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Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (1 rating)

Casino Versus Japan - Casino Versus Japan - 03-May-08 11:32 PM
As much as I love pretty much everything Mr. Kowalski has done, this record holds a very special place in my memory banks. Usually I see everyone talking about WNPTB or Go Hawaii (both of which are stellar records!) but sadly I think the self-titled goes overlooked alot of the time. There isn't a whole lot here that sounds like what came after it, but instead it's more of an ambient record. Four big suites made up of several tracks each, all of which thread together in a blue drugged haze, visiting territories more in common with artists like Gas or even some of Eno's work on Apollo (if it were tuned-into via a broken radio signal coated in reverbs). There's even some pretty straightforward guitar playing on this record, which is a great thing as the guitar sounds are warped and covered in bright chorus usually. Add to this alot of really beautiful loops and that warm crusty tape-production-sound that Kowalski has pioneered and perfected, and the whole thing just works out to be a really pleasant trip through some subterranean multidimensional art gallery. Plus there is a really evocative photo of a bluish bedroom under the disc tray, and that alone is enough to hint at what you're getting from the music...Absolutely perfect in every way!

David Tagg - 29-Sep-07 11:49 PM
David Tagg makes some of the best guitar music I've ever heard. It's easy to get lost in the milk-smooth tones of things like "Song For Sabra" or the woodsy, hollow drones on "No One Came Out Last Night". Add to this already great sound a beautiful nest of packaging, made by Tagg himself out of plastic or canvas or some other ultra-unique medium. Sure, alot of other people have made music like this - but have any of them made it so accessible? I doubt it.

Polmo Polpo - Kiss Me Again And Again - 14-Jul-06 03:21 PM
This was hands down, undisputably my favorite record that came out in 2005. Sandro Perri has been making beautiful music as Polmo Polpo for several years (loose Italian translation: "octopus lung") but the funny thing is, it's usually a really unique brand of cinematic, thick and textural ambient. Using everything from slide guitar, accordian and timpani drums to samples of heartbeats, orchestral loops and jets taking flight. A beautiful, awe-inspiring amalgam of sound, yet none of it happens here.

On "Kiss Me", Perri translates, transforms, and pretty much infinitely reinterprets a cover of Dinosaur L's original funk-club rocker. What you are flung into upon letting the needle drop is a sea of swirling dissonance, only it isn't dissonance at all. Instead it's the sound of several separate yet equally emotive guitar parts, all fluxuating in volume constantly, one occasionally letting itself rise to the surface to establish some trace of a groove to follow. Backing the track's constant evolving is a barely changing house beat (played on what sounds like a live drumkit) and a few different basslines that change as well, only not as much as the guitars. The track throbs in this warm harmony, and later in the trip, we hear droning keyboards, a violin, and alot of effects applied. The music lasts for 21 minutes, and you'd swear if the record didn't run out of space, it could just go on forever.

What is happening here is not so much different than Perri's previous works. The sounds and textures used are all that's changed. Still present is the experimentation, and the point Perri always seems to be trying to make is still very clear: harmony from chaos. What initially sounds like 3 or 4 songs playing at once really turns out to be a sea of melodies, clanging into each other at first, but then apologizing with a kiss as time passes. So literally, and figuratively, the album really lives up to it's title.

Sandro Perri is a genius, and the production of something so complex proves that, "again and again and again and again...".

Loess - 3D Concepts Part 2 - 12-Jun-06 06:52 AM
This is simply one of the best ambient IDM albums out there. The chord progressions create achingly beautiful soundscapes drenched in reverbs as smooth as warm milk, tugged steadily along by crumbling percussion that sounds like floating debris and oil drums rhythmically colliding on the sea. Sad, desolate and yet very comforting and familiar, a must have for fans of early Arovane, Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II and certain flavors of Boards of Canada.

Loess - Wind And Water - 24-May-06 03:37 AM
Always progressively growing but still keeping a common thread to trace through all their projects, Loess have proven themselves to be one of the most underrated names in the genre. After a long wait, Wind And Water is a brilliant step forward for Loess. Much more ambient than their previous works (in some ways closer to their Codec Scovill output) and very intricate, slowly-evolving drum programming that sounds, well, wet with rain and eroded by wind. Imagine the droney soundscapes of 3d Concepts Part 2 meets the slicker production stylings of their more recent 12BC single. No big surprise, another stunning album by Emerson/Pullman.

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