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Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/23/2004, 5:43pm PDT
curst wrote:


Hmm, I've seen them labeled as IDM more than once. Probably Rolling Stone's fault, or Pitchfork's. But either way, I have to wonder what the fuck the guys calling them "hip hop" (of any kind) are smoking because COME ON. Maybe IDM isn't the right category, but whatever turns out to be the perfect label, it sure won't have the words "hip hop" in it. The closest thing either group has done to hip hop, Tobin's "Verbal", still has nearly zero hip hop influence in it. Decent enough beat, but definitely not FUN-KAY, what vocals are there are all chopped up to shit in grand Prefuse 73-like fashion, no record scratching - sorry, that ain't hip hop, abstract or otherwise.


The abstract hip hop thing comes, I think, from "the beats sound kinda like DJ Shadow." I wouldn't call trip-hop particularly street either but there you go.

Manitoba's Up In Flames, as my non-electronic-music-listener friend pointed out, is more like a Beck record than anything in the usual electronic canon. I'd call that electronic indie rock (his previous album is more middle-of-the-road IDM).


Yeah, I lumped him in with the IDM crowd because of "Start Breaking My Heart", which I don't like nearly as much. (Of course, I don't like 99% of all music nearly as much as "Up In Flames" - it's the goddamn best summer album of the past few years, by far.) Anyway, the Beck comparison isn't bad at all, although I'd say Manitoba's a bit more... wistful, more nostalgic. Pitchfork's review mentioned Phil Spector as an obvious influence, and from what little I remember of Spector I'd agree - "Up In Flames" really is sort of a throwback to the 60s in general at times, and when it comes to Spector's "Wall Of Sound", well, I don't know of a better description for many of my favorite moments of "Up In Flames" than "wall of sound". As much as it might be the warmest album I've heard in a long time, it still sledgehammered its way into my heart more than anything.


That 60's styled production isn't patented by Phil Spector, but I hear what you're saying. Ironically, if you break down Manitoba's production style vs., say, a Ronettes song, the production is actually inverse in terms of space: The Ronette's lead vocal is bone dry and the drums are soaked in reverb, whereas Manitoba has bone dry drums and the vocals are drenched. Interesting for recording fags like myself.

I love Manitoba because he uses real geek rock handclaps. I HEART THOSE HANDCLAPS.

All three of those IDM artists peaked a long time ago and are currently releasing bullshit. Ultravisitor, on reflection, can eat a dick.


I can understand maybe sort of liking some of this stuff - I'm always down with a little experimentalism. But most experimental things tend to fall flat on their face at some point. Autechre's "Confield" is the most recent super-glitchy thing I've heard, and it goes so over-the-top with the concept of "let's make this as non-catchy as humanly possible" that I will never understand how anyone can actually LOVE it. To me it sounds like a non-stop stream of noise. Switch a radio to AM, hit record, rapidly turn the dial for 40+ minutes straight, BAM there's your next LP of IDM brilliance. Ugh. I predict that one day they'll simply leave their phone off the hook for an hour, record that, sell it, and the Pitchfork writer who gave "Confield" a fucking 8.8 will still be stumbling over his own gay-assed cock giving it a 8 or above.


With those Warp-y artists you have to start with the most accessible album and move towards the artier stuff. Squarepusher's Hard Normal Daddy has some amazing songs on it. I love that record, and not in a stroke-my-goatee way either.



Oh yeah, already have, and it is pretty good. I always heard people comparing them to Bonobo, and yeah they are somewhat similar, but I'll take Bonobo every time. Still, I've definitely got one eye on Four Tet at all times now.


(It's a him, and not a them, but whatever).

Bonobo is better than Four Tet, I guess. Four Tet has a couple of totally sweet-ass songs, though. His remix of Kings Of Convenience's song "Weight Of My Words" blew my mind into a bunch of tiny pieces which I am still hunting around for 2 years later.

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Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/20/2004, 9:36pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Zseni 07/20/2004, 9:45pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 2:11pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/20/2004, 10:23pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 2:07pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/23/2004, 5:31pm PDT NEW
                Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/23/2004, 8:42pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Entropy Stew 07/23/2004, 9:01pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by William H. Hayt, Jr. 07/20/2004, 11:57pm PDT NEW
    Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/21/2004, 3:43pm PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by chunguo 07/22/2004, 12:59am PDT NEW
        Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by curst 07/23/2004, 1:28pm PDT NEW
            Re: Two Lone Swordsmen - The Double Gone Chapel by Fullofkittens 07/23/2004, 5:43pm PDT NEW
 
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