Anyway, got more albums that I will review (and I'm still fixating on
Spacer esp. Vanishing Points which was mentioned by Colin as one of the
best songs of the year, yes I agree)
DJ Spooky - Necropolis
DJ Spooky has been spinning in New York for quite a while but I have yet
to see him. I believe he may have done some stuff at that Red Hot &
Whatever beathead thing a few months back. Anyway, the disc &
it is subtitled "a journey through experimental triphop ambient jungle"
etc. Listening to this disc shows you how malleable those terms are and
how little they actually identify the music on the disc. This music is NOT
for the faint-hearted (I shouldn't have been surprised, it's Knitting
Factory). It is primarily beatless, out-there, discordant stuff that
when played over and over again to even the most stable, music loving, open
minded individual in a windowless white room is guaranteed to make him
leave it thinking that he is a chicken. Think of the end of "And the gods
made love" off Electric Ladyland done a hundred times to different samples
and loops and you're pretty much there. To be clear, this is a *set*
by DJ Spooky, though he does have his own work on there - I'm wondering
if seeing him live would be this out-there and exactly who the people are
who go to see him live (are THEY that schizophrenic?) and how the music
is presented live when he does spin.
Furthermore, the liner notes to the disc are simply f*cked. I've had a
pretty good education so I'm not scared by big words but the liner notes
throw in words like 'chronotopes' and it's a big pizza pie of someone's
crazy ramblings. He basically outlines some view of the world and then
the last two paragraphs introduce the DJ and all of a sudden it's trippy
stuff about DJs. Weird, maybe on a level beyond my comprehension, but
what good is talking in strange tongues if nobody else can then hear you?
That said, I loved the disc. I don't exactly know when I will listen to
it again, but there will be a time, maybe if I ever come home tired,
that I will float again through the Spooky soundscapes.
Tortoise - millions now living will never die
After reading about this band on the list and in the NME or Melody Maker, and hearing them on an AMAZING record show in NYC (Weds nights on 90.3
I think, 9-11, it's called Didjilution and it's sponsored by Throb & it
made me real happy that they were actually broadcasting the stuff into
the air in these parts), I finally got this album, and I was not
disappointed in the least (I remember someone saying the album might be
tough to get into). It's basically processed indie instrumental stuff.
Sorta like a Stereolab tune or the Fugazi instrumental on "in on the kill taker". Very very enjoyable.
So ends the reviews.....
Jay B