For some this has been along wait. I'll admit I was never their biggest fan by a long shot. I appreciated what James does . I stumbled upon his music n the 90's, when I was on enough drugs to kill a polar bear, so my familiarity has blank spots. I have always thought of this project as the Butthole Surfers of electronica. So it was a surprise to hear the opening song sound like something from Ogre's solo albums if it was remixed by Daft Punk. It way more chilled out than the Windowlicker/Drukgs era, I consider to be the peak of his work. The manipulated vocals are not new but they are less harsh than "Come to Daddy".
The smooth ride continues on "Xamasevet10". This beat is a little more quirky, almost like Herbie Hancock trapped in Zelda. I begin to start missing drugs half way through the second song. This is a much different use of robots than dub-step. This is a smacked out R2d2. The 808- ish plastic thump continues down it's wobbly path. Trippy synths abound. This would make a great sound track for another Neuromancer if the movie ever sees the big screen. Euro trash samples jive in the background with a glaze of deep space house over them.
By "Produk 29" you resolve your self to the fact this is not going to be a return to the harsher grit of their but is coming back full circle to his more Brain Eno influenced days.Not to day he doesn't catch a good groove here and there, but age is being to show and he is wanting to relax. What plays into James favor is that by being so far ahead of his time, his music now fits nicely into mainstream edm, This might come across as less progressive to me since I have spent the bulk of my adult years listening to Frank Zappa, so the jeking time changes that flip on a dime stroke me as more jazzy.
The pace picks up slightly on "180db" and thing Jame's weird streak comes back on "Cirlont6a". It's an up beat stuttering video game like groove interspersed with samples.There is also something darker about this song. A lingering morose feeling from one of the synth melodies .
So if you are an addict this album might be triggering for you so remember not to listen to it if you are Hungry angry lonely or tired. There is an interesting blend of sounds used to off set the next Cirlon movement called the Shrymoming mix. The female vocal chant that is sample has a haunting effect on the song. The title track has a glaze of funk mixed with the same sci-fi barrage of blips and bleeps.It ebbs and flows dynamically, the same female voice is also sampled in this song.
"Papat4" is upbeat yet ambient. The deeper I get into this album the more I find it to be easy listening. It is pleasant to have in the background, but even less engaging than say Underworld, whose music is more vocal based and resonates with me more.There is a slightly grittier and darker sound to the Earth Portal mix. The beats are more breaks. The closer is a disappointment of a piano piece that really goes no where slowly. Like I said it's good easy listening I'll give it a 7.5 , but it's not something I need on the ole iPod.
No comments:
Post a Comment