Thursday, February 22, 2018

black origami is the rare critic's choice that i'm in agreement with

it's probably an absolute fluke, but they got this one right. of course, though, the reviews don't make any sense at all...

first, there isn't anything on this record that i haven't heard before. it's very good, but it's not particularly novel.

this record is fundamentally different than anything in the warp canon, for the reason that it is so much more organic. not even tom jenkinson really got to this level of just absolute jazz. but, i'm not going to point to black american jazz musicians, either, as tempting as it is.

the two biggest influences i hear on the record are very early skinny puppy (voltaire never brapped) and mid-to-late boredoms, both masters of the abstract jam session, to be cut up for better use, later. adrian sherwood would be a key rec, if you like this. and, i'm going to present the record in this way: this is some kind of unholy alliance between industrial music (in the original sense) and japanoise, and it works precisely because of how organic and spontaneous it is, rather than because of how meticulous and written it is.

and, i'll attack things for not being written, yes, but that doesn't apply here, because the improvisation is so musical. this may have never been written down anywhere, but it never gets aimless or meandering, even if it does get a little repetitive at points.

that said, i don't feel that this is much more than an introduction. and, as such, i'm going to hold off from getting too deep into it without context.

at the least, the critics got something right, for once. give yourselves a collective pat on the back.