From Chris.Hilker Sent Thu, Aug 13th 1998, 09:47
From Chris.Hilker Sent Thu, Aug 13th 1998, 09:47
>WHAT!!??!? AI2 among the very few "if you don't have this, you are not >living yet." IDM records/cd's. OK let's do it track by track: 01 Mark Franklin: Release to the System (Beaumont Hannant Remix) Beau can be good but he sometimes makes the mistake of building a track around a crap bassline. He makes this mistake here. (And also on "The Hunted" from Tastes & Textures V2.) He also forgets to build up any tension or interest. By the time the stupid sample of the woman comes in I feel like the kid at the Krustyburger dedication: "stop it, he's already dead!" This is a recurring theme here - too many tracks on this comp poop out and run out of ideas halfway through and don't know when to quit. 02 The Higher Intelligence Agency: Selenite This might be something if it wasn't based around a sample from "Steel Tabernacle" by Sandoz. Guys, if you're gonna rip a sample that hugely, you've gotta make a track better than the one you're sampling, or it's a joke. The Sandoz track totally smokes this. Why didn't Warp license that track from Touch and kill this and the Richard Kirk track they did put on? 03 Link: Arcadian (Global Communication Remix) This is brilliant of course. Mark & Tom ruled the earth in 1994 and this makes everything else on the comp look bad. Great melody, super production, excellent structure, flawless transitions, impeccable rhythm track - and this isn't even as good as some other tracks they did around then. 04 B12: Scriptures This is a very good track but I already had it on Volume 8 so I never give Warp much credit for putting it on AI2. Which I guess isn't completely fair* so you can take this as recommended. Still, hardly a track that'll change your life or cure you of being a zombie or whatever "if you don't have this, you are not living yet" means. And it's also on Time Tourist. * Volume 8 is probably out of print but I think it's a better IDM comp than AI2 - it has "Scriptures," a live Sun Electric track, a live HIA track (without any Sandoz samples), an exclusive Autechre track better than "Chatter," and another Global Communication cut. And the Butthole Surfers! 05 Autechre: Chatter A good but not great track. I'd compare it unfavorably to Orbital's "Semi Detached" - the structure is similar but the production isn't as good and Autechre can't write a good tune to hold it all together. 06 Speedy J: Symmetry I think something crawled into this track and died. Irene, are you still looking for music that'll make people fall asleep? Goes nowhere for six minutes and it seems like at least twelve. Worst track on the comp which is like being the worst Police Academy movie or something. 07 Beaumont Hannant: Utuba This is much better than the Franklin remix but it's still far from great. The transitions could be much stronger, as could the arrangement in general. That "electricity" sound gets tiresome by the end. 08 Richard H Kirk: Reality Net An outtake from Virtual State, presumably. Takes forever to go anywhere, like most of the tracks on this comp. Annoying two-note thingy that just keeps repeating over and over way too high in the mix pretty much kills it. 09 Balil: Parasight Why put the worst track from the EP on? "Island" is about a thousand times better and if AI2 had that and the Link track it'd be unqualifiably recommendable just for those alone. Instead we get this little four to the floor acid stomper. We all know BDP could (and did, and does) do much better than this, regularly. That said, it's still better than everything here except maybe "Scriptures." 10 Seefeel: Spangle A nice enough track. Not really that different structurally from the rest of the comp but it has distinctive sounds that really set it apart and I think Seefeel are doing a drony thing intentionally instead of just repeating the same stuff over and over because they can't think of anything else. That said, it ain't zombie vaccine. 11 Darrel Fitton: Blipsalt The first four minutes are a nice slow build, then Mr Fitton loses the plot a bit with a percussion section that overstays its welcome, then going back to more of the same from the first four minutes with no payoff. Maybe I'm crazy but if you build up a track with as much nuance and as light a touch as Darrel does for the beginning of this one, it's a huge letdown if you get to the end of the build and there's nothing but more of the same - hit me with more! If all you've got's a little random bleepy bit, save that for the end of the build and make the track a little bit shorter and at least you've got *something* more than another unexciting track on an unexciting comp. 12 Polygon Window: My Teapot If you're the sort of person who thinks that tracks that aren't in 4/4 are really super innovative and complicated and avant garde then I guess you'll shit your shorts over this but there's not much to it at all. A quiet crunchy rhythm and a mescaline calliope and it's a bit more thoughtful than RDJ's usual wankery but it sure as hell ain't zombie serum. At least it gets to the point and doesn't go on and on. 13 Kenny Larkin: Maritime Warp must've made the same deal with Kenny that they did with Richard Kirk: give us an album and whatever track you might have lying around for our next compilation. This sounds like the Knight Rider theme or something. That isn't good, in case you're wondering. Not at all up to Larkin's usual standard, it's still better than most of the tracks on this compilation, which says a lot. You'll still be hungry for brains after listening to it, though. Way too long; par for this course. SUPER SECRET HIDDEN TRACK! by Scanner A couple of morons talk about going to an En Vogue concert, with some "dark" ambient bits in the background. >Anyway, AI2 isn't really worth getting for Chatter IMO.. but it's worth >getting for at least 6-7 other tracks on there :) Overall I really can't see how anyone could rate this as anything better than mediocre. There are three or four tracks that I put in the "I never want to hear this track again" category the first time I listened to it, and right now I'm a little pissed off that I listened to them again writing this post. The GC track almost saves the comp but even Tom and Mark's superhuman abilities in this timeframe had their limits (that Speedy J track is kryptonite!). I would really love to hear which 6 or 7 tracks you think this is worth getting for. C. -- Chris.Hilker (xxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx)