A Review.......
Current mood: surprised
Category: Music

of Audible Integration by Crossfade Grimoire......





Monday, April 07, 2008


Crossfade 4.2 Part 1
Category: Music

Crossfade Grimoire 4.2

Evening all! I almost didn't make this deadline, and shortly, you'll see why. I updated the top tracks of both 4.1 and 4.2 and posted it on the front of the site, instead of taking up room here. If time allows, I'll write out the list for all of you who like to check out the top 25, 50 or whatever.

Lots of music this issue. Let's get to it!



Audible Integration

Jason Love IS Audible Integration, an electronic music outfit in Baltimre, MD that defies easy description. A.I.'s music spans entire genres, and the review has been categorized (as much as I despise categorization) in order to make more sense, musically and artistically. I don't compare A.I.'s canon lightly to the body of work that Miles Davis created, because like Davis, who is responsible for creating or instigating most of the modern jazz genres since the late 1950's, Love's music spans drum'n'bass, jungle, techno, ambient, electronica, jazz, funk, R&B and reggae. A.I. also has the honor of being Crossfade's top artist of 2008 to date.

EDM

As you can see, the amount of EDM that Audible Integration has put out is not only relatively prolific, it's more or less all top-notch. "Push Cart" is one of A.I.'s more recent forays into sped-up jungle and also features one of the band's trademarks: tasty jazz harmonics, skilled breaks, and awesome grooves. The song's midsection phases into 70's-style soundtrack melodies and tricky syncopated percusion. Later, the drumkit becomes truly obsessed and bounces between hard reggae and jungle seamlessly. Awesome! "Devices", also a new track, is not as solid as "Push Cart", but is a supersolid jungle/breakcore workout with every type of drum imaginable. Cool flute lines ride the chopshop rhythm and dub f/x. The mix is in this song is truly spastic and bounces between breakcore and dub. The ending is way too abrupt, tho. It's like being yanked out of your headphones by a slap in the head.

"Untitled" explores spacy rave with slightly downtempo tech-step drums and wizard editing. As always, production and overdubs are to die for. The grooves are tight and classy and have great digital scratching! The endgroove is static but very fine, and the track also has a good experimental edge. "Drake" takes a turn for rave/electronica with ambient textures and well-executed d'n'b. The track is very ethereal and features solid musicianship. "Space Walkin'" also mines this vein, but expanding into solid Orb territory. While not as great as "Drake", "Space" is another dance/space-out cut that could be a moderate dance hit.

Now for the prime EDM! "Wasting Time" is possibly the most jaw-dropping, genre-spanning piece of electronic dance music I have heard in years, arguably one of the best I have ever heard. Starting with a hot 90's electro/Big Beat mix (think SLAB) and with editing that will make you think your CD is toast, the track undergoes an epic splice-up section. The track is danceable only if your feet have Tourette's. The stutter-mix at 1:33 feels like life inside a piinball machine. Transitioning into the classic "Quadrophonia" beat with reggae overtones, the tune sports a vocal track that sounds like mutant Savage Garden. The vox treatment is weird, and breaks into a mega-groove. The song ends with a hot groove...and a little jazz to sweeten the mix. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ESSENTIAL!

"Velocity of Escape" starts with a schweet techno/d'n'b groove with particularly awesome mix in the beginning. While very rhythmically tricky, this song has floorkilling potential. The diversity of style in this track is also amazing: reggae, dance hall, breakcore, d'n'b, a little jungle. What keeps this from being another essential track are the slam breaks that act as bands of demarcation in the song; the breaks are simply too long, and the dead air ruins the song's propulsion. Otherwise, wickedly eclectic and great to dance to. "All Falls" has a great Roni Size-influenced track with strange breaks. The variety of loops, samples and f/x are great. Sounds like the Mir on drugs with some Starlight Lounge jazz. Massive groove at 3:30, then back to Reprazent d'n'b at 4:00 and solid tech'n'bass groove toward the end. "Hypnogogia" features hyper d'n'b, a great and farty analog bass and extrajumpy breaks. The track also features a little Orbital influence, some Pink Floyd lines, and what sounds like a vintage Art of Noise sample ("Yebo" from Below the Waste). The musicality is stunning and the overall feel is like a techno Alan Parsons Project.

Push Cart Derby 5.125

our own devices 4.65

Untitled 5.0

Wasting Time 6.2

The Drake Equation 4.8

Space Walkin' 4.3

Velocity of Escape 5.7

Path of Least Resistance 5.7

All falls in Intervals 5.4

It's Only Hypnogogia 5.0

REGGAE/DANCE HALL/GLOBAL

"Amen" is laidback reggae, but authentic enough you need to be solid ruffstah to understand it. Combine the ruffstah rap with a nice d'n'b/reggae mix, jazz/fusion horns, an active jazz bass, cushy synths, and superb rhythm programming, and you have a very good rolling reggae track. "Dubplate" is hooky (not hokey) reggae over good d'n'b then over bouncy jazz chords and a pulsing bass. The rap delivery is truly wicked, and then breaks out into an awesome overdrive "everybody!" section with truly lightning-fast lyrical workouts. This song is an outstanding jungle/reggae hybrid! "Head" features d'n'b over more traditional reggae trappings. Very Sly and Robbie-influenced, "Head" favors more reggae and dub overtones than "Dubplate" and its furiousness. The breaks are prime at song's end.

"Prophet" also favors echoey dub production over a looped rasta-rap and bass. The groove is good, if a little nervous, and a well-placed guitar adds texture. Very jazzy, it's also very danceable with wild breaks at the end. The Honorable Negus mix combines fusion, jungle, spacy ambient textures, and holds Negus' rap really well. The result is speedy reggae, alien and futuristic. The toasting and song are great, and the mood intense, but not rapishly so. The Werd2Jah collaboration has a more countrified flavor (right down to crickets) and "so authentic you need to be Jamaican" toasting, and what sounds like mice on speed. The song spans genres: reggae, trancey jazz, and solid EDM. The mice on speed effect is just weird. The cut also ends abruptly, which is so not cool.

"nice no rass" is aggressive d'n'b-infused regge with lightning editing and breaks. The jungle (as in the terrain) is a little OTT, though. Morphing into hyper d'n'b with dub effects, the cut is very good but a little too eclectic for classic reggae. "Latin Party" is what you would expect it to be but with a twist. Reggae bottom, Latin top, and featuring a very funny rap, it's the most straight-ahead AI mix so far. A really good time!

Amen vs. Insect 4.425

A.I. feat. CuttyRank&Sizzla- Buy Me a Dubplate 5.675

Head tek a wata 5.075

More Prophet (A.I. Cappleton Ragga Remix) 4.55

Honorable Negus- No Know (A.I. Mix) 5.4

Werd2Jah- The Valley (A.I. Mix) 5.1

Blunt/TrifeLife/Untoucable- Latin Party 5.1

nice no rass 4.9

JAZZ/FUNK/R&B/ROCK

"7416" is a very tasty downtempo jazz tune with dub effects and a slightly irritating vocal line that becomes more beautiful as the song progresses. The tune is a dead ringer for late-70's Miles Davis. The so-so ending leaves the listener hanging though, and the lack of a definite cut-ending cadence robs the cut of a higher rating. "Opposite", on the other hand, is a truly sublime 60's jazz/funk tune that nearly transcends the genre completely. Textured with funky Hammond B3 , great trumpet lines, a bit of guitar, the cut morphs into spacy funk with Monkish overtones and dissonant strings The vocal is truly awesome, and recalls the power and feel of The Brian Auger Trinity featuring Julie Driscoll, an influential jazz/rock outfit in the late 1960's in the UK. CLASSIC CUT!

"Groove City" is layered with chill-out jazz, Big Beat drums, R&B stylings, and a spacy mix. The cut could easily be a Yellowjackets or Spyro Gyra tune. What is truly awesome is that this FEELS like a live jam session! After some scratching, the tune lays out into classy third-stream jazz that recalls Herbie Hancock before and after "Future Shock." Beautiful! "Sixohnine" uses phazed-out R&B/funk with cool spoken tracks. The track also features groovy syncopation with lots of jazz and dub layers, but at 1:43, it's really really short.

"Nano" heralds the arrival of rock texures to the stew with a slightly out-of-whack guitar/synth jam with a good backbeat. The jam is fusion-influenced, and reminds me of vintage Paul Hardcastle in the synth, Greg Philingaines in the feel. The aura is definitely George Duke, and while the foundaton is very rock, it's also very porn soundtrack-ish. Unfortunately, like porns themselves, it doesnt really go anywhere; it just pops its wad and that's it. "Desolate" features samples (Herbie Mann?) that lay out into another groovy downtempo jam. Without a harder jazz attack, the cut ends up sounding liek elevator music. The same can be said about "Mylkiewae", but instead of needing a harder attack, "Mylkie" just hits too many genres for its own good. Melding gip-hop, R&B, fusion, blues, and electronica, the track is more experimental in flavor and tries to go too many places. The same dilemma holds true for "Sled Ride", but the track goes somewhere: a journey from mellow jazz to d'n'b and electronica. To end the jazz review, there's "Fractal" which mixes hip-hop and Fender Rhodes jazz into hooky chill-out electronica. The cut is cool and futuristic but a little too environmental to be a dance track. The ending groove is nice and hypnotic.

The rock tunes, "Sullenism" and "Jupitun", showcase, in spades, Jason Love's gynormous talents. The former features a track that, if fuzzed-out and heavier, would be a Smashing Pumpkins track (think "Siamese Dream".) Cool Mellotron strings make this cut dark, hypnotic, and gorgeous alternative music. "Jupitun", another SP soundalike, throws guitar, muted drumming and a good string arrangement that ends up being electronia that is neither passive nor in your face. With a skilled hand that recalls the Art of Noise in their prime, the track builds beautifully, spanning rock, electronica and d'n'b. Wonderful!

7416 5.15

The Opposite Direction (feat. Vicky Flint) 5.9

Groove City Theme Song 5.4

Sixohnine 4.3

Nano Bots Rule the Earth 4.8

Desolate Frequency 4.4

A.I. 4.6

Mylkiewae 4.7

The Digital Alchemist's Evil Sled Ride 4.7

Fractal Phlexology 4.8

Jupitun 5.5

Sullenism 5.0

OTHER

Describe 5.6

DeFlection 5.1

Phlexmix2012 4.9

Path of Least Resistance 5.7

These four tracks show Audible Integration's more experimental side. A good friend that I used to work with once told me, after listening to one of Enigma's later works, that ambient/experimental music had to be easy to pull off. The reality, however, is far from easy. Experimental music in any form, from electronic to classical to rock and so on, is very difficult, and creating masterpieces in the form are truly wondrous to both perfomer and listener: sonic art.

Sorry. Soapbox time is over. "Phlex" is comprised of new age synthezier, and understated percussion that transitions into a nice electro percussion sequence, Like Paul Hardcastle gone electro at a Kitaro concert, the track brews a tasty stew of electronics, synth and f/x that never undercut each other. "DeFlection" uses experimental electronics as a springboard for style combination. Cruising through techno, d'n'b, more ambient fare and then jazz and R&B, the cut is experimental more for content than in form. Late-track features include jump-cut editing and loops. "Describe" goes the other way, favoring Orb-like atmosphere and global music references. The track builds to a head, never rushing, into a truly awesome hypnotic and relaxing tracl. Ambient crowd loops, cool Aeolian harp and mute stabs at song's end makes this a truly essential ambient track.

Last but not least is "Path", which is unlike anything I have ever heard. Featuring jazzy d'n'b with truly oddball loops, the track feels like a dum'n'bass version of Soft Machine: progressive rock filtered through EDM. A million things are going off in tangents in the mix, making the cut almost Beefheart in nature. At 3:18, the track completely freaks out. If you can imagine Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets" transmtued into drum'n'bass, that's what this is. Truly one-of-a-kind by a truly gifted artist!

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