After discovering Jon Hopkins a few months ago and exploring his music since, and having listened to Binary Universe many times, I am beginning to doubt the true "genius" behind BT's latest release. If you haven't heard Jon Hopkin's Contact Note (2004), go to iTunes or Amazon and check it out. What you will discover after listening is a striking similiarity, in some regards, to Binary Universe, most notably the stutter effect.
While Contact Note is not nearly as well mastered as Binary Universe, especially considering the 5.1 mastering, the sound which BT seemed to be going for, the twisting of melodies and, as mentioned, the use of the stutter effect as an integral instrument are all apparent on Contact Note, which was released two years prior to Binary Universe. BT's song construction is for more creative and less straightforward than Hopkins, but as one could imagine this innovation has its positives and negatives. I suppose one can say the genius of Hopkin's songs is the very fact that he does not allow himself to stray too far as BT does in his songs, which are either hit or miss in that aspect.
I bring this up, because I am curious as to what others, who have heard both in depth, think. Do you see the clear influence Contact Note probably had on BT, and does this somewhat detract from the hype of "genius" that Binary Universe seems to be upheld by, or do you see it differently than I?
JakeC
Autechre.
WirelessEyes
BT is recognized as the innovater of the Stutter edit.
More importantly, This Binary Universe is seven short films which he compsoed the music to, that is non-existant with Jon Hopkins. BT tied the golden ration to the visuals and audio, which is truley ground breaking.
Lastly, I feel and think BT's songwriting is amazing, diverse, and memorable - and he fuses that with technology (Circuit bent instruments, 5.1, even his daughters voice as an insturemnt)
In my book, Brian is by far more innovative and expiriemntal than any other musician or producer out there.
thoughtlessjex
First of all, you should understand that ambient artists have been using stutters (which BT did have a large hand in pioneering) and other odd effects for much longer than since 2004. In fact, Jon Hopkins himself doesn't sound all that new to me.
The thing that makes BT's music interesting, if not innovative, is the depth and detail to which he goes into on each production, not even necessarily in regards to stutter editing, but in the very construction of waveforms, and the way sounds evolve.
It's not like TBU was supposed to sound completely unlike anything that had been done before, but it was sort of a masterpiece in the archaic sense. BT has submitted this work as evidence of his mastery of the techniques he has been implementing since the nineties.
PETRAN
Bola takes them both.:p
Zombie0729
all of your answers as to why TBU goes beyond the "stutter effect" is in here:
MrJiveBoJingles
quote:
Originally posted by JakeC
Autechre.
Indeed.
Arraias
quote:
Originally posted by WirelessEyes
BT is recognized as the innovater of the Stutter edit.
More importantly, This Binary Universe is seven short films which he compsoed the music to, that is non-existant with Jon Hopkins. BT tied the golden ration to the visuals and audio, which is truley ground breaking.
Lastly, I feel and think BT's songwriting is amazing, diverse, and memorable - and he fuses that with technology (Circuit bent instruments, 5.1, even his daughters voice as an insturemnt)
In my book, Brian is by far more innovative and expiriemntal than any other musician or producer out there.
+ 1
kush paintings
Good points, aside from the one about the dvd video. It was made after her made the music not vice versa. Three of the shorts a basically glorified scree savers, his home movie is touching, perhaps even overly straight forward and personal. Basically, it clearly shows the budget constraints that he had to deal with, but I can't let you get away with say its some great piece of film making.
Autechre seems a few jumps, rather than steps from BT's Binary Universe, but obviously you can't ignore the technical influence they surely had.
I guess my next step question would be, is there anyone out there that you would say is on par with Hopkins or BT (even though general consensus seems to place BT above), as far as being able to combine technical strengths with clear attention to an accessible melodic structure?
WirelessEyes
quote:
Originally posted by kush paintings
I guess my next step question would be, is there anyone out there that you would say is on par with Hopkins or BT (even though general consensus seems to place BT above), as far as being able to combine technical strengths with clear attention to an accessible melodic structure?
I'm curios too :)
Spirit5
quote:
Originally posted by kush paintings
I guess my next step question would be, is there anyone out there that you would say is on par with Hopkins or BT (even though general consensus seems to place BT above), as far as being able to combine technical strengths with clear attention to an accessible melodic structure?
