bil
bdwyer@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu
On 12 Jun 1996, Jason Brancazio wrote:
> The track you were probably listening to was "seashell" which is quite a
> beautiful track...... the album it appears on is Skylab #1 which came out
> on Astralwerks in 94 I believe, it took me a year to get....note, however
> that as far as beats go, seashell is about as far as that album goes, it
> is really ambient but a fantastic album nonetheless IMHO.
>
>
> It's funny - I've seen a lot of Howie B bashing now, but reading about
> Skylab & Howie B I have to give the big thumbs up to both of the albums
> (#1 & Music for Babies, repsectively). Here's the key: on these albums, a
> close listen informs you that the person making the music is paying close
> attention to each and every bar, trying to move things around within
> overall structures much more than you see in a lot of releases (that
> nevertheless still sound fantastic). When I listened to Music for Babies
> I was incredibly impressed, I really thought that Howie WAS taking it to a
> higher level, and furthermore I didn't really think that it was as cold &
> mental as it was describe here. That's DJ Spooky's mix album (haven't
> heard his own efforts yet)....
>
> It's also interesting that the notions of art & electronic music have
> finally collided here, because in general I think that the abstraction
> that comes from trying to whack out beat music (artful manipulation, if
> you will) is so diametrically opposed to the intention of most of the
> music we discuss, that is to create a groove, that the best artists are
> the ones who abandon overwhelming concerns about song form & the like and
> manage to find the grooves that are destined to do everyone's heads in.
> And here, Howie does fall short - his experimentation seemingly has had
> the effect of alienating and dissapointing a few people. I nevertheless
> appreciate the experimentation, because it's more interesting to listen to
> in a living room setting. It won't get old as quick as some of the other
> releases do, because when you listen to it three months down the line,
> you'll catch something that you didn't the last time you listened. That
> STILL happens with "Throbbing Pouch".
>
> Lastly, even the music that is 4/4, AABA etc (predictable or DJ-oriented) -
> how good has it gotten over the past year? It's amazing, people are
> putting out so much good stuff these days I don't know what to buy
> anymore. I guess that's what Howie's reacting to - to set yourself apart
> it's becoming increasingly necessary to create something more than 'a good
> groove'. First, it's gotta be a album full of them - and then, ????
>
>
>
> Sorry for a bit of the abstraction, I've been thinking about this for a
> while and having been waiting for the opportunity to post. I'd be
> interested to hear what others think about music, electronic abstraction,
> etc, either how it relates to Music for Babies or otherwise.
>
>
> Jay B
>
>