Lamb - "Lamb"
This is another one of those albums (like Moloko's) where the reviews all
seem to mention "Portishead", and this one is obviously not going to be an
exception. But I don't like P*rt**h**d and I like this a lot. The main
formula is moody, floating female vocals over some seriously tuff, downtempo
drum & bass beats, and a bunch of very memorable songs. I really like the
use of acoustic bass on some of the tunes (for instance "Closer", which
really locks into a groove.) The only track I really don't like is "Merge",
an instrumental which goes for a more straight techno rhythm and too many
trumpet samples, but also in the non-drum & bass vein is "Gorecki", which
has a lot in common with "Unfinished Sympathy" and is one of the highlights
of the LP. The track which has stuck in my head the most of all is the remix
of "Cottonwool" which is hidden after the end of track 10, and is just
awesome. If anyone can work out which Ryuichi Sakamoto track the sample with
the koto (maybe, not up on japanese instruments) is lifted from I will be
deeply grateful, as it's been nagging at me for nearly two weeks now - it
just seems deeply familiar...
Metalheadz - "Platinum Breakz"
I know this has been around for a little while now, but having bought too
many drum & bass compilations I held off for a bit, which turns out to have
been a mistake. This is without doubt the best drum & bass compilation I've
heard - virtually every single track is a stormer, with the single exception
of Alex Reece's "Pulp Fiction" - but then I've not liked anything he's done,
period. If like me you find that the sort of stuff collected on "Logical
Progression" errs on the side of rhythmic "straightness", you'll love this -
these people are all completely mad :-)
On the club front, Stealth this month was something of a disappointment. DJ
Vadim & Coldcut's sets were up to the usual standard, but DJ Food were not
there this time, and the live set from The Squarepusher really killed it for
me. In theory, one guy playing fuck-off slap bass with a bunch of drum
machines chucking out heavy duty drum & bass beats sounds like a great idea,
but at best it ended up sounding like 70's jazz fusion and rapidly descended
into the unlistenable (and completely and utterly undanceable.) Too much
fiddling about with the gear between times, too...
..Mark..
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Mark Allerton Mark@warmspot.compulink.co.uk
http://www.compulink.co.uk/~warmspot/