Holden* ‎– The Idiots Are Winning

When i listened to this album for the first time i was expecting musics like" bloodlock" "i have put out the lights", "kaern turned", "solstice" and "nothing", instead i hear a new side of James holden, it was a deception at a first listening, but after listening to this album a few more times i end up enjoying this dark album, i don´t know how some people find its musics weird, honestly i think the musics are quite acessible and simple to assimilate,its dark melodies are usual in Electronic music, so there´s nothing awkward about it. Its a pity that this album is short and includes a blank track ""intentionally left blank" wich i think it occupies unnecessary disk space, besides it turns to be a uncomfortable silence of two minutes, it feels like wasted money on this pseudo-modern art track. I find this album very satisfying untill the track 8, the final tracks i find them more ordinary lacking melody, dynamic or any consistency in its expression. My favourite tracks are "Lump", "Flute" and "Lumpette". The only reason why i don´t give the max rating to this album is because i find it short and with some track that are not enough satisfying, i hope James Holden is working on a new Album whether is dark or progressive house. James is one the best artists when it comes to do remixes such as "Fine day, "The sky was pink", "the darkest star", "inner laugh" and many other remixes wich i find amazing placing James as one of the top remixers. I hope James Holden is producing a new album, and i hope it will be a more varied album, more extended and more satisfying than this one.

When a track like the densely textured "Lump" kicks off an album, you know you're in for a treat. And that's exactly what James Holden's THE IDIOTS ARE WINNING is. "10101" is spartan at the start, but once the synths come in, it becomes like an electric ocean, with waves of crackle and synth ripples. "Corduroy," on the other hand, starts ticking away into acid-like wobbles, while the ambient, atonal "Flute" accumulates layers of noise and feedback. "Idiot" takes its steady thump through several tonal variations, while its sister track, "Idiot Clapsolo" is a slightly stripped-down version. "Quiet Drumming" ends the album with a heavily-filtered rhythm track, almost a counterpoint to the tracks elsewhere. The album as a whole: a musical smörgåsbord.

An excellent piece of work from Holden, including many works far from what we would expect from this progressive house artist. While many of us would have liked to see his earlier works compiled into an album, this release far outdoes what any such album could have done in that it's so complex and coherent that the whole album feels like one big piece of art. Very IDMish, and extremely experimental, but Holden's talent for production shines. Recommended.