Strange Days Behind, Insanity Ahead

It's not getting better anytime soon, is it?

Like, I was not so naive to think things would return to whatever 'normal' was in an instant, fully supportive of the responsible, pragmatic steps to post-pandemic recovery. And here in Vancouver, things seem to be proceeding as well as one can hope. Just this weekend, I went for a Denny's breakfast for the first time in months. Never thought I'd miss the ol' greasy girl. Sure, I couldn't go at my preferred time, somewhere around the 5am timeslot (nothing beats waking up too early, and going for an All-American Slam), but pragmatism, man. Guess we'll see in a few weeks how severe the unavoidable Second Wave is, but so long as we don't rush things, Vancouver should remain one of the healthier cities emerging from All This.

Yet when I watch what's going on in America right now, I see nothing but a long, grim road ahead. Used to be I'd sit in a lawn chair at the border munching popcorn, enjoying the spectacle of a nation so dysfunctional like so much Reality TV. The view is no longer so nice though, and my lawn chair sags, and the popcorn tastes stale. I want to help make things right, but am completely and utterly powerless to do so, thus can only watch and hope my brothers and sisters to the south can figure it out. How can they, though, when these issues are so ingrained and systemic that repressed folk feel nothing short of open rebellion is their only course of action? I feel powerless to do anything as an outside observer, but my God, how do those forced to live within that system cope? Lord knows I'd have been pushed well to my edge long ago if I had to put up with even a fraction of what minorities in America do. Marching in streets seems to accomplish too little, especially when the cops surrounding you are just itching at the chance to run you over with their tactical tanks or whatever Army hand-me-downs they get.

It just makes hobby-writing about 'escapism music' feel like more of a pointless chore at this time. I still do it, of course, but man, whenever I fire up the ol' computer, open up my OpenOffice, type out a few sentences, refer to the internet for some background info and Oh MY GOD! It never was this insane, was it? No, no it wasn't. Spits and fires, sure, but now it's all building and ramping up to a raging climax no one can predict but years of Downer Drama Television (depression porn?) has led us to believe it can't be good, it won't be good.

Ah well, at least I still have Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a game that takes the hyper-sensationalism of Americana (specifically early '90s Americana) and cranks it to levels of parody. Just barely so, compared to our current climes.

Hybrid - Light Of The Fearless

Disctint'ive Records: 2018

(a Patreon Request from Philoi)

It's funny that the bulk of my Hybrid collection is through these Patreon Requests. I figured Wider Angle was about all I needed, and probably would have been content letting it remain at that. Those Patreons though, they're determined to get every ounce of my opinion on the group's output, so here we are, doing Disappear- What, they did another album recently, and that's the request? Guess the fourth record will have to wait another day.

Though given the number of changes in the group's make-up since I Choose Noise, it feels like I'm dealing with an entirely different project here. For one, Chris Healings departed, which makes me wonder how much of Hybrid's classic sound remains. Not that Mike Truman couldn't go at it alone, both very talented studio hands and all, but I highly doubt there wouldn't be some noticeable difference when one-half of a duo known for pristine, precision production makes an exit. Also, we have Charlotte Truman as an official member now, who first lent her vocals on Disappear Here, so is new to me in that regard. Thus... Hybrid's basically become The Truman Show? Yeah, I know, everyone's made that quip, but c'mon, it's an easy layup, that!

Okay. Different make-up, nearly a decade-long gap between albums (longer for yours truly), and re-emerging within a music scene that's more about mega-festivals for mass populace than club nights for kooky punters. Just how much change could there possibly be? Well, there's hardly any of the classic breakbeat science, for one.

In fact, out of the ten tracks on offer here, only a couple sound like what I'd consider 'vintage Hybrid': the opening We Are Fearless, which does the cinematic, opulent intro thing before unleashing some decent progressive house vibes in that 'go big or go home' way Hybrid is wont to do. The other track comes nearly at the very end with Long Time Coming, and does the 'breaks with orchestra' thing everyone associates with the Hybrid brand well enough, but at only four and a half minutes long, is barely a morsel compared to older works. Considering all that comes between it and the opener, however, Long Time Coming tastes like a feast of breakbeats.

Light Of The Fearless aims for nothing less than power-pop, arena rock anthemage on songs like Hold Your Breath, Superpower and Beauty Queen, with Charlotte bellowing as big as she can. Just makes me think of Phantogram with a bigger budget though, not of Hybrid. There's also two tracks of 'dancefloor' drum 'n' bass. Okay.

This is a well-produced album, for sure, but from my angle, suffers from the same thing even Hybrid's earliest work did. I like the group best when they're laying out cutting edge breakbeats with clever vocal samples, acid, strings and orchestras attached; everything else they do is artistic over-indulgence. That now includes an eight-minute long version of Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down, which completely misses the appeal of Tom Petty's music.

Susumu Yokota - Sakura

Skintone/Leaf: 1999/2000

(a Patreon Request from Omskbird)

It wasn't much to go off from just one track, but Susumu Yokota's contribution to Tangent 2002 was a highlight among a compilation filled with highlights. Such skill in weaving a simple nouveau disco tune, I mentally bookmarked the name, figuring he'd be one to scope out more of at later date. Then I saw how wide-ranging and expansive his discography was, and realized a proper deep-dive would be quite the undertaking indeed. The dude started out on Harthouse, for crissake. Harthouse! I assumed he first popped up in the wake of emergent disco deep house of the late '90s, yet there he was, already releasing material that must be among the most obscure items the Frankfurt print ever put out.

But yes, Yokota-san truly came to prominence toward the end of the decade when his house records were getting attention across seas. It didn't turn him into a house-hold name or anything (hefty import fees from half a globe away didn't help), but house-heads in the know would always tip their hat and stroke their beard with a nod should a Susumu tune make an appearance.

Thus I was eager to hear Sakura, a request finally getting me on that overdue deeper-dive. Then I realized, oh dear, there's so much more to his catalogue of music than nifty house and retro techno. So very, very much more. Ambient! Modern classical! Odd sound experiments! That harmonic Japanese thing that only they seem capable of doing and are so good at doing that no other culture has come close to doing, thus forever owning it, mang. They own it!

So this is a very chill album, which I was not expecting, but definitely something Susumu dabbled in from time to time. The fact this came out at the height of his 'peak house years' makes it a rather interesting record, almost a companion passion project wedged between 1998 and 1999. Then again, it does come back to that 'self-release' option, Sakura coming out on his own Skintone, while his house records were released through Sublime Records (no, not that Sublime Records; a Japanese one). Interestingly, the album saw a release in the UK under Leaf, a rather eclectic print where I see Manitoba residing (aka: Caribou; aka: that actual Canadian who sounded like Boards Of Canada).

*whew* How about some actual music talky-talk then, eh? Ah, I'm afraid it's one of those albums that are difficult to detail, what with abstract loops, deep pleasant tones, and lovely minimalist harmonies dominating the songcraft. There are a couple outlier tracks, like Genshi with its steady techno pulse, Hisen with a trip-hop thing going for it, the nu-jazz business of Naminote, and Kodomatachi predicting what 'dream pop' may sound like. Beyond that, however, Sakura's musical eclecticism mostly amounts to sonic doodles and sketches. It rather reminds me of Omnimotion's debut album (oh hi, obscure name-drop), though less emphasis on the dub and a clear Japanese lean. Will probably grow on me just as much that lush record did too.

Various - Better Living Through Circuitry

Moonshine Music: 2000

I haven't seen this documentary, by the by. Just seemed like redundant information from my end. I'm sure there were little details included that I didn't know, but for the most part, I was quite up to speed with the ins and outs of American rave culture when Better Living Through Circuitry was released. I'd watched the movies Go and Groove, after all!

Jokes aside, this isn't meant to be a humble-brag or anything on my part. 'Rave' as a thing in the Americas was only a decade old (holy cow!), and for half that time, I'd been digging and prodding into as much as I could despite my geographical handicap. Regular pilgrimages to the Holy Land of Electronica CDs helped (re: music shops in Vancouver like A & B Sound, Virgin Megastore, Sam The Record Man, etc.), while media like spotlight showcases on MuchMusic and the magazine Mixer rounded things out. Plus a little thing called The Internet, that clued me in on a bunch of things too.

Still, the end of the '90s saw quite the surge in interest from newcomers, and a little DVD documentary bringing such folk up to speed wasn't such a daft idea. In fact, Better Living Through Circuitry was being promoted as the first ever documentary to summarize just what all this raving business was on about! Well, the first in America, maybe. Europe had been making such docs since the early '90s, but then club culture had reached popular saturation there well before it ever did in the Americas (sans some pockets among coastal cities).

Anyhow, a soundtrack was released in conjuction with it, because you can't talk about a culture based around rave music without some actual rave music playing. Some of the artists they interviewed get tunes in (Genesis P. Orridge's Psychic TV, Keoki, Roni Size), while the rest is about what you'd expect to hear on the West Coast of the US at the time. Lots of acid, breaks, d'n'b and... The Future Sound Of London's Expander? Not that I mind hearing it again, but seems a bit random a tune to have as representative of rave music in America.

Is it because the documentary was financed by Cleopatra Records, and insisted upon having some of their licensed music in? Yeah, that tracks. Also, how amazing is it that not only did Cleopatra release the DVD, but Moonshine Music released the CD? That's, like, the two biggest underground curators of '90s rave music in America combining forces! I don't know what a contemporary comparison would be.

All in all, Better Living Through Circuitry (the CD) is a nice little time capsule of a bygone era, when raving was still no bigger than a curious counter-culture movement (snippets of interviews from the doc help). Playing this won't help you 'understand' it any more than watching the documentary would, but hey, FSOL, Meat Beat, Roni Size, Keoki, The Crystal Method, Psychic TV, DJ Spooky, Überzone, and Electric Skychurch, all in one place, armirite?

Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry

Skint/Astralwerks: 1996/1997

For a time, I considered this the superior Fatboy Slim album: no overplayed hits or blatant crossover appeal. Norman Cook's big-beat debut was pure underground t'ings, for the underground heads who kept things under the ground. Or something.

Then I came to learn of Mr. Cook's storied career, how he'd been responsible for the goofy Pizzaman project, and that his Fatboy Slim moniker was just the latest (and most successful) of a long line of chart-topping achievements. Goodness, does that mean everything I thought and believed about this album was a lie, a misled assumption that couldn't be helped due to the lack of available knowledge while residing in such a far-flung corner of North America? Must I re-assess my enjoyment of Better Living Through Chemistry?

Well, there is an air of bandwagon jumping here. Cook broke out the Fatboy moniker with the single Everybody Needs A 303, a fun acid jam for sure (and a winner of a title!), but clearly riding on the wave of acid anthems that Josh Wink's Higher State Of Consciousness set off. Not that I suspect insidious intents in making the tune on Norman's part. Nay, here's a silly one-off alias for a one-off single and oh my God, this thing is blowing up in the clubs! Maybe there's some potential after all.

UK interest in breakbeats that sounded as big as rock 'n' roll of yore was taking off, and sampling funk and soul was always a major part of that scene. Well, ol' Norman had a woodshed full of records from years of DJing he could pilfer. Surely there's enough material there to knock out a full-length album's worth of 303 retreads? Well, maybe.

I'd honestly forgotten how loopy this album is. Yeah, they layer and build and all, but compared to the songwriting leaps the Fatboy project took in subsequent albums, this is some raw, basic stuff. The second half in particular doesn't do much to dispel the notion Better Living Through Chemistry was made mostly in service of capitalizing on a big single. The chill, psychedelic outing of Santa Cruz and trip-hop funk of The Weekend Starts Here show off some diversity, but generally there's only so much acid builds with big breaks can do before it all starts sounding the same.

Fortunately, the Astralwerks version added a couple winners, some of my favourite Fatboy Slim jams ever! Michael Jackson is Norman at his best with cheeky sampling, rockin' leads, and wailin' hooks with beats to back 'em up. Meanwhile, Next To Nothing is another chill outing like Santa Cruz, and a strong, proper capper on an album that originally got redundant by Milwaukee's end.

Whether Better Living Through Chemistry doesn't hold up as well as I remembered is irrelevant though, as its status as a Very Important record is already enshrined. The Chemical Brothers' Exit Planet Dust may have kicked off big beat, but this solidified it as a genre with big things ahead of it.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - The Best Of CCR

Polytel: 1993

According to Lord Discogs, this was the most comprehensive collection of Creedence Clearwater Revival ever released to that point. For sure there'd been multiple 'best of's and 'greatest hits' albums following the band's break-up, 1976's Chronicle, Vol. 1 the definitive one for many years (with John Fogerty bellowing into a microphone on the cover). That one alone contained twenty of their songs, some of which you haven't even heard! Okay, you probably have, but didn't quite register like their stone-cold classics like Bad Moon Rising or Fortunate Son or Run Through The Jungle or Lookin' Out My Back Door or... a whole lot others you may not recognize by song-title alone, but instantly do the moment you hear a specific guitar chord and vocal.

For most, twenty chart toppers was plenty, but throughout the '80s, more and more 'best of's made their way to the markets, squeezing more songs in thanks to the additional space the burgeoning CD market offered. Eventually it seemed twenty-four to twenty-six songs became the gold standard of just how much CCR folks were willing to indulge in, but it's never enough for the record labels eager for another round of recycling.

Thus along came this double-disc Canadian collection in 1993, featuring twenty-eight songs in total. That's all of Chronicle, Vol. 1, seven tunes from Chronicle, Vol. 2 (which focused on the band's best non-charting songs), plus the song Bootleg (or as John says it, “Boo-lay, boo-lay-ay!”). Then a couple years later, the Pacifica nations got a whopping thirty-four song collection called Keep On Chooglin', while the European nations upped the ante with thirty-six songs with CCR Forever. Geez'it, did the band even have that many in their whole discography to warrant this?

Barely. True, seven albums in a half-decade of activity ain't nothing to scoff at, though their final record Mardis Gras barely counts (John Fogerty certainly doesn't, though the few songs songs he did write for that disaster made the cut here; the cover of Gene Pitney's Hello Marry Lou too). By the time we've finally gotten to Fortunate Son deep into CD2 though, I'm feeling well tapped-out on CCR. Yet one disc isn't enough either. Yeah, we get the full eleven-minute version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine there, one of the few recorded instance of hearing this band jam in an era when jams were all the jam, man. CD1 ends though, and you realize you haven't heard Born On The Bayou yet, or Walk On The Water, or I Put A Spell On You... Guess this needed the 2CD treatment after all.

What, a review of the actual music? Oh come on, you know how all this goes! CCR have been classic rock staples since there were classic rock stations. For sure their unique brand of 'swamp rock' stands out from the crowd, but you already know that because you've had their songs swirling in your head the moment you read those song titles. Truly timeless tunes.

Various - Best Of 2002

Muzik Magazine: 2002

Looks like I had one of these left over. Wish I could say I was excited about returning to the magazine that left such an imprint upon my own critiquing habits, but I've said about all there was to say among all the other prior reviews of their free CDs. Even worse is, despite this being a 'best of' collection of Muzik's choice cuts of the year 2002, it feels so underwhelming compared to their older releases. Something about Best Of 2002 doesn't spring with the same vitality, as though an uncertain dourness had permeated clubland. I look at this track list, and honestly only recognize a couple tunes that could be considered classics nearly two decades on. I know Muzik prided itself on going against the grain and all but DJ Marky & XRS's LK, really? Couldn't clear the rights to any High Contrast jams for your nod to the emergent liquid funk sound?

The first half of this disc always passes me by with a lukewarm 'eh, it's fine' sentiment, with a rather dry Stanton Warrior rub on Time Deluxe's It Just Won't Do opening things up. If your eyes glazed over at the mention of that track, I wouldn't blame ya'. Following that, you get the proggy James Zabiela rub of Röyksopp's Remind Me, which feels more like an excuse to throw in Röyksopp' tune while giving one of Muzik's favoured DJs the extra shine. Again, it's fine, but the best of what 2002 had to offer? Ils shows up at the third position for the requisite nu-skool breaks contribution and if that was the best on the genre's that year, small wonder if collapsed into stagnation so rapdily as it did. It isn't until Kosheen's Hungry pops up that something resembling a proper timeless 'hit' is felt, yet the discourse around that group's long been testy.

And before I went any further in assembling mental notes for this review, I wondered, what was the best of 2002? Who were the movers and shakers of that year? I know my own collection of CDs is the furthest thing from any sort of definitive snapshot but gander at a couple albums: Sasha's Airdrawndagger, Ladytron's Light & Magic, Drexciya's Harnessed The Storm, Stylophonic's Man Music Technology, High Contrast's True Colours, Groove Armada's Lovebox. Not a single tune from any of these could have made Muzik's Best Of 2002? Heck, Legowelt's rippin' Disco Rout appears on two CDs of mine from that year! (note: Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head came out, if you want to know what the real sound of popularity was at the time)

I know it's an unfair comparison, especially with licensing and all, but it's hard believing tracks from Daniel Diamond, DJ Vitamin D, and X-Press 2 were the best of what 2002 had to offer with clearly stronger tunes available elsewhere. Whatever, at least the emergent Akufen, Vitalic, and post-Emerson Underworld get repped in this compilation.

U2 - The Best Of 1980-1990

Island Records: 1998

Probably the most obvious item to have in one's music collection, if you've ever only been a passive fan of the biggest band out of Ireland. And weren't of buying age when their most famed albums were being released. So me then, by the late '90s. Those big hits of the '80s just kept playing on the radio, see, even cautiously appearing on classic rock stations now (then). Reminding folks of a different time in the band's lifespan, before all the weird, artsty, 'electronica' stuff took them over and oh, wouldn't it be nice to have all those '80s songs in one, handy place? Man, the 'Best Of' compilation market was such an easy game back then.

Thing is, it was about time for U2 to compile their greatest hits. The band was two decades old into their career, and while as globally popular as ever, perhaps starting to see some strain in their ambition. No, best to reflect on all that came before, the stepping stones that got you to wear you've gotten, and isn't it handy that there's enough material to divide each decade up into two separate releases? Especially for those who felt U2 lost the plot as the '90s wore on? Not me though, I was entirely ambivalent about it!

But yeah, this one was a no-brainer when it was announced, for me and several million other souls - so many classics all in one tidy place! Pride (In The Name Of Love)! New Year's Day! Sunday Bloody Sunday! The Big Three off of The Joshua Tree! A couple more off The Unforgettable Fire, including The Unforgettable Fire! There's even something off their first album, I Will Follow, which makes sense since that jam is quintessential U2 of the '80s, a strident rocker with wonderful melodic overtones. Amazing that they made that so early in their career. The only album not represented here is their sophomore effort October, at least officially. The titular song does appear in 'secret song' capacity, which I guess makes sense since the record never spun off any popular singles. Didn't want to totally forget it though.

So a straight-forward 'best of' collection from U2, but that's only nine songs, and there's still a bunch of space left on the CD? What else can we put in there? Hey, how about a B-side from The Joshua Tree, and make that the lead single for this? Yeah, that's the ticket! Not gonna' lie though, I kinda' despise The Sweetest Thing because as a 'new single' intended to remind the world of U2's '80s glory, it was ridiculously overplayed. Matters weren't helped when it seemed like all their music sounded like that in the following decade.

Okay, that's one more song, but dang'it, there's still more space. What to do, what to do... Oh, screw it, throw in four songs from the Rattle And Hum project at the end, that should be enough. Not like anyone listens to CDs the whole way through anyway.

DJ 3000 - Besa

Motech: 2013

This is the last of the six-CD bundle I got from Motech's Bandcamp, though not the album I thought I'd yet to write about. Okay, DJ 3000's Besa was in that collection too, but what I mean is there was another disc I thought was supposed to be in there, Lionel Weets' Stellar Orchestra. Indeed, it's in the bundle's list of albums, but for some reason, I was sent Galactic Caravan instead. At least, I think that's what happened? It's been so long now. Did I maybe get it, but somehow lost it before I could do a rip of it? No, I wouldn't have done that, no way no how (no... way... *twitch-twitch*). And it's not like I can verify it through Bandcamp, since those CD bundles don't include the download with your purchase. If it did, my Bandcamp collection would be nearly double its size from Cyro Chamber releases alone!

Also, I kinda' forgot about this one, or had it so far in the back of my mind that it never occurred to me that I'd be reviewing Besa as well as Sälis. Maybe I wouldn't have burned through so much detailing of both albums in the Sälis review if I had, but then I never did get around to listening to this one either. Or if I did, I totally forgot about it until now. It all goes back to that 'all you can eat buffet smoothie' experience of digesting these CD-bundle purchases. C'mon, that was a great analogy, no way I wasn't gonna' use it again!

Honestly though, I just don't think Besa is as good of any album as the other two I've heard from DJ 3000. There are good tracks on here, but that's generally all they come across as: tracks. Not even 'peak-hour' tracks either, but those tunes that lead-up to the peak-hour tracks. Say, one or two before, but not necessarily the warm-up ones either. They're just so darn loopy, is the issue, which is kinda' the point of tech-house such as this. Work that groove, work that vibe, then move onto the next track. There are little builds within them too, but they don't really explode or put an exclamation point on whatever's been introduced earlier. I'm hesitant to say they flatline, since that suggests there's no pulse in these jams, but I never feel like I'm going anywhere while listening to Besa as a whole. Galactic Caravan had remarkable vitality and sense of journey (hence why I went and checked for more from Mr. Juncaj), while Sälis showcased enough variety for an engaging listen throughout.

Can't really say the same about Besa though. Yeah, some tracks are peppier than others, while a few more highlight DJ 3000's nifty use of ethnic drumming. Yet they're all structured relatively the same, not even room for a breakbeat or downtempo cut until the very last one. You'd think this was just a singles compilation, which is funny considering that's what Sälis technically was.

The Neverending Strangest Days (auh-ah auh auh-ah auh)

Yeah, things are still as they are. Where else would they be? Feels like we're in a perpetual, pragmatic holding pattern, and it's understandable why folks are getting antsy about the future. Make us do a time-out for a month, okay fine, it's for the good of the society. For two months though, and good God, is this the New Normal forever!? Heck, I'm one of the 'lucky' ones, in that my overall way of life didn't change that much, still going to my job as usual. Just... working harder, and feeling mentally exhausted as I catch up on the daily news after. And I can't get a dang haircut either, or a beard trim at least. Feels like I'm dealing with jungle bush on my face all the time now. How do them old wizards handle it? Or ZZ Top?

Still, things will be changing a little on my end in the coming weeks. I'll be moving to a new work location, doing different things which won't require so much of me. That'll be a nice change of pace. Maybe even free up some of my brain power for writing again? Oh, who am I kidding, now that I've finally cracked open that copy of GTA: San Andreas, that's about all that's consumed my attention now. Yes, it's taken me this long to check out the best selling PS2 game ever. I was only passively interested in the series, as a cultural touchstone and talking point. I did play GTA2, got hooked on the game's Just One More Mission addictiveness before the janky controls made it frustrating to continue. Would never have thought to play future games, but those Neebs Gaming guys, with their Cinematic Series of GTA: Online, making it look like a blast and all, maybe I should check it out? What's that you say, friend of mine, you have a copy of San Andreas but no PS2 to play it on? Why by jove, I have a PS2! In fact, I never upgraded my gaming console past that. Sure, I'll take that game off your hands. I'm sure it's not that much different than Online, being based on the same location and... oh my GOD! What happened to all the textures!!?? Oh, right, two console generations old.

So yeah, a lot of GTA: San Andreas in my diet this past week. Good thing I was 'forced' to take a week-long vacation during a time when there's no where I can go to indulge it!