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Mini-review to counter J's long one
This Binary Universe. New BT album. You know, the genius who produces mostly trash nowadays despite us all knowing he has the ability to do much, much better. Emotional Technology for one - did anybody actually like it? It tried too hard to be edgy and popular, and failed, with the exception of a few tracks.
Well, how about this? Well, Brian has chosen a different route now. Not a single more trace of radio music - instead, we get muzak. Elevator music. Wallpaper tunes. Nothing wrong with that in itself, look at Eno's Ambient series - it's a kickass genre if done right. So what does BT do?
I'll tell you what he does, he FUCKS UP. You know how music needs both a technical and an emotional aspect? This lacks the latter completely. BT showers us in random chords and twitchy effects (already done better by others) trying to make the music somehow more complicated. I 'spose it might work for some people, but I need *soul* in my music - I'm even willing to sacrifice all the quality to get that. Hell, if you know anything outside EDM, have a look at Ulver - Nattens Madrigal. The most ear-gratingly shit-quality norwegian black metal ever concieved, but so very deep, so very full of emotion.
What my former hero delivers here is so far from the ESCM days. Meandering, boring tracks, shallow grooves, "massive" classical climaxes that fail all the same. I can't even have this playing as background music, it's just... that bad.
Now that's not to say there aren't some highlights - 1.618 is an arguable masterpiece for a few moments when the gorgeous plucky melody hasn't gotten raped by techwankery yet. The Anhtkythera Mechanism has that massive classical climax I mentioned - it's probably the very height of production quality, but lacks something vital that places it much below *actual* symphonic stuff of epic stories, like, say, the Gladiator Soundtrack. Good Morning Kaia is decent all the way through, but building on a very simple chordloop in a rather efficient wavy way, and the culmination of this sunrise is a magnificent beast indeed - but it also has an extremely disturbing glitch-sequence near the end that forces me to skip it before my ears get hurt.
Bleh, in short: BT is now lost in the other aspect - the opposite of his previous album. (as in too obscure opposed to too commercial) I strongly suspect he has lost his "gift". The ability to convey feelings through music, the ability to... reach anything more than machinelike, cold perfection.
You know how the binary system consists of ones and zeroes? Yeah, I don't even need to finish this sentence.
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TranceCritic ftw!
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