industrial.org
relational overkill
Initially I experienced disappointment, to the point of feeling ripped off (for my time and enthusiasm). The online excerpt is essentially equivalent to the entirety. If you were to paste that excerpt end to end for upwards of 60 minutes most folks would not notice the difference. There is change to be had but only on a lower, less overt level. The disc has been constructed (according to the liner notes) using "random waveform LFOs" which trigger samples of various kitchen utensils. This repetitive percussion then basks in the cool glow of midnight on Mission Street in San Francisco (good times, freaky times). The mix of the street sounds is low enough to be very non-obtrusive and the pots and pans end up ringing like a mix of two or three muted xylophones strikes and assorted junk percussion hung out in a slight breeze. This is all good.
What is hard to decide on though is the fact that the LFOs' triggering is extremely repetitive meaning you have heard all there is to hear (other than the odd bus or night denizen) within a minute or two. Any shifts from that point on are extremely subtle so you just cannot treat this as anything other than an installation unless you appreciate being frustrated or have a DNA from a sloth somewhere in your family tree. It should also be said that this is on the verge of "new age", the incense isn't so strong that it hurts your eyes but the sounds are as pink as the font on the cover.
So again, initially I felt burned in that I was expecting a set of "songs" based around some evocative found sound. However, when treated as a side dish for a main course of coding, reading or other forground attention grabbing activity it does have a comfortable weight to it, like a gentle neck rub while staring at the computer or fresh air through an office window. The cyclic nature of it definitely makes it appropriate for being set to repeat and I could see this surviving in the CD player for an entire day if you were mostly pre-occupied with other things.
Is that a recommendation? To be honest I don't know. If you are looking for a direct listening experience, this will be as filling as the sprig of stale parsley beside a greasy spoon hamburger. If you ever use sound like an air freshener though you might want to ditch that white noise "ocean surf" generator and replace it with a copy of "Urban Paradise".
