Brian Eno - Music for Airports

I'm not really sure how I feel about this album. There are times I can recall listening to it and thinking "This is it? The whole song is 15 minutes of the same simple loop?" In fact when I first got hold of it I tried very hard to sit through the whole thing but simply couldn't. There have also been occurrences however, when I'm focusing on something else, where I've put on the album and quite enjoyed it. It's the very definition of ambient in the way that you can feel it almost sink into your consciousness and become a sort of meditative white noise. However it is so terribly repetitive I find it nearly impossible to just sit down and listen to it without having something else to do. The album only has about four different samples, never using more than two in any one song. One thing that must be considered is the fact that this album came out in 1978. In this time there wasn't much to draw on besides composers of the Impressionist movement such as John Cage. It can be said without a doubt the Eno was a pioneer in this widely unexplored genre. In fact he was the first to use the label "ambient music" in the liner notes of this album.

As a whole I would say I respect this album, though I can't say I always enjoy listening to it. It's most certainly an inspiration for many ambient artists today and can in fact be attributed to popularizing the movement.

7/10

Squarepuher - Do You Know Squarepusher?

First off, I love the title of this album. I feel like I'm living a slice of the life of Abbot and Costello any time I try to explain "No that's the name of the Album I'm not asking if you know who Squarepusher is!" Hilarious. That being said, that is the only funny part of the album. From the first track the artist assures you "Squarepusher is your fuckin daddy." And he backs up that claim with some of the hardest Drum and Bass out there. His driving beats ride the fine line between danceable and insanely complex, but his melody lines are so catchy I find myself humming them days later. For a bit of background on the artist, he played bass and spent a long time searching for anyone that could play with his speed and prescision. After a long time of searching he decided to write his own drum and melody lines because, well, he found himself the only one talented enough. Though most of the music he writes is hardcore DnB he branches out occasionally to write more IDM or Ambient music and even going out so far by writing a rather traditional sounding rock song entitled "Love will Tear us Apart" as the last track on this album. Athough he is great in every genre he branches out to his finest work almost always falls into the Drum and Bass genre.

All in all I would have to give this album an 8/10. When I listen to Squarepusher I want to be blown off my feet by his insane DnB and too few songs followed that style on this album. Those that did however managed to be the most hardcore electronica I've heard in a while.

To quote Squarepushers message to the listener or perhaps rival DnB bands "So whatcha thinkin about dear? You think your fuckin hard do ya? Your made out of fuckin Jelly tonight. Squarepushers gonna come and take your fuckin face off."

Update: Wow I can't believe how dumb I am sometimes, The last track on this album is a cover of the Joy Division song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" so it is not written by Squarepusher.

Aphex Twin - Richard D James Album

To say that I enjoy the work of Aphex Twin would be a huge understatement, I hold his work up on a ridiculous pedestal that all electronic artists might one day aspire to reach. This is probably for several reasons. Most importantly his work is amazing, it manages to be both insanely complex and catchy at the same time. Also his album Druqks was the first electronica album I ever listened to and after that I gained an insatiable hunger for more of his work. The Richard D James album always was one that stuck out in my mind. I think it's because of how personal the whole thing felt. While listening to it I feel as though I'm reading through his secret diary, a series of pieces he wrote for himself that was never supposed to leak out to the public. I've listened to this album more times than I can count and every time I find the experience just as enjoyable as the first time a friend of mine sat me down and made me listen to the album front to back. Listening to it is not a passive experience, it requires you to actively listen in order to comprehend the insanity of sound he produces, and it never feels like a chore. The first track on the album entitled simply "4" remains one of my favorite pieces of IDM I have ever heard

All in all I would give the album a 9.5 out of 10 and say it's a definite must have for the novice trying to get into the Electronica scene.