Yes, it's been a long time, I know.
Basically, three things are worth mentioning here:
1. Highways has been released, and like every other album I've made, is available for free download. I am pretty satisfied with the results, and I can safely say that, finally, I made justice to those old, old songs.
2. I've also released another album, called Eleven Gifts. It's not properly an "album", but a cycle of eleven very simple, very short pieces for solo piano. It was made in just three days in December, and the piece has a personal significance, but it's not that important. Some of those pieces are VERY old ideas that were finally worked into something complete and satisfactory.
3. I have reopened my album reviews's website! This is an old project of mine that I used to have, but it went offline due to a misfortune and I never had the opportunity to put it back online... until now! The reviews shall be added slowly and gradually, and there are very few so far. But it will grow -- I intend to put back all my old reviews, properly re-edited and rewritten as needed. It'll be fun! I'll stop putting review stuff here: all my new opinions will be published there. So check it out!
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Monday, 14 February 2011
Friday, 27 February 2009
Three extraordinary albums, part 3
I guess I screwed up my plans for doing a post like this every other Monday. I don't know whether I'll be able to (or WANT to) keep this on a regular schedule or just post it whenever the heck I feel like it, so let's get started. This time, I'll repeat some artists I've covered in previous posts, but I'm using here, as a sort of criterion, albums that I've been obsessed with recently. They're the sort of "instantly extraordinary" albums in heavy rotation in my playlists, so don't expect anything perfectly balanced. Ok? So here's the three of 'em:
1. Chemical Chords - Stereolab
Once again, it's the stereophonic laboratory I'm talking about. Last time it was Dots and Loops, but if you play both albums back to back, there are only two things that can tell you it's the same band: Lætitia Sadier and the obsessively, microcosmically intricate arrangement and production. Because, you know, the music is a world apart. Gone are the days when Stereolab would listen to 'Hallogallo' by NEU! and write a song on top of it (even though I really like that part of their career) -- Tim Gane turned into a wild music devouring monster by the time Emperor Tomato Ketchup came around, and their discography shows. Even still, Chemical Chords represents a drastic rupture for the band -- not only in moving to 4AD, but in using Motown as inspiration. The rhythms, brasses and tuned percussion will probably give that away. But, MAN. I think that, in terms of combining sheer fun with insane complexity, only Mike Oldfield's Amarok beats it, and that's not saying little.
Let your finger randomly fall in any title on the track list, and you'll be SURE that there'll be something absolutely devious going on in the respective song. Really. The album is that good. Not a single moment goes by in blank -- to the point where the first listen will probably be a mess, with all songs becoming a big mush in your mind. But learn to distinguish them and you'll start paying attention to all the moments the album is consisted of: the childishly funny trombone melody of 'Neon Beanbag', the little xylophone melody near the last chorus of 'Three Women', the chromatically "falling" strings near the end of the title track, the tingling melody bookmarking the chorus of 'Valley Hi!', the call-and-response in the beginning of 'Silver Sands', the vibraphone breaks in 'Self Portrait with "Electric Brain"', the buzzing synth melody on 'Nous Vous Demondon Pardons', the dissonant string haze on 'Fractal Dream of a Thing', the vibraphone patterns on 'Daisy Click Clack', and that's only covering the surface. The band was obviously in a phase when the music should constantly do something -- and not merely to make it "intellectual". This is not labour for labour's sake: this is music to keep you entertained. CONSTANTLY entertained.
But not only that: many songs here are already impressive only for the songwriting. 'Neon Beanbag' is an endless succession of little melodies that bounce off each other, switching between vibraphones, organs, Sadier's voice and whatnot. The title track is a miracle, built entirely on an unbelievably effective rhythm pattern, with melodic phrases coming in on every turn (I speak sincerely: if there is one song I wish I had written, in the whole world, THIS is the one). 'Valley Hi!' is short and very sweet, the closest to "cute" that the band ever got to. 'Daisy Click Clack' is so fun and so childlike it's more Syd Barrett than Stereolab. And it works! The band sounds totally at home with it, and Lætitia mixes lyrics like "Clap clap, clap clap, all will join in / Tap tap, tap tap, simple rhythm" and "Sensing the symbiotic forces" like only she can.
The musical ideas just keep coming in this album -- and unlike some other review suggests, I don't think the sense of fun is undermined by the complexity and labour contained in the album. In fact: one amplifies the other, and to me, only helps to prove that they are not mutually exclusive. Try it on road trips.
2. Just a Souvenir - Squarepusher
Though I still think Ultravisitor is his magnum opus, this album finds Tom Jenkinson at the top of his game. With Hello Everything, he tried to stitch all his different influences and styles into a "patchwork" album, but here, he throws them into a blender and lets it all loose. Jazz? Check. Breakcore? Check. Classical guitar? Check. Rock 'n' roll? Ch-- what, rock? Squarepusher playing rock? Yep, check! The songs have such an amazing combination of skills and talents that they're nearly unbelievable. Need an example? Check out 'A Real Woman'. The only way I can describe that song is "The Ramones meet jazz fusion breakcore". The brutal simplicity of the 'Blitzkrieg Bop' verses never directly clash with the unusual harmonies from the Vocoder or the insanely twisting bass breaks, but they actually live together in harmony and cuddle.
The trend goes well for the rest of the album: the jazzy bass lines go right along with freaked out pseudo-disco grooves AND with copiously distorted guitar riffs. The songs go from pleasant soundscapes of tuned percussion and synthetic pads to twisted one-man-band interplay, and the drums many times blur the line between sequences samples and live playing. I think Just a Souvenir has Squarepusher finding HIS sound, something that only he can produce, something that mixes the extremely refined with the violently intense, the pleasant and the exciting, the ugly and the complex. Of course he has already done similar things in previous albums, like Music Is Rotted One Note and the aforementioned Ultravisitor, but THOSE albums didn't have themes dealing with shimmering coat hangers, women that are happy because they're real, and acoustic guitars that can distort time.
Okay, I'll explain: the album is titled so because it's a musical representation of a "souvenir", which is Jenkinson's memory of a daydream which featured "a crazy, beautiful rock band playing an ultra gig". The liner notes describe in detail his "daydream", mentioning the crazy guitar that distorts time, the band members being washed by an electrical storm that turns the entire building into a guitar amplifier, and a snare drum that floats in mid-air and explodes due to "electromagnetic radiation emitted by nearby neutron stars". Knowing Squarepusher's purposefully "mythical" and sometimes mysterious image, I'm quite comfortable with taking the whole narration as a put on (what kind of daydream would go into such detail and feature "a small dent where a pantechnicon lorry had smashed through the back wall of the stage to deliver a replacement snare drum"? I mean, I don't think it's dishonest at all for a musician to make up a "story" to envelop his work of art. And, really, the story is so funny in its mix of dream fantasy and incredibly snobby descriptions ("sounded as if the bass guitar was actually a RSJ played with a chainsaw, enclosed in a ventilated cabinet of fine mahogany") that it's definitely worth reading. And it's even better when you hear, in the music, cues relating to the story. The time-shifting guitar? It's actually there! Three tracks are pieces for acoustic guitar and digital effects that sound exactly like that. The "chainsaw RSJ"? Check out 'Delta-V' and the AMAZING 'Planet Gear'. The gleaming coat hanger? Yup: observe it, respect it. Really, what can be better than a virtuoso electronic jazz musician being pseudo-humble and attributing his creativity to a bizarre daydream? The answer is, of course, the resulting album. Check it out.
3. Heaven of Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins
I don't think this is their best album (that post is occupied by Treasure), but this is the album I listen to far more often. I have difficulty talking about Cocteau Twins, because, really, how can you talk about their sound? Unlike a lot of people, I don't get the "music from Mars" vibe from this band. They don't sound at all like "aliens" to me -- they simply concocted a very unique sound and made excellent use of it. But, really, how close is this to "pop" music, or to "synthpop" or whatever? I think labels like "ethereal" are pretty silly, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Cocteau Twins. Better leave it unlabelled, you know? "You wanna know what they sound like? Well, listen to it yourself! That's what YouTube is there for!" That's better. However, Heaven or Las Vegas is unique for a reason: it's POP! Really, it's POP MUSIC. All songs are meticulously crafted like pop songs -- all with their usual mix of instruments and layers, but applied to extremely catchy tunes. In fact, there's exactly one thing that prevents this album from being 100% radio friendly: the unintelligible lyrics. Just like with every other Cocteau Twins song made since then, you just can't understand what Liz Frazer is singing -- and that's the POINT. While it sounds sad that excellent songs like these don't fall into people's tastes ONLY because you can't discern the words, the move reveals a sense of humour that's very in tune with the band derailing critics by titling all songs in Treasure with names of people. Liz purposefully sticks in SOME intelligible phrases, that is, the odd "thank you for mending me babies" or "must be why I'm thinking of Las Vegas", but only to give you the wrong impression that there ARE actual lyrics there, and you must make more effort to pick them up. And so did many people. And the results are beyond absurd. It's not a "new" trick for the band, but here, it makes more sense than ever.
Some people complain that the album lacks the band's "edge", because the moods in the different tracks are more similar than before. There aren't any truly ominous or moody songs. But why should I complain about that when the songs are nothing short of brilliant? The title track, alone, is worth the entire album, with guitar layers that spread into vast infinity, vocal harmonies that are at the same time complicated yet catchy, and even gritty guitar solos. I'm obsessed with that song -- and many others get really close, like the vague yet catchy 'Cherry Coloured Funk', the insanely groovy 'Iceblink Luck', the beautiful and soothing 'Fotzepolitic' and the glorious 'Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires'. Even the less catchy songs always have something nifty going on -- usually Frazer's vocal melodies. Just like Robin Guthrie can extract all sorts of amazing and wonderful sounds out of his processed guitar and synthesizers, her voice takes all sorts of shapes and forms, producing tiny symphonies in these otherwise simple songs. Unique sound and ingenious songwriting make this album truly extraordinary. Start here if you want a smooth yet effective introduction into the band.
1. Chemical Chords - Stereolab
Once again, it's the stereophonic laboratory I'm talking about. Last time it was Dots and Loops, but if you play both albums back to back, there are only two things that can tell you it's the same band: Lætitia Sadier and the obsessively, microcosmically intricate arrangement and production. Because, you know, the music is a world apart. Gone are the days when Stereolab would listen to 'Hallogallo' by NEU! and write a song on top of it (even though I really like that part of their career) -- Tim Gane turned into a wild music devouring monster by the time Emperor Tomato Ketchup came around, and their discography shows. Even still, Chemical Chords represents a drastic rupture for the band -- not only in moving to 4AD, but in using Motown as inspiration. The rhythms, brasses and tuned percussion will probably give that away. But, MAN. I think that, in terms of combining sheer fun with insane complexity, only Mike Oldfield's Amarok beats it, and that's not saying little.
Let your finger randomly fall in any title on the track list, and you'll be SURE that there'll be something absolutely devious going on in the respective song. Really. The album is that good. Not a single moment goes by in blank -- to the point where the first listen will probably be a mess, with all songs becoming a big mush in your mind. But learn to distinguish them and you'll start paying attention to all the moments the album is consisted of: the childishly funny trombone melody of 'Neon Beanbag', the little xylophone melody near the last chorus of 'Three Women', the chromatically "falling" strings near the end of the title track, the tingling melody bookmarking the chorus of 'Valley Hi!', the call-and-response in the beginning of 'Silver Sands', the vibraphone breaks in 'Self Portrait with "Electric Brain"', the buzzing synth melody on 'Nous Vous Demondon Pardons', the dissonant string haze on 'Fractal Dream of a Thing', the vibraphone patterns on 'Daisy Click Clack', and that's only covering the surface. The band was obviously in a phase when the music should constantly do something -- and not merely to make it "intellectual". This is not labour for labour's sake: this is music to keep you entertained. CONSTANTLY entertained.
But not only that: many songs here are already impressive only for the songwriting. 'Neon Beanbag' is an endless succession of little melodies that bounce off each other, switching between vibraphones, organs, Sadier's voice and whatnot. The title track is a miracle, built entirely on an unbelievably effective rhythm pattern, with melodic phrases coming in on every turn (I speak sincerely: if there is one song I wish I had written, in the whole world, THIS is the one). 'Valley Hi!' is short and very sweet, the closest to "cute" that the band ever got to. 'Daisy Click Clack' is so fun and so childlike it's more Syd Barrett than Stereolab. And it works! The band sounds totally at home with it, and Lætitia mixes lyrics like "Clap clap, clap clap, all will join in / Tap tap, tap tap, simple rhythm" and "Sensing the symbiotic forces" like only she can.
The musical ideas just keep coming in this album -- and unlike some other review suggests, I don't think the sense of fun is undermined by the complexity and labour contained in the album. In fact: one amplifies the other, and to me, only helps to prove that they are not mutually exclusive. Try it on road trips.
2. Just a Souvenir - Squarepusher
Though I still think Ultravisitor is his magnum opus, this album finds Tom Jenkinson at the top of his game. With Hello Everything, he tried to stitch all his different influences and styles into a "patchwork" album, but here, he throws them into a blender and lets it all loose. Jazz? Check. Breakcore? Check. Classical guitar? Check. Rock 'n' roll? Ch-- what, rock? Squarepusher playing rock? Yep, check! The songs have such an amazing combination of skills and talents that they're nearly unbelievable. Need an example? Check out 'A Real Woman'. The only way I can describe that song is "The Ramones meet jazz fusion breakcore". The brutal simplicity of the 'Blitzkrieg Bop' verses never directly clash with the unusual harmonies from the Vocoder or the insanely twisting bass breaks, but they actually live together in harmony and cuddle.
The trend goes well for the rest of the album: the jazzy bass lines go right along with freaked out pseudo-disco grooves AND with copiously distorted guitar riffs. The songs go from pleasant soundscapes of tuned percussion and synthetic pads to twisted one-man-band interplay, and the drums many times blur the line between sequences samples and live playing. I think Just a Souvenir has Squarepusher finding HIS sound, something that only he can produce, something that mixes the extremely refined with the violently intense, the pleasant and the exciting, the ugly and the complex. Of course he has already done similar things in previous albums, like Music Is Rotted One Note and the aforementioned Ultravisitor, but THOSE albums didn't have themes dealing with shimmering coat hangers, women that are happy because they're real, and acoustic guitars that can distort time.
Okay, I'll explain: the album is titled so because it's a musical representation of a "souvenir", which is Jenkinson's memory of a daydream which featured "a crazy, beautiful rock band playing an ultra gig". The liner notes describe in detail his "daydream", mentioning the crazy guitar that distorts time, the band members being washed by an electrical storm that turns the entire building into a guitar amplifier, and a snare drum that floats in mid-air and explodes due to "electromagnetic radiation emitted by nearby neutron stars". Knowing Squarepusher's purposefully "mythical" and sometimes mysterious image, I'm quite comfortable with taking the whole narration as a put on (what kind of daydream would go into such detail and feature "a small dent where a pantechnicon lorry had smashed through the back wall of the stage to deliver a replacement snare drum"? I mean, I don't think it's dishonest at all for a musician to make up a "story" to envelop his work of art. And, really, the story is so funny in its mix of dream fantasy and incredibly snobby descriptions ("sounded as if the bass guitar was actually a RSJ played with a chainsaw, enclosed in a ventilated cabinet of fine mahogany") that it's definitely worth reading. And it's even better when you hear, in the music, cues relating to the story. The time-shifting guitar? It's actually there! Three tracks are pieces for acoustic guitar and digital effects that sound exactly like that. The "chainsaw RSJ"? Check out 'Delta-V' and the AMAZING 'Planet Gear'. The gleaming coat hanger? Yup: observe it, respect it. Really, what can be better than a virtuoso electronic jazz musician being pseudo-humble and attributing his creativity to a bizarre daydream? The answer is, of course, the resulting album. Check it out.
3. Heaven of Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins
I don't think this is their best album (that post is occupied by Treasure), but this is the album I listen to far more often. I have difficulty talking about Cocteau Twins, because, really, how can you talk about their sound? Unlike a lot of people, I don't get the "music from Mars" vibe from this band. They don't sound at all like "aliens" to me -- they simply concocted a very unique sound and made excellent use of it. But, really, how close is this to "pop" music, or to "synthpop" or whatever? I think labels like "ethereal" are pretty silly, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Cocteau Twins. Better leave it unlabelled, you know? "You wanna know what they sound like? Well, listen to it yourself! That's what YouTube is there for!" That's better. However, Heaven or Las Vegas is unique for a reason: it's POP! Really, it's POP MUSIC. All songs are meticulously crafted like pop songs -- all with their usual mix of instruments and layers, but applied to extremely catchy tunes. In fact, there's exactly one thing that prevents this album from being 100% radio friendly: the unintelligible lyrics. Just like with every other Cocteau Twins song made since then, you just can't understand what Liz Frazer is singing -- and that's the POINT. While it sounds sad that excellent songs like these don't fall into people's tastes ONLY because you can't discern the words, the move reveals a sense of humour that's very in tune with the band derailing critics by titling all songs in Treasure with names of people. Liz purposefully sticks in SOME intelligible phrases, that is, the odd "thank you for mending me babies" or "must be why I'm thinking of Las Vegas", but only to give you the wrong impression that there ARE actual lyrics there, and you must make more effort to pick them up. And so did many people. And the results are beyond absurd. It's not a "new" trick for the band, but here, it makes more sense than ever.
Some people complain that the album lacks the band's "edge", because the moods in the different tracks are more similar than before. There aren't any truly ominous or moody songs. But why should I complain about that when the songs are nothing short of brilliant? The title track, alone, is worth the entire album, with guitar layers that spread into vast infinity, vocal harmonies that are at the same time complicated yet catchy, and even gritty guitar solos. I'm obsessed with that song -- and many others get really close, like the vague yet catchy 'Cherry Coloured Funk', the insanely groovy 'Iceblink Luck', the beautiful and soothing 'Fotzepolitic' and the glorious 'Frou-Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires'. Even the less catchy songs always have something nifty going on -- usually Frazer's vocal melodies. Just like Robin Guthrie can extract all sorts of amazing and wonderful sounds out of his processed guitar and synthesizers, her voice takes all sorts of shapes and forms, producing tiny symphonies in these otherwise simple songs. Unique sound and ingenious songwriting make this album truly extraordinary. Start here if you want a smooth yet effective introduction into the band.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Three extraordinary albums, part 2
I'm thinking of making this a "series", with new parts posted every two Mondays. And since this is the second Monday since the first triple review, here goes another selection of albums I consider extraordinary for my own personal reasons and which you shouldn't care about if you don't want to.
1. Amber - Autechre
Even though this is not my favourite Autechre album, it's one that marked me deeply. It took me quite a long while to listen to 90's electronic music, mostly because of the stupid and illiterate fear that it was a dangerously territory to explore, filled with traps that go "doof! doof! doof! doof!" for hours on end. Eventually I assembled my courage to get into Autechre, following "recommendations" (not quite) from one George Starostin, and got hooked into it. It was Untilted (sic) that knocked some sense in me and helped me realise the genre wasn't at all to be dismissed, but Amber... ahh, Amber. Sweet Amber. It even sounds like a lady's name, but that doesn't sound too cool since I'm a married man (um, to avoid misconceptions, face "married" like this: we know the theorem is true, and we only need to formalise and publish the proof). The album, though! There is this sweet, magical combination of sounds and approaches that sound abstract, evocative, beautiful, hypnotic and disturbing. Some tracks are marked by rough, intrusive, repetitive sounds meant to dig deep into your subconscious; other tracks are like sudden, unexpected sights of gorgeous landscapes that don't look real but feel like it; other tracks throw you in the middle of an ocean of unfamiliar sounds, and leave it to you to find your way around it. And that's the way I like it!
The songs are, of course, long and repetitive, but that's the way it's supposed to be. In fact, my only complaints in regard to length is that some tracks could be longer than that. If I truly get into the mood, even the longer tracks are over in a flash; and 'Nine' barely sounds worthy of being merely a "vignette". But everywhere else, there are gorgeous slices of genius like 'Slip', 'Nil' and 'Piezo', as well as brilliant works of electronic texture like 'Foil' and 'Glitch', as well as unexplainable masterpieces like the lengthy 'Further' and the scary 'Teartear'. This album is an example that it doesn't matter how coldly crafted, carefully calculated, how synthetic, precise, robotic and artificial a piece of music may be, it's still perfectly possible for a listener to achieve a very high degree of emotional connection to it. Booth and Brown are obviously two people who put a lot of care into what they do, and the result is not that the album sounds "emotional", but that the album sounds amazing, intriguing, fascinating and beautiful.
2. Boy - U2
This album is one of the most amazing cases in my collection of songwriting and production being nothing short of perfect to each other, to the degree of being inseparable. This notion was increased further by the release of the Deluxe version, which includes, on the second CD, the entirety of the U2 Three EP. The production on that release is vastly different, and almost makes the band sound like a New Wave band. But on the LP, Steve Lilywhite's production definitely makes things shine. Larry Mullen's drumming seems to come from the middle of the Grand Canyon, in its aggressive grandiosity; The Edge's guitar is laden with reverb and delay to unprecedented degrees; Adam Clayton's bass rumbles right through the mix and makes its presence heard and felt at all times; and Bono's vocals are always on the spot, given just the right amount of stress at the right times. But production really doesn't mean all that much without good songs, and about 75% of this album consists of real classics. The songwriting is just brilliant; the guitar riffs are always carefully constructed melodies, and not just a couple of chords jumbled together because they sound "cool" -- and even the most simplistic ones, like in 'I Will Follow', refuse to leave your brain for a long while. The vocal melodies always have an interesting twist to them as well, and adding to that, the lyrics are at times absolutely direct and clear, at other times vague and intriguing. There's always something going on, you know? All songs make an impression -- even 'Stories for Boys', which sounds awfully similar to the far bigger hit 'I Will Follow'.
Side A, in particular, is entirely flawless and brilliant. The poppy, fast and nagging 'I Will Follow' can barely prepare to what comes next: 'Twilight' and its intense contrasts between sneaky and all-out raging; 'An Cat Dubh' and its dissonant riff, wild dynamics and creative arrangements; 'Out of Control' and its sheer level of fun and energy; and particularly 'Into the Heart', a song that has mystified and fascinated me right from the days when I only owned this album on vinyl. The lengthy, quiet passage for bass and guitar and leads right off 'An Cat Dubh' couldn't possibly come from a band without at least an ounce of talent. Really. I can only say that the most raging U2 detractors never listened to this song, or if they did, dismissed it because it was too much for them.
One of the biggest "historical" charms of this album, also, is the fact that it's pretty much impossible to tell that THIS band would become the worldwide messiahs of an entire generation. Really, THESE kids? THESE Irish boys who write lyrics like "My body grows and grows / It frightens me, you know"? All the signs of religious larger-than-life-ness and I-wanna-change-the-world intentions are pretty much absent -- and in fact Bono criticises his own ambitions in 'The Ocean', acknowledging how small he felt before the whole world (humanity = ocean, see?). Oh, well, anyway, but not let those details get in the way of the enjoyment.
3. EP+6 - Mogwai
Hope you don't consider me a "cheater" for including a compilation here. But no, this ain't a "greatest hits" compilation -- its merely a package containing three EP's by one of the most influential "post-rock" bands, Mogwai. There's no overlap whatsoever with their studio albums, and I see this as an absolute essential release for the Mogwai fan -- either that or the three separate EP's, but you've gotta have it if you dig this band. But look at this: I dunno why, but this album works far, far better if you rearrange the tracks to play the EP's in reverse chronological order. Try it! Really!
See, we start with the more recent EP, opening with the extremely mellow and pretty songs 'Stanley Kubrick' and 'Christmas Song' on side A, giving way to the longer, more hypnotic and "Mogwai-like" 'Burn Girl Prom-Queen' and the "mini-epic" 'Rage:Man', with the usual contrast between quiet and OMG OMG LOUD LOUD. If you don't know Mogwai too well, it's a great way to get used to the band! All four tracks are fairly mellow, staying away from the noise and repetition and focusing a bit more on "song-like" structures. They're brilliant songs, either way, and makes you ready for the second EP: No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew).
Side A of that EP consists of the magnum opus 'Xmas Steps', which packs together an excellent bass motif, guitar layers carefully stitched together, relentless building up of tension, brilliant control over noise and chaos, and an extended closing section with a cello solo. This song was re-recorded for the album Come On Die Young, but I always preferred the EP version better for some reason, including the fact that the cello is left intact. Side B works as a little "break" on the LP, with the slow 'Rollerball' and the hazy shoegazer-like 'Small Children in the Background'. They're nothing particularly unlike what you've heard so far, but they prepare you for the most extreme release: 4 Satin.
For starters, this opens with a drum machine and synthesized chords. It's sort of like a disfigurement of hip hop, and over the course of its eight minutes, the band gleefully assaults it with loud, rude guitar noises: distortion, squeals and screams everywhere keep pushing the envelope further and further, beyond anything you could imagine from this band. The lengthy "ballad" 'Now You're Taken', featuring the only vocals in the whole album (supplied by Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat), closes side A and leads into the final track, the epic 'Stereodee'. The opening groove might make it sounds like a pleasant and fun finale, but the "coda" arrives about ten minutes too early. You know those live performances in which the bands end their songs with a long, "stumbling" final power chord? Well, Mogwai takes that concept and extends it into ten minutes of a loud, massive wall of pure noise. It's not too far from what My Bloody Valentine used to do in live shows, but the band is not really intent on blasting your eardrums off here. But I gotta say, there are VERY few moments in my entire collection that invigorates me as much as these ten minutes, and its closing moments are really awesome, sounding like the band short-circuited and turned into a heavily sabotaged "techno" pastiche for no reason whatsoever. It's a pretty brilliant work, and a perfect finale for the album.
See? THIS is the perfect track order. If you have the album, try it once! And if you don't have the album, well, it's a quite good place to start with Mogwai, AND one of their best releases, in my humble opinion. This, Mogwai Young Team and Mr. Beast are items that should not be absent in your Mogwai collection. Maybe Ten Rapid, too, if only for 'New Paths to Helicon'.
1. Amber - Autechre
Even though this is not my favourite Autechre album, it's one that marked me deeply. It took me quite a long while to listen to 90's electronic music, mostly because of the stupid and illiterate fear that it was a dangerously territory to explore, filled with traps that go "doof! doof! doof! doof!" for hours on end. Eventually I assembled my courage to get into Autechre, following "recommendations" (not quite) from one George Starostin, and got hooked into it. It was Untilted (sic) that knocked some sense in me and helped me realise the genre wasn't at all to be dismissed, but Amber... ahh, Amber. Sweet Amber. It even sounds like a lady's name, but that doesn't sound too cool since I'm a married man (um, to avoid misconceptions, face "married" like this: we know the theorem is true, and we only need to formalise and publish the proof). The album, though! There is this sweet, magical combination of sounds and approaches that sound abstract, evocative, beautiful, hypnotic and disturbing. Some tracks are marked by rough, intrusive, repetitive sounds meant to dig deep into your subconscious; other tracks are like sudden, unexpected sights of gorgeous landscapes that don't look real but feel like it; other tracks throw you in the middle of an ocean of unfamiliar sounds, and leave it to you to find your way around it. And that's the way I like it!
The songs are, of course, long and repetitive, but that's the way it's supposed to be. In fact, my only complaints in regard to length is that some tracks could be longer than that. If I truly get into the mood, even the longer tracks are over in a flash; and 'Nine' barely sounds worthy of being merely a "vignette". But everywhere else, there are gorgeous slices of genius like 'Slip', 'Nil' and 'Piezo', as well as brilliant works of electronic texture like 'Foil' and 'Glitch', as well as unexplainable masterpieces like the lengthy 'Further' and the scary 'Teartear'. This album is an example that it doesn't matter how coldly crafted, carefully calculated, how synthetic, precise, robotic and artificial a piece of music may be, it's still perfectly possible for a listener to achieve a very high degree of emotional connection to it. Booth and Brown are obviously two people who put a lot of care into what they do, and the result is not that the album sounds "emotional", but that the album sounds amazing, intriguing, fascinating and beautiful.
2. Boy - U2
This album is one of the most amazing cases in my collection of songwriting and production being nothing short of perfect to each other, to the degree of being inseparable. This notion was increased further by the release of the Deluxe version, which includes, on the second CD, the entirety of the U2 Three EP. The production on that release is vastly different, and almost makes the band sound like a New Wave band. But on the LP, Steve Lilywhite's production definitely makes things shine. Larry Mullen's drumming seems to come from the middle of the Grand Canyon, in its aggressive grandiosity; The Edge's guitar is laden with reverb and delay to unprecedented degrees; Adam Clayton's bass rumbles right through the mix and makes its presence heard and felt at all times; and Bono's vocals are always on the spot, given just the right amount of stress at the right times. But production really doesn't mean all that much without good songs, and about 75% of this album consists of real classics. The songwriting is just brilliant; the guitar riffs are always carefully constructed melodies, and not just a couple of chords jumbled together because they sound "cool" -- and even the most simplistic ones, like in 'I Will Follow', refuse to leave your brain for a long while. The vocal melodies always have an interesting twist to them as well, and adding to that, the lyrics are at times absolutely direct and clear, at other times vague and intriguing. There's always something going on, you know? All songs make an impression -- even 'Stories for Boys', which sounds awfully similar to the far bigger hit 'I Will Follow'.
Side A, in particular, is entirely flawless and brilliant. The poppy, fast and nagging 'I Will Follow' can barely prepare to what comes next: 'Twilight' and its intense contrasts between sneaky and all-out raging; 'An Cat Dubh' and its dissonant riff, wild dynamics and creative arrangements; 'Out of Control' and its sheer level of fun and energy; and particularly 'Into the Heart', a song that has mystified and fascinated me right from the days when I only owned this album on vinyl. The lengthy, quiet passage for bass and guitar and leads right off 'An Cat Dubh' couldn't possibly come from a band without at least an ounce of talent. Really. I can only say that the most raging U2 detractors never listened to this song, or if they did, dismissed it because it was too much for them.
One of the biggest "historical" charms of this album, also, is the fact that it's pretty much impossible to tell that THIS band would become the worldwide messiahs of an entire generation. Really, THESE kids? THESE Irish boys who write lyrics like "My body grows and grows / It frightens me, you know"? All the signs of religious larger-than-life-ness and I-wanna-change-the-world intentions are pretty much absent -- and in fact Bono criticises his own ambitions in 'The Ocean', acknowledging how small he felt before the whole world (humanity = ocean, see?). Oh, well, anyway, but not let those details get in the way of the enjoyment.
3. EP+6 - Mogwai
Hope you don't consider me a "cheater" for including a compilation here. But no, this ain't a "greatest hits" compilation -- its merely a package containing three EP's by one of the most influential "post-rock" bands, Mogwai. There's no overlap whatsoever with their studio albums, and I see this as an absolute essential release for the Mogwai fan -- either that or the three separate EP's, but you've gotta have it if you dig this band. But look at this: I dunno why, but this album works far, far better if you rearrange the tracks to play the EP's in reverse chronological order. Try it! Really!
See, we start with the more recent EP, opening with the extremely mellow and pretty songs 'Stanley Kubrick' and 'Christmas Song' on side A, giving way to the longer, more hypnotic and "Mogwai-like" 'Burn Girl Prom-Queen' and the "mini-epic" 'Rage:Man', with the usual contrast between quiet and OMG OMG LOUD LOUD. If you don't know Mogwai too well, it's a great way to get used to the band! All four tracks are fairly mellow, staying away from the noise and repetition and focusing a bit more on "song-like" structures. They're brilliant songs, either way, and makes you ready for the second EP: No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew).
Side A of that EP consists of the magnum opus 'Xmas Steps', which packs together an excellent bass motif, guitar layers carefully stitched together, relentless building up of tension, brilliant control over noise and chaos, and an extended closing section with a cello solo. This song was re-recorded for the album Come On Die Young, but I always preferred the EP version better for some reason, including the fact that the cello is left intact. Side B works as a little "break" on the LP, with the slow 'Rollerball' and the hazy shoegazer-like 'Small Children in the Background'. They're nothing particularly unlike what you've heard so far, but they prepare you for the most extreme release: 4 Satin.
For starters, this opens with a drum machine and synthesized chords. It's sort of like a disfigurement of hip hop, and over the course of its eight minutes, the band gleefully assaults it with loud, rude guitar noises: distortion, squeals and screams everywhere keep pushing the envelope further and further, beyond anything you could imagine from this band. The lengthy "ballad" 'Now You're Taken', featuring the only vocals in the whole album (supplied by Arab Strap's Aidan Moffat), closes side A and leads into the final track, the epic 'Stereodee'. The opening groove might make it sounds like a pleasant and fun finale, but the "coda" arrives about ten minutes too early. You know those live performances in which the bands end their songs with a long, "stumbling" final power chord? Well, Mogwai takes that concept and extends it into ten minutes of a loud, massive wall of pure noise. It's not too far from what My Bloody Valentine used to do in live shows, but the band is not really intent on blasting your eardrums off here. But I gotta say, there are VERY few moments in my entire collection that invigorates me as much as these ten minutes, and its closing moments are really awesome, sounding like the band short-circuited and turned into a heavily sabotaged "techno" pastiche for no reason whatsoever. It's a pretty brilliant work, and a perfect finale for the album.
See? THIS is the perfect track order. If you have the album, try it once! And if you don't have the album, well, it's a quite good place to start with Mogwai, AND one of their best releases, in my humble opinion. This, Mogwai Young Team and Mr. Beast are items that should not be absent in your Mogwai collection. Maybe Ten Rapid, too, if only for 'New Paths to Helicon'.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Three extraordinary albums
To "celebrate" the first day of this blag, I'm doing a post here to briefly "review" three albums that, for one reason or another, I consider extraordinary. Some of them you might already know, some you may not: what matters here is the insight into music, whether it serves as recommendation to try new stuff or to retry old stuff with different ears. I won't tackle on anything particularly obscure, so don't expect much snubbery.
Oh, and don't expect download links either. If you REALLY want to download this stuff, you should be able to do that yourself without my assistance, and I'm not here to promote that sort of stuff. AAAAnyway:
1. Selected Ambient Works, Volume II - Aphex Twin
Yeah, I'm definitely not breaking new ground here. This is a stone cold classic, and if you don't have it, you should. Why? Because there's hardly anything else like it! The previous "installment" in the "series" was hardly any Ambient the way Brian Eno originally coined it, but then again, Ambient was defined more by its intent and purpose, not by its sound. So, the music there was strongly rhythmic, accented, even quite dynamic at times. The difference is that Richard D. James invested a lot more on textures and layers than on dance patterns; thus "Ambient Works".
This one, however, dumps the rhythms almost entirely, and instead of merely focusing on textures and layers, it IS textures and layers. But hey, it's not at all what you would expect from your everyday Brian Eno record. In its original issue, the album has 25 tracks, is almost three hours long, and only one track has an actual title -- the only identification given to the tracks are "pie-chart" diagrams and images associated to them, which resulted in the tracks having "unofficial" titles given by fans, none of which are used by the record label or by James himself.
So with little else to focus on, we turn to the music. And what music! These 25 tracks actually cover up a pretty wide array of moods and textures; in parts, it's gorgeous to the point of bringing your defences down without pity; in other parts, it's radically unsettling and even -- dare I say it? -- frightening. Challenging the "Ambient" label, the album doesn't let down in terms of variety: some tracks have slow transitions between different parts, giving a feeling of motion; some tracks rely on melodies, chord patterns, percussion rhythms, musique concrète-like sound collages or hypnotic riffs; some tracks work marvellously as background "thinking" music, while others are so radical that they're bound to wake you up from your sleep and give you nightmares. And the album is structured in a way that you can treat it not like a "mood piece", but as an elaborate journey. It's true that sometimes the nuances between tracks are so minimal that portions of the journey end up as indistinct gobbles of sound, and since the tracks are long and samey, you might get the urge to skip to the next one in aching curiosity to see what awaits you. But be calm! The album is worth enjoying in its entirety.
Highlights I can mention are the first and third tracks on side A, two incredibly beautiful pieces that challenge the notions of "ambient" with unforgettable sketches of melody; track two on side B gives me the creeps, as its main synth pattern has a "breathy" quality that makes me think of crawling alien creatures, while the following track has an oddly bluesy swing to it. The following two tracks make great use of subtle, understated rhythms to add an hypnotic effect. The last track on side C and the fourth on side D have a collage-like structure, while the second on side D and the last on side E are pretty close to Brian Eno. For more gorgeousness, try "Blue Calx" and the second track on side E. Finally, the final side is just scary! The faint echoes on the first track barely prepare you for the relentless "drilling" sounds on the second track. The third track just goes on and on for 11 minutes with the same hypnotic plinky keyboard, while the last one is pretty close to a horror film soundtrack, with haunting string-like chords, echoeing percussion and menacing harmonies. Freaky!
If you're willing to chase it, the only complete issues of the album are the original UK vinyl triple LP editions, available on "limited edition" brown vinyl which is more common than the regular release. The UK CD misses the second track of side E, which is a darn shame, though it is available on an ambient compilation album. The US CD also omits the fourth track of side A, which is plain nasty. Either way, getting this album is a wise decision. Don't miss it!
2. Dots and Loops - Stereolab
Nothing fairer than paying homage to the band that inspired this blag's name, right? And Dots and Loops is not only my favourite Stereolab record, but also one I've been INTENSELY obsessed on during the second half of 2008. Somehow, everything about it just fits and sounds perfect. It's true that it lacks the hyperactive and playful experimentalism of Emperor Tomato Ketchup and the defiant boldness of Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements, but it MORE than makes up with fabulous arrangements, deeply layered and detailed, and melodies that are bound to stick to your brain for a long while.
For starters, the focus here is on rhythm, but not just in clichèd percussive ways. The whole band combines rhythm and melody making one pretty much indistinguishable from another, so the music is booth groovy AND catchy. This goes from the gentle balladeering of 'The Flower Called Nowhere' to the irresistible "walk-to-the-beat" groove of 'Miss Modular' (gotta love those horns!!). Everywhere else, the famous combination of Lætitia Sadier and Mary Hansen's vocals slip through melodies taking their cues from everything from 60's American pop to (maybe) French chansons, from Motown to Bossa Nova. To me, the album reaches its "climax" in two distinct tracks: first is 'Rainbo Conversation', a rich, delightful and invigorating Bossa Nova; and the second is 'Parsec', a piece that miraculously combines warp-speed drum 'n' bass with Bossa Nova. The goods keep coming with the laid back 'Diagonals' and the multi-part pieces 'Refractions in the Plastic Pulse' and 'Contronatura'.
Stereolab has a quite varied career, so unless you get focused on the first five or so releases, you're going to bump into a lot of different, exciting stuff; and Dots and Loops is one I consider a mandatory stop. Put this one on and be mesmerised.
3. Ultravisitor - Squarepusher
So this Tom Jenkinson dude likes to program drum machines and his laptop to produce absurdly convoluted and disoriented "breakcore" beats, and he also likes to sit down on his drumkit and go tappity-tap-tappa-tap like a jazz dude would, and he also likes to pick up his bass guitar and play some insanely complicated jazz solos with a weird ring-modulator-like pedal effect that goes "wWAAKOooOOAAawoOWwAAAAKKkkow", and he also likes to play classical guitar pieces on a Spanish guitar, and he likes to send his electronic machines on wild rushes of drum-'n'-bass. So in this album, he decided to do... ALL OF THAT.
In short, you could take this album as his "self-portrait", an album that basically gathers everything he did until then and carefully puts it together as one long (it fills up THE ENTIRE CD), seamlessly flowing suite, and it works to the point of being extraordinary. The styles bounce each other in a clever, interesting way, and propel the album through vastly different approaches at making amazing music. It gets hard to accuse him of noise-making hack when '50 Cycles' is preceded by the classical guitar piece 'Andrei', and it gets even harder to accuse him of jazzy self-indulgence when 'An Arched Pathway' only comes after the relentlessly melodic and thrilling 'Iambic 9 Poetry'. In short, Squarepusher covers up pretty much all ground here, without ever exaggerating.
I'd be lying if I said I like everything equally, of course. One interesting aspect is that the album incorporates live performances and floods then with obnoxious audience noise. On interviews, Squarepusher seems to purposefully sound like a jerk, and this gives me reasons to wonder what exactly he meant with these noises: one theory is that he was just being mean and throwing the spotlight on the morons that keep yelling and cheering along to his frenzied bass guitar workouts pretending they're enjoying every bit of his playing without truly knowing what they're doing, just so they won't look "uncool" to admit they don't get it; other theory is that he was just being mean with HIMSELF, sabotaging his own pomposity with the boldness of people who're just having a great time and a load of fun with it; or maybe he was just willing to connect with his audience, so I dunno. What I know is that 'An Arched Pathway' spends more than one minute assaulting the audience with unbearable snare rushes, and even though it fits in perfectly in the album, it sounds more like a "statement" than a sample of exciting noise. But it's alright.
Elsewhere, I'm grooving along to the unstoppable 'Tetra-Sync' and its evergrowing mix of layers and melodies, or being utterly carried away by the sonic washes of 'Circlewave', or having my brain exploded by the amazing 'Iambic 9 Poetry', in which he takes a simple yet beautiful jazz melody and runs it through vastly different styles: one time playing it nicely to a strong and accented beat, other time trashing it to beats with chaotic percussion bashing and broken rhythms, and other time driving it into hyperspace with increasing fury. That track alone is worth the price of admission -- though you shouldn't ignore the "hip-hop-from-Hell" of '50 Cycles', the pseudo-industrial solemnity of 'Steinbolt' and the gentle beauty of 'Tommib Help Buss'. This album is a great way to get into Squarepusher, and a careful reading on Wikipedia can show you the best way to delve in further into his music. Check the guy out, if you haven't already.
Oh, and don't expect download links either. If you REALLY want to download this stuff, you should be able to do that yourself without my assistance, and I'm not here to promote that sort of stuff. AAAAnyway:
1. Selected Ambient Works, Volume II - Aphex Twin
Yeah, I'm definitely not breaking new ground here. This is a stone cold classic, and if you don't have it, you should. Why? Because there's hardly anything else like it! The previous "installment" in the "series" was hardly any Ambient the way Brian Eno originally coined it, but then again, Ambient was defined more by its intent and purpose, not by its sound. So, the music there was strongly rhythmic, accented, even quite dynamic at times. The difference is that Richard D. James invested a lot more on textures and layers than on dance patterns; thus "Ambient Works".
This one, however, dumps the rhythms almost entirely, and instead of merely focusing on textures and layers, it IS textures and layers. But hey, it's not at all what you would expect from your everyday Brian Eno record. In its original issue, the album has 25 tracks, is almost three hours long, and only one track has an actual title -- the only identification given to the tracks are "pie-chart" diagrams and images associated to them, which resulted in the tracks having "unofficial" titles given by fans, none of which are used by the record label or by James himself.
So with little else to focus on, we turn to the music. And what music! These 25 tracks actually cover up a pretty wide array of moods and textures; in parts, it's gorgeous to the point of bringing your defences down without pity; in other parts, it's radically unsettling and even -- dare I say it? -- frightening. Challenging the "Ambient" label, the album doesn't let down in terms of variety: some tracks have slow transitions between different parts, giving a feeling of motion; some tracks rely on melodies, chord patterns, percussion rhythms, musique concrète-like sound collages or hypnotic riffs; some tracks work marvellously as background "thinking" music, while others are so radical that they're bound to wake you up from your sleep and give you nightmares. And the album is structured in a way that you can treat it not like a "mood piece", but as an elaborate journey. It's true that sometimes the nuances between tracks are so minimal that portions of the journey end up as indistinct gobbles of sound, and since the tracks are long and samey, you might get the urge to skip to the next one in aching curiosity to see what awaits you. But be calm! The album is worth enjoying in its entirety.
Highlights I can mention are the first and third tracks on side A, two incredibly beautiful pieces that challenge the notions of "ambient" with unforgettable sketches of melody; track two on side B gives me the creeps, as its main synth pattern has a "breathy" quality that makes me think of crawling alien creatures, while the following track has an oddly bluesy swing to it. The following two tracks make great use of subtle, understated rhythms to add an hypnotic effect. The last track on side C and the fourth on side D have a collage-like structure, while the second on side D and the last on side E are pretty close to Brian Eno. For more gorgeousness, try "Blue Calx" and the second track on side E. Finally, the final side is just scary! The faint echoes on the first track barely prepare you for the relentless "drilling" sounds on the second track. The third track just goes on and on for 11 minutes with the same hypnotic plinky keyboard, while the last one is pretty close to a horror film soundtrack, with haunting string-like chords, echoeing percussion and menacing harmonies. Freaky!
If you're willing to chase it, the only complete issues of the album are the original UK vinyl triple LP editions, available on "limited edition" brown vinyl which is more common than the regular release. The UK CD misses the second track of side E, which is a darn shame, though it is available on an ambient compilation album. The US CD also omits the fourth track of side A, which is plain nasty. Either way, getting this album is a wise decision. Don't miss it!
2. Dots and Loops - Stereolab
Nothing fairer than paying homage to the band that inspired this blag's name, right? And Dots and Loops is not only my favourite Stereolab record, but also one I've been INTENSELY obsessed on during the second half of 2008. Somehow, everything about it just fits and sounds perfect. It's true that it lacks the hyperactive and playful experimentalism of Emperor Tomato Ketchup and the defiant boldness of Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements, but it MORE than makes up with fabulous arrangements, deeply layered and detailed, and melodies that are bound to stick to your brain for a long while.
For starters, the focus here is on rhythm, but not just in clichèd percussive ways. The whole band combines rhythm and melody making one pretty much indistinguishable from another, so the music is booth groovy AND catchy. This goes from the gentle balladeering of 'The Flower Called Nowhere' to the irresistible "walk-to-the-beat" groove of 'Miss Modular' (gotta love those horns!!). Everywhere else, the famous combination of Lætitia Sadier and Mary Hansen's vocals slip through melodies taking their cues from everything from 60's American pop to (maybe) French chansons, from Motown to Bossa Nova. To me, the album reaches its "climax" in two distinct tracks: first is 'Rainbo Conversation', a rich, delightful and invigorating Bossa Nova; and the second is 'Parsec', a piece that miraculously combines warp-speed drum 'n' bass with Bossa Nova. The goods keep coming with the laid back 'Diagonals' and the multi-part pieces 'Refractions in the Plastic Pulse' and 'Contronatura'.
Stereolab has a quite varied career, so unless you get focused on the first five or so releases, you're going to bump into a lot of different, exciting stuff; and Dots and Loops is one I consider a mandatory stop. Put this one on and be mesmerised.
3. Ultravisitor - Squarepusher
So this Tom Jenkinson dude likes to program drum machines and his laptop to produce absurdly convoluted and disoriented "breakcore" beats, and he also likes to sit down on his drumkit and go tappity-tap-tappa-tap like a jazz dude would, and he also likes to pick up his bass guitar and play some insanely complicated jazz solos with a weird ring-modulator-like pedal effect that goes "wWAAKOooOOAAawoOWwAAAAKKkkow", and he also likes to play classical guitar pieces on a Spanish guitar, and he likes to send his electronic machines on wild rushes of drum-'n'-bass. So in this album, he decided to do... ALL OF THAT.
In short, you could take this album as his "self-portrait", an album that basically gathers everything he did until then and carefully puts it together as one long (it fills up THE ENTIRE CD), seamlessly flowing suite, and it works to the point of being extraordinary. The styles bounce each other in a clever, interesting way, and propel the album through vastly different approaches at making amazing music. It gets hard to accuse him of noise-making hack when '50 Cycles' is preceded by the classical guitar piece 'Andrei', and it gets even harder to accuse him of jazzy self-indulgence when 'An Arched Pathway' only comes after the relentlessly melodic and thrilling 'Iambic 9 Poetry'. In short, Squarepusher covers up pretty much all ground here, without ever exaggerating.
I'd be lying if I said I like everything equally, of course. One interesting aspect is that the album incorporates live performances and floods then with obnoxious audience noise. On interviews, Squarepusher seems to purposefully sound like a jerk, and this gives me reasons to wonder what exactly he meant with these noises: one theory is that he was just being mean and throwing the spotlight on the morons that keep yelling and cheering along to his frenzied bass guitar workouts pretending they're enjoying every bit of his playing without truly knowing what they're doing, just so they won't look "uncool" to admit they don't get it; other theory is that he was just being mean with HIMSELF, sabotaging his own pomposity with the boldness of people who're just having a great time and a load of fun with it; or maybe he was just willing to connect with his audience, so I dunno. What I know is that 'An Arched Pathway' spends more than one minute assaulting the audience with unbearable snare rushes, and even though it fits in perfectly in the album, it sounds more like a "statement" than a sample of exciting noise. But it's alright.
Elsewhere, I'm grooving along to the unstoppable 'Tetra-Sync' and its evergrowing mix of layers and melodies, or being utterly carried away by the sonic washes of 'Circlewave', or having my brain exploded by the amazing 'Iambic 9 Poetry', in which he takes a simple yet beautiful jazz melody and runs it through vastly different styles: one time playing it nicely to a strong and accented beat, other time trashing it to beats with chaotic percussion bashing and broken rhythms, and other time driving it into hyperspace with increasing fury. That track alone is worth the price of admission -- though you shouldn't ignore the "hip-hop-from-Hell" of '50 Cycles', the pseudo-industrial solemnity of 'Steinbolt' and the gentle beauty of 'Tommib Help Buss'. This album is a great way to get into Squarepusher, and a careful reading on Wikipedia can show you the best way to delve in further into his music. Check the guy out, if you haven't already.
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