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Re: Recommended Recordings



On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Paolo Valladolid wrote:

> As far as electronica goes I've purchased
> 
> The Orb - Orblivion
> DJ Krush - Meiso
> Chemical Brothers - (forgot the title but it's a very recent album, might
> even be their current one).
> 
> Please note I am not very knowledgeable in this field, having had a past
> life as a guitar-strumming caveman who didn't think much of electronica. 
>^_^

Mmmm... I'm in the same boat.  I guess we'd better hang up our axes, we're
all anachronistic dinosaurs facing down our impending extinction at the
hands of the sampler-wielding electronicists.  (Or so they say...)

I'm not gonna sell my guitar for a Roland Groove Box just yet, but I have 
been checking out some discs in this field myself.  IN a nutshell...

-- Underworld, _Dubnobasswithmyheadman_ and _Second Toughest In The
Infants_.  The second one is brilliant, almost a _Close To The Edge_ of
techno; one of the most thoroughly musical electronica discs I've heard. 
But the first one, with the scary name, does very little for me, for some
reason, and just doesn't rate on the same level at all, in my opinion. 

-- Spring Heel Jack, _68 Million Shades_.  Love the first track, can't
deal with the rest, for some reason.  The stuff rarely seems to cohere
into more than a collection of samples spliced together in various
combinations on a computer; it lacks the musicality that I dig in the
aforementioned Underworld album.  And the much-vaunted jungle grooves
rarely seem to cook up much of an actual groove, in spite of all the
spastic frenzy. 

-- Lamb (self-titled).  Any group that opens its album with a jungle tune
in 7/4 gets instant points in my book.  This is one of what appears to be
a great many emerging programmer-plus-female-vocalist combos, but this is
some of the best stuff I've heard come out of the genre.  Groovier than
SHJ, and more subversive and "intelligent" than Sneaker Pimps or
Portishead.  A few points off for some occasionally maudilin 
"oh-you've-done-me-wrong" heartbreak lyrics, though the musical onslaught 
often seems to function as an ironic contrast to that element.

-- _Metalheadz Presents Platinum Breakz_.  A compilation of jungle 
artists from Godlie's label.  I *really* dislike most of the stuff on 
here; can't exactly put my finger on why, except to say that most of the 
guys on here seem intent on milking some half-baked ideas for way too 
long.  Someone here who's better attuned to this stuff, please tell me 
what I'm missing.  (The Photek tune is good, though).

--Andre