Anything that smacks of ‘experimental’ can be dodgy business. And so this is.
Not many musicians (or computer wizards) can carry it off. Probably the best
at it is Jean Michel Jarre et al.
Any kind of music that’s special is intended to touch us in some way. It makes
the rest sound ordinary which this protracted title and sonic effects is. It
feels like Richard Swift has set his controls to the heart of muzak, leaving
us to conclude that it’s cold and contrived.
Ashes, is just one minute’s worth of ambient nothingness. "The best
way to relax is to lie down upon your bed and stretch up...", he opens
Inst, followed by, yep, you got it, a programmed beat layered by
distorted vocals and quirky instrumentation. Subplot crackles in and
onwards for nearly three minutes.
A tedious Shooting A Rhino is a major low point, again nothing more
than aimlessly drifting F/X, segued by equally dire Plan A & Plan B,
supplemented by the sound of raindrops. After what sounds a promising start,
Theme 5 just goes, on and on. War/Un War is equally boring.
There’s a lot of bish-banging on Theme 3 with Swift failing to add any
real dynamic meaning to the continuing tininess, while the clanging profile of
Ghost Of Hip Hop takes on a far more sombre tone.
File under: Best left for space movies.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Ashes
2. Inst
3. Subplot
4. Shooting A Rhino Between The Shoulders
5. Plan A & Plan B
6. Theme 5
7. War / Un War
8. Theme 3
9. Theme 4
10. Clay Young Battles The Man
11. Ghost Of Hip Hop (New Apostles remix)
12. They Provide Lights
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
