Fuck you, shitty midi adaptor. You’ve never worked properly, and now I’ve accidently stepped on you and hurt my foot. We’re done.
Prick.
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The internet changed a lot of things. Its impact cannot be overstated. And even now it’s continuing to develop and improve.
The internet has changed how we consume media, how we report events, how we hold politicians accountable. It’s the first thing we look at when we research, when we need basic guidance or technical information.
But most of all it has enabled me to buy records, in my underwear, drunk on a Wednesday night.
There are two good Nas records, “Untitled” and “Illmatic”. That’s it. From his extensive catalogue he’s managed two good records. To be fair, they’re both masterpieces of hiphop and either would satisfy the creative expectations of any MC.
Illmatic is flawless and timeless, it’s the “Kind Of Blue” of hiphop. Ten tracks and an instantly recognisable babyfaced cover. “Untitled” is a little more pragmatic, to say the least. I wasn’t a fan at first. Releasing a record dealing with racism/slavery the impending election of the first black president is not a situation we’ll ever see again. Compounding the righteous intentions was the leaked artwork (Nas showing his whipped scarred back) and fact that the proposed title of “Nigger” had been given the spanish archer (El-bow) from Wal-Mart, and would now be referred to as “Unititled”. I mean, what kind of artist caves in to Wal-Mart? Fuck.
Anyway, the record came out and it was great – brilliant in fact. It’s one of the few pieces of modern hiphop to 1) Say something interesting (the writing in “Queens Get The Money” is outstanding, without doubt the greatest few verses in hiphop) and 2) not sound like utter dog shit. And that, is what this is all about really. The production, the mixing are all top-notch. It’s an excellent sounding record considering within what genre it lay.
Here’s the thing though, until now I’d only ever listened to the CD. The vinyl is mastered
Nas – “Untitled” Vinyl Master
Nas – “Untitled” CD Master
This CD/Vinyl master comparison thing will be something I do until I get bored or forget it was ever a “feature”.
I’ve been looking to purchase a record called “DeepChord vs. Octal Industries – Arrival / Departure” for a while now. It’s quite a rare disc, limited to 100 or 200 copies I think. I fancy the translucent orange pressing, but they’re a bit thin on the ground at the moment (
After the release of that particular record, DeepChord branched out and became the defacto dub-techno 2.0 act of 2011, with releases on major labels and the occasional interesting track (check out DeepChord HR-01!). Octal Industries on the other hand, seemingly disappeared into nothingness. – remembered only by sad techno heads with the 192kbps scene ripped MP3 (i.e. me).
As it turns out Octal Industries didn’t disappear as much as he pulled out of the scene to work on an album and a new disc. When I found this out I was optimistic, I snapped up the disc without as much as a listen to the previews. Therein lies my mistake.
Octal Industries “Himinglæva” isn’t a bad record, it’s just utterly unremarkable. Boring, even. Mr. Industries has forgotten that we loved the popping little beat that underpinned his most recognisable release, and instead has focused on dropping us into a reverb chamber of vst synthesis and unrealised ideas.
Monotonous and dull sounding, totally forgettable. Still, the packaging is very nicely done.
When I get bored, I tend to buy useless stuff. Morbid curiosity puts a constant strain on my pocket, and it’s most obvious when I’m shopping on the amazing Discogs.com. You see, it’s expensive to get records mailed to my house – a record I want may only be £0.99, but I’ll end up paying £4 in postage for it. Luckily, a lot of people on Discogs.com have weight ranges for their postage prices, which means I can usually get 3 – 4 records sent right to my door without increasing to price of postage. Not a bad deal.
This, however leads to me putting my chosen record in my basket, and painstakingly searching through the rest of the seller’s inventory to see if I recognize anything else. Usually I don’t. Usually I pick the stuff with the stupidest cover or title I can find. Cue Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo “DJ Fuck”.
It sat there on the screen, staring back at me. Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo proudly on the cover, arms around each other in a ‘lads on the town’ kinda way. I recognise neither Charly nor Theo. Fuck it, ‘add to basket’.
The week passes and I forget what I’ve order along side my copy of requested record.
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo “DJ Fuck”
Sometimes we gamble and lose. A roll of the dice is often a desperate move, but sometimes you hit the fucking jackpot! Not only is this record so crazy it strides past avant garde and walks right into insanity, but I bloody recognise the track titled “Ultimate Sextrack”.
Believe it or not, in 1994 or 1995 “Ultimate Sextrack” was the track to have. Its council scheme hardcore at its best. I used to jam to this – at school discos. Let that sink in for a minute. I remember this FROM SCHOOL DISCOS.
I grew up in a wonderful time.
This is a real record. Its hard to believe, but it’s not a parody of bad music, nor is it a hipster produced ironicly inclined production. Seriously, we thought this was cool. Part of my still does.
Track 2 has yodeling 🙁
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo – DJ Fuck
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo – Tiroler Kaboemsch
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo – Ultimate Sextrack
Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo – Verrotted
I’ve written a long post comparing (despairing) most, if not all of the modern Bowie masters currently available. They range from ‘good’ to ‘unacceptably bright and digital’. David Bowie “The Next Day” as you no doubt know, is his latest album. The mastering is much better this time, although clearly digitally mastered for CD, it’s not fatiguing or brittle sounding as the later Bowie discs. It’s a reasonable attempt at making a post modern rock master. The vinyl, however is mastered by someone totally different, and seemingly with a little more care.
David Bowie “The Next Day”
This is then, should enable us to hear the difference between the CD master and true vinyl master of the same record (I say true because to my ears a lot of vinyl are pressed from the CD master now, totally defeating the purpose of the big black disc).
Here, presented to you for curiosity sake, is a totally unscientific comparison of the CD and vinyl. I’ve chosen track 3. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) because it seems to have the largest sonic difference. Play them back-to-back, see if you can spot the difference.
David Bowie “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” Vinyl Master
David Bowie “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” CD Master
To be honest, I don’t find the vinyl that much more dynamic, but I do like it’s driven bass and softer treble. The 180g vinyl comes with the CD anyway, so it’s not like you need to choose between them.
Cheerio!
It’s been a long time since I posted something to this blog. You can attribute that to my growing disinterest in being “on” the computer, the amount of travel that’s plagued my lifestyle the past year, or the fact that my extraordinarily expensive sound card fucked up for two and a half months. So needless to say as my favourite hobby was put on the back burner, this blog suffered the fallout – no new music, no new whiny half-baked reviews.
Then VD dropped a new record (
Why? Well here’s the deal, the dealio, the Nancy Dell’Olio (I fucking invented that – just like that too, no fucking planning, no ghost writers nor fuck all). Wait, hold on, side tracked. Breathe… So I’m going to continue to talk about some stupid fuckin’ records here that no cunt has heard of before, and continue to drive people away from my already on the fringes blog. And I’m going to be using tonnes of commas, because I love them – they’re like little fullstops that you can put fucking anywhere you like.
Anyway, right, I’m cool, I’m cool. No, I’m cool. Ignore that previous paragraph.
It’s been thirteen years since there was a new VD pseudonym – not counting the collaboration, I think Uusitalo is the newest. So it was with heavy anticipation I awaited his latest incarnation. To be entirely transparent, I need to preface this review with the admission that I find interest in everything produced by Mr. Delay. Even the unlistenable early Sistol album (who listens to music anyway? How horribly passé) or the confused and messy “Love Glove” CD. I’m also more interested in what’s been invested in the making of the music than the final outcome – the reflection of the musician in the music is much more interesting than all other aspects to me. It’s what elevates music to art, and what differentiates good from bad – even in seemingly superficial electronic music.
Ripatti is both a new label and new “character” in the VD repertoire. The label is distributed exclusively through the Boomkat.com web shop and will be putting out limited runs (around 500 pre release, I think). It’s supposedly a snapshot of what is being produced in the studio, and will more than likely house pieces that are not viable as parts of albums or other projects.
Ripatti the artist is a bit more interesting to me. It’s the first occasion in which Vladislav Delay is using (almost) his real name. Or at least I think it’s his real name – at this point it’s quite difficult to tell. Maybe he’s grown to be more comfortable in his own skin, maybe he’s gained the confidence in his productions he no longer needs an alias, or maybe he just made some music and slapped his name on it. We’ll never know, but I’m guessing VD doesn’t do things without thoroughly considering the implication. What I can tell you is that this single production released under the Ripatti moniker bears little to no resemblance to any of his previous incarnations, and I have the feeling that it’s the record he’s been desperate to release for some time.
Ripatti “Ripatti01”
Ripatti “Ripatti01” contains two tracks, “#39” and “#24” – seemingly from the Mark Fell school of naming.
The a-side is a stop/start, medium tempo tech house thing. It’s choppy, glistening and really is the sort of thing I love. I think it’s aimed at replicating 2-step garage with a contemporary twist, but really it works better as a modern take on late 90’s dutch house music. It’s a fun track, and possibly the most accessible piece of music I’ve heard Delay produce, but it never crosses the line into frivolous or juvenile. He knows how to show a great deal of restraint, even when wringing the neck of his new studio.
Finely chopped samples are draped over deep analogue toms and kicks. It’s a very rhythmic record, very controlled. Gone is a lot of the syncopation and dubby depths associated with his most popular productions, and it’s all been replaced with tireless shifting of samples and insane patterns. Only once does the twelve minute track break down to expose it’s Vladislav Delay centered core – long attack, reverb laden minor chord progressions. It’s Delay, but pressed through a mesh screen of contemporary genre traditions. Very cool stuff.
The b-side is very different. It’s a frenzy of fast snappy drums, shuffling rhythms, 80s finger snaps and single note basslines. Its been called drum and bass by a few critics, but that doesn’t sit well with me. Its more chaotic than that (plus if its not an Amen Brother sample, its not drum and bass). This is a record that doesn’t fit with the canon of the rest of his material, gone is the control and self control – but that’s no bad thing.
It’s all glued together with a mulchy, mangled, unintelligible backdrop of noise. Sampled and twisted. I think V has been listening to Underworld’s “Second Toughest In The Infants” – and if he hasn’t, he really should.
It’s a lovely unexpected surprise, and one that makes me very interested in what’s to come next.
You can buy the record right now (if its not sold out) from Boomkat.com, and if you’ve got access to a reasonable turntable, you definitely should check it out. And for god’s sake, don’t leak it on the internet and ruin everyone’s fun.
And I know this aspect doesn’t matter to a lot of people but… The pressing and the mastering of the record are both excellent. Clean and deep, with lots of range and clarity. I watched a lot of interviews and public talks with the mastering engineer Matt Colton – and he said a lot of stuff I profoundly disagree with. Lots of examples of boring music and lots of talk about high resolution being smoother and clearer. Snake oil in my opinion, however I have to admit his work seems spot on. It’s difficult to master modern dance music, but this is an excellent example of how it should be done. Well done Matt!
Now about this weird HDD toy you’ve bought, what are your plans with that Mr. Delay?
Two interesting links popped up today on VladislavDelay.com – “Ripattimusic (Label)” and “Ripattimusic (Artist)”. I have little to no clue about either of these, but if I had to guess I’d say that Sasu is either setting up a new label or imprint for his music focused on digital distribution, or it will be an offshoot used primarily for installations and film projects. But as I said, purely a guess.
Either way, keep your eyes on VladislavDelay.com and ripattimusic.com in the coming weeks as it is set to be something very interesting.
I don’t know very much about this Mark Fell guy, and even his alter-ego ‘SND’ doesn’t ring too many bells. I vaguely recall some SND tracks being present on some of the “Clicks & Cuts” CDs I’ve got, but they’ve clearly left no real lasting impression. They’re neither good enough to recall nor terrible enough to irk me still.
Post Clicks & Cuts digitalism era (and while my back was turned), it seems Mark Fell has somewhat reinvented himself; new name, new label, new agenda. In fact, I’m not sure if the SND thing still happens and to be frank, I’m not even interested enough to check. So in short sighted opinion, Sensate Focus/Mark Fell is just one of a million IDM producers trying to survive the post Mille Plateaux world.
You can imagine my forehead-slapping disappointment then, when I read on Vladislav Delay’s website that the two were teaming up together. Would this end up being another ‘Luomo vs. Dominico Ferrari’ record? Technically proficient but altogether a little too soulless?
In order to find out I paid my €15 ticket price for the 12”. A record and a free pencil for €15? How could I refuse? (No, I don’t know why it ships with a free pencil, nor do I know what I’ll do with it – but apparently I’m just that easily swayed into parting with my money).
I waited with bated breath for the release date. Then it was pushed back almost two months, so I said ‘fuck it’ and downloaded it instead. (It should be added that during writing this I received an email with my ‘official’ download code and confirmation that my record and pencil were on the way!).
So what you get for your money, excluding the pencil, is two tracks ‘X’ and ‘Y’. Not a lot of thought gone into that one, but apparently it’s what Mr. Fell likes to title his music nowadays. Fair enough, fair enough.
Sasu Ripatti & Mark Fell “Sensate Focus 1.666666666”
It’s at this point in the article where I should cleverly change tone with the use of a rhetorical and self referential statement and tell you that the music is actually very good – but I’m not smart enough to do that. I’ll just have to tell you in plain old English that both sides of this disc are just magic! 🙂
Sasu Ripatti & Mark Fell “Sensate Focus 1.666666666” is post moderne house – I hate myself for typing that, but there’s no other way to describe it. It reminds me of the wonderful AGF/Dlay production “Return Of Us” – chopped and minimalistic, but quite uniquely styled nonsense.
There’s focused clarity in it’s execution and is one of the best written electronic pieces in recent memory. There’s no ‘fluff’, it simply a perfect and modern twist on laser accurate two-step, stripped to the core. And as can now be expected from a VD production, it’s perfectly mixed and edited.
Both tracks are hyper repetitive, and clock in at over ten minutes each. Y is probably the most interesting of the two, stuttering and wonky vocal snippets falling over an oddly timed, modern beat. Both track rely on micro improvisation and solid structure to keep the listener’s interests, and neither track fails to impress. The level of confidence and competence on display is remarkable. Every strike is deliberate and taught, and its all handled with a deft hand and serious tone… It just sounds so timeless yet contemporary. What a great record!
Impressed as I was with this production, I decided to investigate a little further into the Sensate Focus thing. There’s six or seven releases in total and they’re all fairly interesting a nice. 1.66666666 by far the greatest release so far, but if you enjoy the idea of Main Street Records reincarnated for the twenty first century, or a glimpse into what modern house should be using as a template, Sensate Focus is well worth listening too.
🙂