minotaur shock - rinse
as easy research shows (melodic) this is a collection of minotaur's early doors ep's that were vinyl only releases so this makes life good for 2 reasons, firstly for those of us who never picked up the highly sought originals, and for those who did, you can now preserve these delicate grooves and exercise the cd motor on a far more regular basis.
opener starts with thin scratchy beats, modem type screetches .. not easy on the ear until the beat properly starts and accompanied by a big warm bassline. easily defined as part of the lo-fi electronica movement along with pedro/four tet, but far more interesting than it should be, opening track flows into tracks 2 and 3 which all have the same ambience, laid back approach, the mood is set.
it is fundamentally technology based music .. but not cold or clinical, as old analogue sounds matched against new forms of music making a new sound. 'dont be a slave to no computer', the title declares dave edwards intent. and makes me ashamed of my mortgage paying duties. i wish i could follow daves advise. instead i shall spin these tunes whilst performing said routine tasks. life will be better. i hope. then 5 mins into said track things become very different. an old school hip-hop beat and vocal samples jar the listener out of the cosiness with the second part coming over like an old coldcut cut-n-paste mixtape type track. very disorientating considering the surrounding neighbours this takes some readjusting to.
after this, the calm returns. until the listener is spooked by a very familiar glockenspiel melody line 'the downs' (sunday morning - vu. if its not lifted from this track then its bloody close !). then the albums epic 10 minute centerpiece 'albert park music', combining slow and low beats, far away horns, electronic doodlings. tis like a soundtrack to an autumnal sunday afternoon stroll after a blazing row with your beloved. truly wonderful stuff.
following the down tempo sadness comes the party ... uptempo scattershot beats that are a long way from standard 4/4 dance beats and with its gorgeous plucked guitar lines and music box sounds, innocence and joy wrapped up in melody and beats.
another highlight is 'rockpoolin' with its plucked acoustic guitars and ambient flutes. in fact the hand drawn cover art displays exactly the environment that this lp was made. an acoustic guitar is connected to a computer. that one picture i think defines the roots of creation for most of this ambient collection.
old styles meet the new world.
the end brings the collections creme de la creme. a vocal track, 'lady came from the baltic wharf' featuring one louise davis. absolutely melted butter type of track. this is a perfect partner to my fave track from last year (pedro/kathryn williams 'demons in cases), matching the slightly off centre electronica/clicks and harpsichord melody to a vocal that just blends in with the surroundings yet add a special quality that i find hard to put into words. truely sublime. yes bjork may have babbled in this type of area before but her overly melodramtic histrionics can become tiresome with repeated listening. no such fears here. louise's voice is pure and a wonderful revelation.
i'm smitten in case you hadn't guessed.
cleanse those ears and put this on a regular spin cycle .. the rewards will be plentiful.