"13 Angels on My Broken Windowsill" - 14:08
"Go(d)t" - 9:57
"Hymn [808]" - 6:45
"Seven-Hundred-Thirty-Nine" - 10:52
"Hikari" - 4:46
"Our Dark Garden" - 13:02
"The Gathering Darkness" - 13:13
My god what an inflated album title. But it was never your lyrical craft that charmed me, Brian, nor even your superfabulous hair. Cropped, textured & dyed, sometimes fluttering up through the stage lights & revealing a patch of sweaty nerdy cranium. Paleness solidified, the form of a smart craftsman at work, noticeable only between the garish streaks of pop-foppery. Charming. Like this album, like This Binary Universe.
(Don't mind the track names on some of the [slightly improved] youtube embeds, they are mislabeled.)
13 Angels On My Broken Windowsill, more or less ambient-into-loldubstep
Hikari, more or less lullaby-trance.
Hymn [808], more or less mnml breaks.
I haven't listened to all of it yet but it's most certainly an improvement over These Hopeful Machines. But that's not saying much. An improvement over This Binary Universe? Probably (not?) .
This has been released alongside another album, Morceau Subrosa, which is sort of more of the same, albeit with more piano, this 'symphonie elektronik'. (I'm thinking this is the better release, got a clip posted on pg.2)
Vector A
The adjective that came to mind when listening to those two tracks was a simple one: boring. Nothing memorable or interesting about them, in my opinion. Not bad or irritating, but not exciting in the least, either.
sljiva
quote:
Originally posted by Vector A
The adjective that came to mind when listening to those two tracks was a simple one: boring. Nothing memorable or interesting about them, in my opinion. Not bad or irritating, but not exciting in the least, either.
Exactly my thoughts. Clean, sterile, safe, predictable and pretty music without a hint of adventure, intrigue or unexpected surprises. Sentiment I share for This Binary Universe as well. But while TBU had at least that initial attractiveness that could trick you into thinking it's somehow good music and that would fade away after around the third listen, seems like this album doesn't even have that.
SYSTEM-J
Everything about this is very strange. Apparently they're self-released, perhaps because he's now on Armada who have no time for anything you don't fist-pump to. But there's still a curious lack of news about this - this thread is literally the first I've read or heard about these albums. Could BT not afford to throw a bit of PR money at getting some press releases out there?
And based on these tracks, I don't see how you can say this is anywhere near as good as TBU, or even anything like it. The first track (whatever the name) repeats a very simple bleepy-bloop hook, and not much else, for eleven minutes. There is extremely little progression or development across the course of such a long track, so few ideas on display. There are literally about four melodic components and the whole polyphony of the track is that of a straightforward dance record, except stretched out to gigantic proportions and given a sombre, shiny production aesthetic. Every track on TBU is absolutely brimming with ideas, little nuances, changes of direction.
And the title annoys me. The stars aren't eternal. They all die. Quite a few of them have already exploded, the light just won't reach us for several million years yet. So what does your title mean exactly, Brian?
Although this thread has reminded me that I haven't listened to TBU for a few years now, need to dig it out again.
Beatflux
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
So what does your title mean exactly, Brian?
He sucks at selling out.
Juan Paulino
Hikari sounds alright
pointPi
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J And the title annoys me. The stars aren't eternal. They all die. Quite a few of them have already exploded, the light just won't reach us for several million years yet. So what does your title mean exactly, Brian?
I suppose the title was left for our own interpretation. Something that could make us think. Maybe he meant that there is an infinite amount of stars (which is also untrue, I guess).
Personally, I think it sounds like something Stephinie Meyer would come up with. It's on about the same level as "Forever is only the beginning". X(
Otherwise, I'll pretty much have to agree with you, J.
djshire
I cite BT as the reason I got into djing, and to a lesser extent, production. "Flaming June" is a beautiful and well composed track that got me into uplifting trance (yes, I know its not technically uplifting trance). BT has shown that he can make all kinds of electronic music, never pigeon-holing himself into a single genre or sub-genre like so many producers do these days. TBU was amazing, just because it was completely out-of-the-blue in the fact that it was IDM, which was totally different than his previous album Emotional Technology.
But ing Christ and Hunter, does he infuriate me sometimes with his productions. I didn't buy These Hopeful Machines, as so many of the tracks felt like he was trying to make his version of rock and pop, and most of the time, it just fell flat. The only song I cared about was "The Rose of Jericho", and that's only because it sounds like his older work. The latter half of Emotional Technology was just boring, while the first half was all poppy songs meant to sell the album (including his big song "Somnabulist", which is the first of his songs that I heard). You keep feeling that BT wants to conduct an orchestra, but since he can't, he tries to make these sweeping, "big" songs, and it just doesn't work. As has been said by others in this thread, those two posted songs were boring....there's no feeling in them. Its like BT no longer cares, or his creativity has just died.
BT should stick to making movie soundtracks, and stop trying to make EDM, because he's failing, and its hard to watch.
RapidFire
quote:
Originally posted by djshire
.
the problem is that he's trying to fit in with all of these new artists instead of just doing his own thing, like he used to. THM, his last mix cd and all of his recent mixes suggest that...there was a time when he led the charge, now he's grasping to stay relevant
Stanza
The first few minutes of "Hikari' definitely had sounded pretty similar to his 'Monter' OST. Unfortunately the rest of the track became uninspiring and dull.
Chimney
Nice album art.
infiniteJEST
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
And based on these tracks, I don't see how you can say this is anywhere near as good as TBU, or even anything like it. The first track (whatever the name) repeats a very simple bleepy-bloop hook, and not much else, for eleven minutes. There is extremely little progression or development across the course of such a long track, so few ideas on display. There are literally about four melodic components and the whole polyphony of the track is that of a straightforward dance record, except stretched out to gigantic proportions and given a sombre, shiny production aesthetic. Every track on TBU is absolutely brimming with ideas, little nuances, changes of direction.
It's mostly his other album, the one with the latin name, that's like more like TBU. I was swapping to-and-fro while listening, & got a bit muddled . But for the first track, I agree. However the very simple bleepy-bloop hook happens to charm me a great deal, and I really do enjoy its prolonged repetitiveness (part of what makes trance music trance for me). Also the minimal composition happened to trigger a few sparks in lines with what I was thinking about at the time. I created the thread based upon first impressions & am now following up: I still like Hikari, the second breaks track (the numbers one) is meh, and I suppose I could have posted better examples but w/e internet. aaaand done.
As for TBU, it actually got quite dull for me. I remember finding the jazzy sequences dull (not my style or sound) & the orchestra sequences as lackluster (mainly being a fan of classical this was the deal-breaker for me). But also:
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Although this thread has reminded me that I haven't listened to TBU for a few years now, need to dig it out again.
This could very well change my opinions on the whole this album here 'probably' being better than TBU. TBU is very much brimming with ideas and nuances. Being eager to hear new music I, well, listened to new music. :p
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
And the title annoys me. The stars aren't eternal. They all die. Quite a few of them have already exploded, the light just won't reach us for several million years yet. So what does your title mean exactly, Brian?
If I decide the keep remnants of the album in my music library, I'll probably have to do a quick chop on the album cover & name to make it bearable. I'll just have it say 'stars', suits the aesthetic.
quote:
Originally posted by djshire
But ing Christ and Hunter, does he infuriate me sometimes with his productions.
+1
I should have focused the thread about the other album. I think I like it more.
