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by William H. Hayt, Jr. 08/02/2004, 3:49pm PDT |
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First a little history. Fans of electronic music, ambient in particular, will probably recognize Eno as "motherfucquerre #1" when it comes to the genre (say it with a French accent for full effect) and Fripp has been pompously leading King Crimson for a long time. With the exception of various releases of the Dream Syndicate in the mid sixties, Eno and Fripp's "No Pussyfooting" was the birth of ambient music for the not quite yet adoring public. Two tracks, no drums, just two reel to reel tape players set up to echo shit into infinity along with Eno's burgeoning synth work. To this day, it's mesmerizing, oppressive music; eerily effective.
That was in 1973. After 30 years of completely dominating their respective genres, ambient and progressive rock, they have returned to make another album. I'll give away the ending to this tale and say that it's great. Music making technology has moved along light years and you can tell. The swells are softer; the guitar's aural shadows shift and shimmer away from the original tone as they disappear. A track by track breakdown would be pointless because I would be listening to elements of the whole, and in this case, that just ruins the music. It's safe enough to say that the mood is different than it was 30 years ago. It no longer weighs heavily on my head, and there is more variety for the discerning ear. I take these things a little too seriously as you can probably tell, but go out and get it. It may have started as furniture music, but it's ending up as more. |
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