I just think it's bollocks. Really really really annoying in places (probably what you call 'intense') unlike Tango N Vectif which was original Lo-Fi sound and melodic beauty rolled into one. Before he went too far up his own arse... >> Orbital's Brown Album (for me) is their >> crowning glory, but I think it differs for people depending on which LP >> they first heard by them (or Mike P). Once you have heard 'their sound' >> (Orbital, Mike P and others) any subsequent LPs that do not stray >> massively from the formula tend to sound so very tired and staid, and >> you always want to turn them off before they reach their conclusion. >Don't agree at all, I enjoy "In Pine Effect" and "Lunatic Harness" quite a bit >and I liked a fair bit of "Makesaracquet" Yeah, "quite a bit" and "a fair bit" do not make great superlatives. I agree with you on Makesaracket, which *is* good in places, but it gets on my tits as an album, most of the time. Didn't like In Pine Effect much. Haven't listened to it in probably a year... >> Autechre rarely have me doing this, but I can't really say for sure why >> this is, because their 'sound' hasn't progressed that much further than >> these artists (although the progression in each LP is distinctly >> audiable). >Don't agree again, I think "Tri Repetae" is as much a leap forward for Ae >over the first 2 albums as, say, Talking Heads' "Fear of Music" was a leap >forward from their first two (People Under 30 Not Expected To Understand This) Then why mention it? Why not give people the chance to understand what you are saying? I assume you are saying it's not much of a progression. Again, I disagree. Amber was a good step on from Incunabula (but I reckon this is as much to do with what equipment they had as anything), but I think Tri Repeate was the next biggest step. Chiastic Slide is their smallest step forward, I reckon, but it still does things the other LPs don't (and does them well). >>> This is quite an odd opinion you have. AFX is my favorite because I find >>> his music so emotional. Listen to pancake lizard, hedphelym. If you have >>> I care, though, and can't feel it, we must have two very different >>> psychologies. >> >> My opinion on all this is probably somewhere inbetween. I Care Because >> You Do doesn't work for me as an album, but some of the tracks on it - >> the first couple, Alberto Balsalm and a few others - are excellent. I >> think the problem here is the way he uses old and new tracks together on >> one LP. Come On You Slags and Start As You Mean To Go On are decent >> enough clanging Techno things but don't (IMO) belong on this LP. They >> are too old and seem stuck in his 'old' (and to me, fairly boring) ravey >> hardcore-Techno sound of the Digeridoo/Classics era. >"Fairly boring"? You must not have that historical context, that's the >stuff that defined him as being apart from the rest at the time ... Well, you're right, I don't. I know they stood apart at the time though, but this still doesn't mean I liked them. They sound boring and dated now to me, on the whole, and I think Sines Waves is in the same vein but is better than the Classics era stuff. I was about fifteen when these records first came out, and they we're about 6/7 quid in my local shop then. I drooled over 'em, but when it came down to it 808 State were more in the range of my pocket money. >I don't know what you were listening to in '91-'92 see above + Altern 8 (beats the ass out of Digeridoo - but that's nostalgia for ya) + loads of guitar pop stuff... >but this stuff was >just so far ahead of the field (at least, what I was exposed to at the time; >still not heard e.g. Plaid's "Mbuki Mvuki") Neither have most people, I suspect, bar the tracks that made it to that Clear 12". >it wasn't even funny I think herein lies the problem! >And as far as I'm concerned "Start As You Mean To Go On" blows the rest into >the weeds, although I'm in the minority I'm sure (I don't belong to the >"Alberto Balsalm is total godhead" posse). I'd say you probably are. SAYMTGO is that Classics style thing that I don't like much rearing it's head again. Either way I'm sure we'd both have been happier if he'd have made his mind up about that album (or maybe not). But then one of us probably wouldn't have bought it he wouldn't have made as much cash, so that's marketing for you... >>> The exact examples you 2 bring up: Orbital, Goldie - these are 2 examples >>> I'd use to typify soulless music. >> >> Nothing but agreement here too. Same for the No U-Turn posse. People on >> this list have been praising the Torque compilation over what they've >> heard of Roni Size's output (probably just New Forms, which is a shame >> as the man and the Reprazent crew have done so much more). I think >> Roni's output has been nothing if not versatile. His music is fairly >> typical of Jungle in its sub-genres, but he innovates in each one, and >> every track he makes does not sound the same. He does a wide variety of >> styles extremely well, and I think this is his strong point, whereas No >> U-Turn just give people one sound to latch on to, and a very very very >> formulaic one at that (although some tracks are absolutely wicked - >> Technology and the remix, and that thing off prototype years called >> Locust). Torque as an album I think it is absolutely unremittingly >> boring. I heard the mix CD and after 45 minutes I just wanted to die. >I agree that there's a definable sound to No U-Turn but there's enough >variation in "Torque" that it never bores me, maybe because I think it's >all wicked ... >> This is probably the desired effect, but I have never much cared >> for music that tries to pummel you into submission just for the sake of >> it (inc. Industrial stuff). >This explains a lot, I call it "intensity", you call it "pummel into >submission" Well, whatever you want to call it, I'm fed up with it... Being 'intense' was fun for a bit, but lets face it, there's more to life than listening to clanging all day (not that No U-Turn is just formless noise, but it is highly repetitive within tracks and in overall style). Basically I want to hear something NEW and EXCITING! >> Yeah, exactly. This is what sums up what I was saying about the RDJ >> album. It's wicked because the music is almost entirely his own. If >> you've heard a sound before it does tend to detract from the >> soul/emotion or whatever you want to call it, of the music. >Point one, if you don't think parts of "Richard D. James" are unquestionably >identifiably RDJ (i.e. "you've heard a sound before") then I disagree; Well, it sounds a little like HAB (but not that much, bar the beats), but otherwise I'd say it's not typical of his other stuff. This also goes for the tracks on the Come to Daddy release, which are also different to the RDJ LP. >point two, how often can you honestly say that you've heard a completely original >album, things like "Tango N' Vectif" or "A Collection of Short Stories" or >(to a lesser extent) "Public Energy #1" don't get released every day. Are you saying these are totally original LPs? If so, I agree. Haven't heard PE#1, but I'm tempted to go get it. But you're right, these LPs don't come along everyday. Neither do ones like the RDJ album, Plug LP, Red Snapper LP and the other few great LPs of last year. Good albums are pretty few and far between, especially this year (maybe I haven't been looking hard enough this year)... >> Um, bit of a rambler this post. Hope anyone who read it managed to get >> some sense out of it ... >You rate the "RDJ" album, and prefer Roni Size over No U-Turn. Says it all >for me really ... I can't be arsed to rise to this. I don't prefer all Roni Size over all No-U Turn. I just thing he's better overall. How much of his and Krust and Die and Suv's stuff have you heard, anyway? I'd like to know. Most people are judging him on New Forms, which, as I say, most people will probably like less than Torque because Torque is more traditionally uncompromising and thus of more interest to IDMers. Sorry, I've totally run out of steam. Need sleep... Gb. PS The High Llama's are Sean O'Hagan's band (he does string arangements for Stereolab - thus explaining the connection). Anyone know if they're any good. I've often been tempted by their releases. If they're anything like his sweet arrangements for the 'lab, they should be great.