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 Flanger midnight sound 2LP 1CD ntone |
The first two ep's by Flanger (brought together on the therefore essential
album 'templates') was a festival of weird noises and tumblin' beats that
all somehow seemed to fit together forming a style of its own. The second album takes a different approach. Influenced by jazz and latin, the overal sound is less freaky, more loungin. Entitled 'midnight sound', I waited till 0:23 to start listening to it, not that it would have made a difference I hear you asking yourself, but I like to take things literally so fuck you. And don't take that literally. Off with 'nightbeat 1' and off into chilly jazz. Slow rythms with tingling bells and after-hours melodies. First thing that slipped through my mind : Jimi Tenor - Intervisions. The jazz, the synths, it's just like that. 'Bosco's disposable driver' does exactly what the title hints at, more fucked up beats. Then I think : Funki Porcini. The title track 'midnight sound' goes back to the nu-electronica beats but adds spacy vibraphone. Hmm...the lightness of this reminds me of Metamatics. And 'we move' has the heavy-weighted bassline and distorted sound of... of... Aphex Twin, selected ambient works I ? No, that's not it. It's more like µ-ziq aka Make Paradinas and The Fifty Pseudonyms. Yes, that's it. 'So what' is, indeed, the Flanger version of the Miles Davis classic. What many people from Ronny Jordan to Roy Ayers did before, works quite well with the Flanger version : giving you that smile on your face and the 'so what'-feeling (hey, I got the music so what...). By now you are probably confused with all those artist names and wondering who the hell I'm reviewing anyway : Funki Porcini, µ-ziq or Miles Davis. What's going on ? Am I getting the rock style kind of review approach where every band has to sound like some other band ('between Led Zeppelin and Radiohead, yeah, cool') ? Did I dig through my pile of chill records before listening to this album ? Is my mind getting all messed up with all those bands and labels ? Nope. It' just that I tend to miss the real Flanger sound that made the first two ep's so precious. The proportion of bells is higher than that of cracks and beeps, get it ? Don't get me wrong, the overall quality is excellent, but ironically, the back cover text mentiones this to be the ultimate revolutionary album, in a way nobody else ever dared to try and yet, I think Flanger just fell into the trap of going where lots of other people went before. Try the next byway, guys and who knows what you'll find. outspandec00 |
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