Jump Cut Records: Cat. # cutupcd006
Released 1994
Track List:
1. Subsonic Carrier Wave (23:00)
2. Lightspeed Re-Entry (7:38)
3. The Billion Dollar Conspiracy (8:41)
4. Spaceport Evac (7:51)
5. The Aliens Made Me Do It (10:36)
6. Destruct Sequence Eco (11:05)
7. Transfer Interface (8:07)
(2010 Update:
My second Random Review, and future whipping boy for many future reviews. Anytime I needed an example of how a release shouldn't sound, I just referred to this album. Probably ended up giving it more attention than it ever deserved.)
IN BRIEF: Mastering can be your friend.
With a name like Institute Of Frequency & Optical Research (or I.F.O.R. from here on out), you'll probably have some alarm bells ringing on your Pretentious Detector. Indeed, quite often producers or groups that take on long winded monikers with such egg-headed words like 'institute' or 'future' or 'radiophonic' tend to make serious conceptual music that only highbrow tech-heads seem to comprehend. Chart toppers are usually furthest from their minds, even if a few happen to squeak in every so often.
This is actually interesting stuff at times, though. After all, I'm sure radio astronomers, quantum physicists, and Mir residents need background music too as they unlock the secrets of the cosmos. Heck, it was such technicians that started this whole electronic music thing in the first place. Chances are they'll still be making it as music for their elevators to the moon even as human society crumbles around them in the coming Apocalypse, clinging onto the last remnants of technology while the rest of us are forced to beat each other up with big rocks for little scraps of radioactive blades of grass. Well, maybe not, but you get the idea.
This form of astro-physicist ambience grew quite popular amongst chill rooms during the mid-90s, finding a pleasant equilibrium with the trance and techno of the time. A great number of acts came and went (probably Pete Namlook the most prominent of the bunch) but very seldom made an impact on the more mainstream audiences. It was just far too weird sounding for most folks to latch onto, which probably suited the ardent fans of it fine. Why should lowbrow commoners be privileged to listen to the sounds of the future, after all? Hnn... bunch of stuck up-
While I.F.O.R.'s music somewhat falls into this category, the duo don't. Comprised of DJ Decline and VJ Freewind, they were more known for doing a live music (frequency) and video (optical) show, melding the two to allow visual and audio stimulation on the senses. It's a presentation format I quite enjoy myself but, to be honest, has little to do with this release in particular. While details are sketchy over a decade since this release, Subspace Messages seems to be a collection of tracks used in their shows. The inlay is filled with all sorts of sci-fi computerizd pictures that are probably part of their show, but I can only speculate what I.F.O.R. actually did for their visuals. Instead, I'll just have to go by the music on hand here.
Opener Subsonic Carrier Wave starts out with some distorted radio chatter -really distorted, in fact, as I can actually hear the sound clipping. It didn't garner my attention for a bit, though, as many producers like to use this trick as a quirky effect. However, as layers of sounds are gradually brought in, I came to an ugly realization: the clipping is a result of poor mastering.
This becomes very apparent as the song carries on. Drum loops and samples are quite muffled while eerie pads and a bassline are incredibly overbearing. Nothing here sounds EQ'd properly. It's either too loud, causing clipping distortion, or too quiet, getting drowned out in the process.
How on earth did such a bad master get by? If this was a live recording, I could possibly see why the sound would be muffled, but I couldn't find any indication it is. As far as I can tell, this was how the source material came, and the studio just transferred it to the CD like this.
But let's ignore production gripes for a moment. If things had been properly EQ'd, would Subsonic Carrier Wave be a good track? Hardly at all, I'm afraid.
At twenty-three minutes in length, there just isn't enough going on to maintain our interest for such a long time. The closest thing coming to any kind of hook is some repeating radio chatter going "We have a problem at 1000 degrees. Um, come again?" It melds quite nicely with the rhythm but the novelty of it runs out by the halfway mark since nothing else is done with it.
In fact, that's the main problem with this whole track. Even with the bad mastering, if the song was decent there'd still be some enjoyment out of it. Instead, it just sounds like a couple of guys fiddling with two different drum loops, two different pad sounds, one bass loop, a few different samples and effects, and recording it using a tape recorder mic for twenty-three minutes. Maybe this would make more sense with a video playing along, but not for a CD album.
As we move on from the tedious first track, the good news is the songs do get more intuitive. Lightspeed Re-Entry has more going on in its 'short' seven and a half minutes than the last behemoth. Brisk, electro breakbeats, chirpy acid getting an excellent pitch workout, and gentle pads make up the bulk, while additional effects and sounds work to provide minute melodies during the bridges. The bad news is the mastering is still whacked. The acid and rhythms drown out a lot of the other elements. If it weren't for the sparseness of those two features, you'd have a difficult time noticing anything else. In addition, the overall quality of sounds is kind of hollow. Well, at least it's better than muddy.
The music quality gets better on The Billion Dollar Conspiracy, a kind of tweaky acid breakbeat track with samples and effects moving in time to the rhythm. Cool stuff but it's a shame the production doesn't do it justice. Things still get drowned out and distorted but at least this one isn't as tedious to listen to as the previous two. I really do wish the mastering were better, though. Then I might have been able to hear all the details of that opening bit of dialogue concerning the infamous Face on Mars.
Moving on past the muddy acid-and-808 chug-a-lug borefest that is Spaceport Evac, we come across a pair of noodly ambient pieces that, really, aren't all that bad. As far as these kinds of soundscape tracks go, the minute twinkling melodies of The Aliens Made Me Do It, sprightly sounds of Destruct Sequence Eco, and clever use of speech samples and spacey pads on both make for some engaging, if at times indulgent, music. Oh, the production problems still persist, but they aren't as glaring here, if anything because less attention has been paid to the rhythms on these two tracks. It was always the percussion and bass that was causing the problems before. Without much attention paid to those elements here, things don't sound as bad.
Destruct Sequence Eco would have been a nice track to end the album on but I.F.O.R. have one more trick up their sleeve: an actual properly mastered track!
No, not really. Transfer Interface is pretty much a moody bit of acidy ambient techno with one feature that will grab your attention right from the start. Freewind makes no secret of his love of Star Trek: The Next Generation, giving a shout-out to the crew in his respects liner notes. There's been some speaking samples about that may or may not be from Star Trek, but the opening bit of technobabble being described in Transfer Interface most certainly is. Heck, I even know the exact episode that it... er, not that I am a big trekkie myself, that is. Um, moving on.
Now, don't let the very low score be totally misleading. There's been some interesting stuff on offer here as I.F.O.R.'s talent at making acidy ambience does come through on occasion. Unfortunately, there's far too much needless meandering in some tracks and crummy mastering in all of them to make Subspace Messages all that engaging.
Yeah, I'm still bitching about the mastering. I'm sorry, but it is just unacceptable in any official release within the last thirty-five years, no matter how small your label may be. I've heard tinny, I've heard mono, I've heard scratchy, and I've heard muffled, but that's bearable within reason. However, when you have to deal with unintentional bass clips ad naseum throughout a release, it can put you off in an instant. It just sounds horribly amateurish and whether it's I.F.O.R. or Jump Cut that are responsible, I can only deride them for such apparent lack of professionalism when bedroom kiddies with Fruity Loops can make more polished sounding music.
Score: 3/10
ACE TRACKS:
The Aliens Made Me Do It
Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2005 for TranceCritic.© All rights reserved.
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