Various Artists
bloomington . electronic . music . compilation
»
Various Artists
bloomington . electronic . music . compilation
ISOTT, 1998
RiYL: Aphex Twin, Banco De Gaia, Ozric Tentacles |
Rather, electronic music has evolved into a multi-headed hydra of its own, spawning seemingly infinite genres (house, drum and bass, trance, etc.), a veritable club culture/terminology and a forward-looking mentality that offers a potent antidote to re-hashed, invented industry trends.
The Bloomington (Indiana) Electronic Music Coalition combed its city for its best and brightest knob twiddlers and found seven original tracks for a new, self-titled compilation. While some of the tracks here are definitely more polished and ear-friendly than others, the creative process that consistently amazes.
Mohorific Discontinuity's "Remote Viewer," the album's first track, shows the sheer potential of new equipment, which turns mere ideas into sonic realities. Conceived and recorded entirely in Bruce White's one-room apartment, "Remote Viewer" is a six-minute epic that equals and nearly exceeds the ingenious compositional flair of English electro-trance pioneers Ozric Tentacles. A thick, futuristic melody, accompanied by chimes and bursts of booming bass, leads the song into an angular, head-spinning freefall through tight, pulsating beats, A.M. radio static and confounding analog synth manipulation. The song's kicker is White's flawless, effects-drenched guitar solo, which reluctantly returns the mesmerized listener to solid ground. Extraordinary.
Elsewhere, Axel Barcelo's "Zu (Consumated Mix)" updates typical New Age noodling with a persistent beat, computer-generated voices and echoing percussion. Brian Paturalski, better known as The Analogue Kid, explores a dancier side of electronica on the constantly morphing "Digital Sunrise," matching up favorably against melody-driven artists such as Banco De Gaia and BT. Tracks by The Xynochronous Weasel, Mutant Messenger and Gregg Shiff navigate the triple-digit beats-per-minute, dark, mysterious corners of the genre.
Although fairly repetitive, Mutant Messenger's "BrainGasm!" approximates an alien brainwash, kicked into motion by a hyper drum machine and continuously recurring synth lines. Weasel's "Hate" spends 2 1/2 minutes as a proto- industrial assault (dare one say Gravity Kills?), resolves itself with a funereal march and then returns to the aggressive melody of minutes previous.
"East Walk (Warped Mix)" by Shiff, one of the founders of IU's DJ and electronic musicians club, finds wobbly synth spurts attempting to gain their balance atop cymbal-happy, discotheque-ready beats. Slave Cylinder's "Shard 13 (Prenatal)" is a white-noise freakout that might remind listeners of a space shuttle launch or a looped jet engine.
BEMC V1.1998 is both an inspiring peek at Bloomington's most prodigious electronic innovators and a bold reminder of the intensity of this fledgling but ever-improving genre. As project coordinator Josh Moline told the Indiana Daily Student, "the idea of the CD was just so people would know this type of music exists here in Bloomington." In this goal, BEMC has succeeded fabulously.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"