Cryptowen Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Originally I was gonna start reviewing every track posted in YLC but that updates way too much so instead I'll just focus on the album release forum because it's much more reasonable *knock on wood* Not gonna do this is any particular order but chances are if you're a regular poster I'll notice it sooner. Anyways let's get goin'... Gineadoo - Crubicle Time - http://friendlyfoilmusics.bandcamp.com/album/crucible-time I'm instantly reminded of works from what I'd call the first electronic music renaissance - that period during the mid-60s through 1970s when guys like Tangerine Dream or Jean Michel Jarre began to release their independently crafted electronic experimentations to critical acclaim, acting as middlemen between men in labcoats desperately attempting to make a wall of modulars sound like various land mammals, & the (soon to be synth-infested) world of pop, by showing those with ears to hear that you could in fact craft beautiful music from these incredibly awkward fart noises. That first paragraph is probably riddled with errors but this isn't supposed to be history hour so roll with it dudes Anyways, as I was saying kinda, there's a lot of stylistic similarities going on here. The dense layers of driving arpeggios. The lack of anything resembling a drum machine. A seeming minimum of effects beyond simple delays & filter sweeps. And perhaps most importantly, the fact that most synth elements don't resemble a particular patch or fit cleanly into one waveform, but instead bound forward like some great shaggy electrical starbeast, squelching or slicing along with its own internal logic. There's a lot of atmosphere to get lost in here. Conventional song structures are generally eschewed in favour of layers of repeating melodies being casually drawn in & out over a base arpeggiation or two, with thick delay usage forming a cloud of reverberation in the background. I don't quite like that description because it makes it sound like every ambient techno album ever & that's just not fair. Ooh, wait. It's like being in some sort of alien port city at night with all these space goofs milling around you, & you just sort of stand there for five minutes at a time trying to draw in as much as you can, slowly noticing more details as time goes on even though they may have been there all along. "Off-Load Site" is a stand out to me. It sort of fades in with this rapid propulsive arp, with a pad almost blended right in, playing this little three note motif, then pausing for the rest of the measure like it's unsure of its own words, then doing it again, & again. Like a tide, almost. Very coastal sounding. Soon a second arp fades into the mix, like some long squelching eel being drawn to shore. Or perhaps we are being pulled under, for soon we're surrounded in layers of imaginary sea monsters, & it's hard to remember quite how you got there unless you pay close attention to the track progression. Towards the end that initial arp is drawn to the forefront again, as the arps slow down, slowly breaking the haze, becoming staccato. (probably I'll play that one on my radio show tomorrow) At other times on the album I felt the highly detailed atmospherics were let down by lack of an equally characteristic lead melody. There's a high chance this is merely a result of my dearth of listens failing to reveal the subtler melodic progressions. Such are the perils of first impressions...or third or fourth or however many times I've listened to this album since you put it out. Anyway, what I mean by that is on a few tracks I found myself left waiting for...something. The second track, for example, is full of very evocative little bits that remain engaging for the entire 6.5 minute duration, but I kept expecting the emergence of some primary non-repetitive melody to really jump into the spotlight & give a voice to this now well established face. But it did not show. I'm not sure why that stood out to me on that track & not on others. I mean, they're for the most part all based around dense layering of simple progressions & not on one lead melody, & that isn't even a negative for me really. I could listen to WARNING OUTSIDE ARTIST COMPARISON Oneohtrix Point Never repeat the same few notes on his Juno for 10 minutes & I could do the same for most of the tracks on this album. I guess at times there's just a certain indescribable thing that needs to click just so to make the track totally work for me. But again this is based off a few listens & that track could well end up being my favourite given more time to understand the logic by which it operates. But yeah good album. Good production, good length, front cover isn't really anything to write home about but I mostly mention that because judging by your bandcamp you have several that actually are quite nice looking. MORE REVIEWS COMING IN THE FUTURE PROBABLY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahrk Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Sweet! Another Crypty review thread! Have you had a listen to Winter on Ganymede yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 ^Yes, but it's been a little while, so I'm probably gonna have to give it a few more (sorry errbody who was left waiting in the last thread. My attention span is like a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryancolecreate Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 lol. Well I'll read it if you write it. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friendly Foil Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 holy, I've never had anyone write a full review of an album I did before. daaayum. Thanks! I liked the part with the sea creatures. never thought of it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest arbee Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 great idea and great read once again cryptowen. you're a generous man. if you're interested and have some time, you can check out my latest project. it should be easy for you, it's only two tracks :) http://digitalkitokat.bandcamp.com/album/dkk002-arbee-30-3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 Zander One - Altitude http://bewegungrecords.bandcamp.com/album/altitude Alright let's seeee...I like the composition of the album cover, with the immense expanse of mountains & clouds near blended into each other, & the brightly lit powerplant peeking out from the bottom corner like some sort of human spore. The uniform grain over everything builds on this sense of invading industry, with the digital texture casting a sort of post apocalyptic pall over everything. least that's my thinkin anyway. Did you take that shot yourself? Anyways, the music is all very warm & "analog" sounding (quotey marks just so I don't look dumb if it turns out this was made on digital gear). Actually it kind of reminds me of the output of WATMM members Sint & Milieu - chilled out unimposing synthesizer jams that don't sound like they're trying to emulate the rawness of Analords or the lofi wobble of BoC or the sparse dreamlike repetitions of early 90s IDM or whatever else the kids are into these days as far as synthy synth music goes. Mostly. The second song almost sounds like it's quoting Xtal with that one muted descending sine melody. But it's such a simple melody I can't really knock it too much, & it soon goes off in unAphexTwinian directions - a whomping bassline, an intermittent cheery synthflute line. I'm not sure what subgenre this kind of music fits into but I generally think of it as "how it's made soundtrack" I did have some issues with percussion. The drums strike me as being barely there, like my full attention was on these big sweeping pads & sparkling melodic lines & in the background there's a rather nondescript hihat shuffling away & a few quietish snares or handclaps that fail to draw attention to themselves. I mean they don't really diminish the other elements but it often felt like they didn't add a great deal either, & I was left wondering what the songs would sound like with big in your face drums instead of drums mostly used for subtle texture & tempo. Actually what I was really left wondering was what if these songs broke free from the techno mould entirely. Like what if you had entirely percussion-free 10 minute long synth symphonies, with these same warm virtual instruments playing these same sort of melodies in that same light reverb wash, but everything really drawn out, slowly building to beautiful harmonic crescendos & going through all sorts of different movements, etc. I would listen the shit out of that album. But anyway I'm digressing. Overall enjoyable. Didn't realize until the second listen there was guitar in there because it's so smoothly mixed in there. Uh.......yup that's all I got to say on this one for now. Wahrk will be next I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sergeantk Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 thanks so much for the review man i liked it. also you gave me some ideas for possible remixes and new songs... the whole building melodically thing or heavier beats... ill have to have a jam now and see what i can stir up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sergeantk Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 also, the comparison to Sint and Milieu are a huge compliment to me man i love their music :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braintree Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I released this back in July, if you want to have a whack at it: http://williamsbraintree.bandcamp.com/album/tortilla-flotilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahrk Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I released this back in July, if you want to have a whack at it: http://williamsbrain...rtilla-flotilla If I haven't mentioned yet, I love Tortilla Flotilla. Another amazing release, my friend. You never disappoint. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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