From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V7 #374 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Friday, December 31 2004 Volume 07 : Number 374 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [idealcopy] Sum Wire Up In One Song [Andrew Walkingshaw ] Re: [idealcopy] [OT] Albums of 2004 [Tim ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 18:29:30 +0000 From: Andrew Walkingshaw Subject: Re: [idealcopy] Sum Wire Up In One Song On Wed, Dec 29, 2004 at 07:08:03AM -0800, Paul Pietromonaco wrote: > >>Which track do you think most sells Wire to the uninitiated? > >>I've chosen 'The Lowdown'. > >>Anyone got a better one? > > > > >Lowdown is an excellent choice. > > > >I would probably go for Practice Makes Perfect. > > The obvious four to me are: Outdoor Miner (long version) Map Ref A Serious of Snakes Spent but the two I'd probably go for in the end would be "Mercy" or, especially, "A Mutual Friend"... maybe I'm weird, but those capture the particularly Wirish emotional and musical tension which is what snared me. - - A - -- Dept of Earth Sciences, Univ. Cambridge ::: http://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/ email: andrew@lexical.org.uk ::: http://www.lexical.org.uk/blog/ Random Walk, 10pm Wednesdays, CUR1350 ::: http://www.cur1350.co.uk/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 15:04:58 +0000 From: Ian Grant Subject: [idealcopy] [OT] Albums of 2004 Hi, all. I've just glanced through my list from last year, and it seems as if I was scratching around for credible choices beyond one truly brilliant, landmark record (Dizzee Rascal). In contrast, this has been an incredible twelve months, with about half a dozen albums that I'd happily put on top of the pile...and, in particular, a whole wealth of possibilities hidden just off hip-hop's well-beaten track. Anyway... BIGG JUS - BLACK MAMBA SERUMS Once upon a time, Jus was in Company Flow. This makes him hugely important, historically speaking...but not even Co Flow were as charged and powerful as this. "Black Mamba Serums" is such a personal record, such a deep and soulful record; it's full of rage and regret at the splintering of hip-hop culture, nostalgia and sadness for lost youth, angry put-downs and righteous finger-pointing and, occasionally, muttered confusion. It's the kind of record that spits filthy fury at Bush, yet is aware of acute impotence even as the words tumble out; frustration as much as catharsis, anticipation of defeat. Nothing has touched it, for me. Nothing has come close. DIZZEE RASCAL - SHOWTIME When exactly did he find time to do this? By rights, the second album should've been difficult enough, without trying to rush it out just over twelve months after that astonishing debut; it could never be anything except a safety-first re-tread or a limp sell-out. And yet..."Showtime" is so rich with ideas and wit and pathos and sneering confidence, *again*. It shuffles a little closer towards US styles, perhaps, but on its own terms: the introduction of some really filthy low-end drum-'n'-bass smudges, as on the peerless "Graftin'", is especially thrilling. The result is something that not only consolidates but expands, and it's been wedged into my CD player for months now. The kid's a star, simple as. TWO LONE SWORDSMEN - FROM THE DOUBLE GONE CHAPEL The sudden conversion of Weatherall and Tenniswood to "real" instruments, adorned by the former's uncomfortably growled vocals, got a predictably and understandably mixed response. But it's a riot of a record, really: dark and unpleasant, and full of churning, stumbling riffs reclaimed from a skip outside Factory. It even has more than a few echoes of Wire's recent work, using technology to manipulate and structure the sounds of a traditional line-up to produce something afresh. Above all, it has a brooding density that marks it out as the Swordsmen's work rather than some dull homage; it's still a dancefloor record, still an electro record, except that it rocks like a bastard too.... SUBTLE - A NEW WHITE Tim will disagree, but the Clouddead album was, for me, one of the year's low points. Lovely in places, but where were all the words? Where were those giddy, dizzy flows of abstract poetry, weaving around the music rather than merely chanting lazily over the top? They were here, evidently. This is the record that "Ten" should've been, a gorgeous collage of spot-on left-field influences that sacrifices none of the swooning haze and wandering impulse...and, yes, Doseone has untied his tongue and scattered everything with his impenetrable word-play, which means that it's *interesting* as well as beautiful. Thanks heavens for that. ROB SONIC - TELICATESSEN Not a vintage year for Def Jux, but "Telicatessen" is a gem. It's all about the beats: Mr Sonic is in tune with his label's aesthetic, but this is a much more accessible take on the increasingly dry, unpalatable work of his peers. Its head-nodding funk is built upon great chunks of synth and bass, enormous and meaty riffage that chugs and rolls along in a way that reminds me vaguely of Silo. And anything that reminds me, vaguely or otherwise, of Silo is just fine, especially in the continuing absence of the real thing. Over the top, the vocals have a stern tone but a witty, sharp content, and supply a little urgency amid all that heavy machinery. Widely slept-on, but well worth investigating. THE STREETS - A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE Yeah, yeah, yeah. Novelty record, my arse. He hides it well, because it wouldn't do to flaunt your talent, but Mike Skinner is an absolutely wonderful writer. In particular, he has an unmatched knack for capturing a scene with just a few well-chosen, understated images, and this record is astonishingly vivid in your mind's eye. That brings a freshness and a vitality to its modest sentimentality, and if you can listen to it right through without either laughing out loud or getting a shiver down your spine, you've earnt the right to criticise. And some notable things: MADVILLAIN - MADVILLAINY (much the best of the year's 1,842 MF Doom releases) SUPERPITCHER - HERE COMES LOVE (with the dreadful cover of "Fever" edited out) KLIMEK - MILK AND HONEY SKINNYMAN - COUNCIL ESTATE OF MIND HORSEPOWER PRODUCTIONS - TO THE RESCUE Cheers, ig. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 03:09:48 +0000 From: Tim Subject: Re: [idealcopy] [OT] Albums of 2004 Ian Grant wrote: > > SUBTLE - A NEW WHITE > Tim will disagree, but the Clouddead album was, for me, one of the > year's low points. I loved it so I do disagree, but you clearly know yr HipHop which I really don't. I bought Clouddead's first LP on Ian's advice and while I like it a lot...some great moments but overall its a bit meandering and doesn't quite hit me the way 'Ten' did. So Maybe 'Ten' isn't really a HipHop LP and is best enjoyed without any hip hop knowledge/expectations? Lovely in places, but where were all the words? > Where were those giddy, dizzy flows of abstract poetry, weaving around > the music rather than merely chanting lazily over the top? Well I hate too many words on a record (I'm a shameless Dylanophobic).... there were loads of words on Ten, many more than most records I bought this year but they were quite good words "Ghosts with the rectangle eyes...with the REC-A-TANGLE EYEEBALLS!" "A "A single long-stem rose caught between two mountain antlers..." etc etc and accompanied by some very good music. And I liked the delivery of those words... bug-eyed Pere Ubu-esque ranting mania delivered in 2004 raptones over the acid-fried early Mercury Rev backing. Have tried to turn several people onto this record to no avail this year! I'm now convinced i'm the only person who likes this record..I gather CLoudead aren't to thrilled with it themselves.... They were > here, evidently. This is the record that "Ten" should've been, a > gorgeous collage of spot-on left-field influences that sacrifices none > of the swooning haze and wandering impulse...and, yes, Doseone has > untied his tongue and scattered everything with his impenetrable > word-play, which means that it's *interesting* as well as beautiful. > Thanks heavens for that. Got this as well...tried to like it but 'fraid it just washed over me. Yr hearing something I can't.... Blame it on Different Ears me dears..... ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V7 #374 *******************************