Ambidextrous: Mix Reviews Volume 8

No matter what the musical genre is, if it's got a hook, be it a groove, or just a great melody, there's a good chance I'll like it. So it is with whatever this genre is. I certainly have some issues with it, which I will try to elucidate in my song by song run down, but there's plenty to like.

Would I enjoy an entire album from any of these artists? Maybe. Would I listen to it often? Probably not, for it's relatively rare that my musical listening finds me wanting just background noise. At work, if I listen to music it means I have the chance to listen solidly, otherwise I tend not to listen because I'm getting constantly interrupted or out of my seat too often. So I'm not sure when I would find a place for this music. It would actually be good party music, given the right crowd. Like Brian Eno said, 'it must be as ignorable as it is interesting'. I find myself listening to music at parties more than I think other people do (probably because I'm horrible at small talk) but so for most people this kind of background groove would be perfect. And it's danceable.

I think the single biggest problem that I have with it is that a significant amount of it seems lilke something I could make with a Mac and a couple of other pieces of equipment. Catchy grooves, layering, and odd snippets of spoken word thrown in to make it sort of mysterious. That seems to be the recipe, and though most of what I would make would be crap, that may be true for these artists as well.

And this would be unimaginably bad concert music.

So on to the individual songs....

1. Coming Up From Waterloo Jam...I mean Witch Doctor by Small Axe
This is my least favorite of the songs on this collection. More than any of the others it totally seems like it could have been created in the Johnson Street/New Brighton days when we would play music together, particularly if more of us knew how to play instruments well. There's a number of songs on the Mixdown collection that have the same feel for me as this song. Who knew we were creating ambient music. Two French guys in a basement become 2 musicians, a valedictorian, and a wannabe French guy in a basement, or a small apartment.

Good baseline here. The 'witch doctor' seems totally irrelevant though, since nothing about the music strikes me as from any ethnicity that contains witch doctors. I don't hate it, but I would happily live the rest of my life without it.

It also suffers from ending as if it is the lead up to the next song, which it is, though not the song they intended. Put it back into its context and maybe I like it more, but in this setting, poo.

2. Cafe Coca by Dephazz
Slightly bassanova-y groove going on here that is appealing. Not reliant on a relentless baseline to drive it forward, which tends to be the crutch of many of the songs in this genre. The musical parts seem to fit the title, bringing to mind perhaps an open air Caribbean or South American cafe.

The lyrics on the other hand seem to be completely alien to the music. Seventh circle? Blow my brains out? And otherwise a slightly bouncy tropical vibe? Weird and tough to reconcile for my simple brain. I get irony. I get contrast. I get satire. But I don't get the lyrics to this song relative to the music.

But still, it's very listenable, and if I don't focus on it, it slips languidly through my mind and leaves me content. I also like the woman's voice that's used like an instrument doing the 'ayyyyyyeeeees' (or whatever that sound is - not sure what the last syllable is) that echo through various parts.

3. High Roller by The Crystal Method
This is the only band on this collection that I've heard anything by. They had a song called Busy Child on one of my CMJ collections (the offical progenitor of this coalescence).

Amongst my favorites on the collection, particularly for the doppler build-up that follows with the drums blasting the doors wide open, Damn Yankees style (Ted Nugent's got nothing on this). Makes we want to make a video for this song. Also some very Doctor Who moments in this song, particularly the doppler-esque effect at the beginning. Add some 'oooo eeeee ooooos' and you'd have it.

Within this dialogue, one or both of these people is not hearing the other, and after the fiftieth time that I announced that 'we've got it' I would sound far more annoyed. 'You can see the Earth? Well so the fuck can we. We're in space too, dipshit. Is this your first flight? Me, I do this every god damn day.'

Could be a good song to run to. That drum kick would send me flying.

4. Le Soleil es Pres de Moi by Air
For those long trips through space you definitely have some long stretches of nothing, and even better, if you're in cryo-sleep, this might be a good way to rock daddy night night.

Ahh, the vocoder, presumably anyway, though with all the electronic possibilities perhaps they're manipulating the vocals in post production. Either way, vocoder-esque. Think Frampton Comes Alive! An interesting effect that has its place in the musical lexicon, and seems appropriate here.

This song doesn't stick out in any other particular ways. It's soothing and pleasant and that's all I have to say about that.

5. Kaye by 7 Hurtz
This one seems like it could have been on the soundtrack of some Tarantino-esque film, though possibly on an album of songs inspired by the film. The film would be filled with wacky unexpected dialogue and situations, interspersed with ridiculous violence.

The organ part at the beginning also has that Doctor Who vibe. Sultry vocals are excellent. Will TClog confuse it for a male voice?

Listenable but otherwise unremarkable.

6. Sea of Tranquility by John Stanford
What the hell is that voice saying? 'Hello this is dow chemicnine give oaf'? Damn you crappy transmission! I wouldn't want those to be my last words as I spiralled off into space. David Bowie had better last words for the intrepid space explorer....'tell my wife I love her very much....'

This song, more than perhaps any of the others is narrative, or seems so to me. Not just floating free of the ship, spiralling off. Maybe not worse (for the slow death that would be)...floating towards a much more immediate collision with debris, or a comet, or some other object that cuts your life short after 7 minutes and 43 seconds. Otherwise you need the extended remix and less of the urgency that you experience as this song builds. Or perhaps you have one chance to save your life as you float away and as that chance grows nearer and nearer the tension builds, the excitement grows, and when the moment arrives.......you miss and the music just trails off to infinity.

Too much tension to be just ambient for me. But of the songs reviewed so far this is number two on the most popular list.

7. Wilderness by Bluetech
Some post apocalyptic wilderness populated by self-aware robots, feral machines and small oases of what's left of the human race piecing their lives back together out of the rubble of a world that is no more. This is the day to day soundtrack. No threats from the dangers that lurk outside the corrugated sheet steel walls. Just unwashed people, clad in scraps trying to get by, collect water, trade for food, and make the future a little better. Good luck I say, though we tried to warn you. But would you listen? No, of course not. It is a tough lesson to learn.

As for the song, it floats along unthreatening and uninspiring.

8. Devotion No. 1 by Loop Guru
One or both of these guys is Indian, and loops they use, tying together the traditional Indian sound with the electronic manufacturing of ambient music. So says Allmusic.

What this is missing from true popular Indian music is the high-pitched female voice singing in a way that makes me wince. Watch any Bollywood blockbuster. For its lack I am grateful. The gentle female voice found therein is quite pleasing to me, and the strange Hindi words she speaks are certainly in accord with the instrumentation.

I understand Loop Guru was George Harrison's favorite ambient band.

I imagine sitting in some far off tropical glade facing a statue of Vishnu or Ganesha, entranced in a moment of pure reflection, sending my mind off on a trip through both the internal and external universes in search of absolute truth. What do I find there?

In a possible tie for second place, and given a change in mood, possibly alone there.

9. Numero Deux by The Dining Rooms
Coming Up From Waterloo Jam: Reprise. This time, new and improved, with xylophone and vocals. Not bad, but like the first song, too easily recreated.

10. Rapture at Sea by Easter Sun and John Kelley
I have known two John Kelleys in my life, and neither was involved in this. Nor Mike, that is for certain.

Another song that doesn't give me the vibe that the title implies. I like that little skipping tone, but that sounds wildly un-sea-like as anything I've ever heard. Perhaps it is the song of the elusive giant squid and you are a sperm whale.

I like the progression of this song. It's got enough appealing elements going on that it holds my interest if I let it. Put this in the middle of the pack.

So, a new genre, or genres or multiple sub-genres or whatever has been added to our little coalescence, by someone that few would have expected it from. Good job. The bad part is, while I like some of these songs, and will listen to this collection in the future, I'm not really inspired to seek out more from these artists, and I think that is the nature of this genre for me. Plenty of good stuff, but I can't imagine a whole album of it.

SIWHI?
Anything by Propellorheads
A few songs from Moby fit the bill - Everloving for example
Many things by Thievery Corporation