Cyclic Defrost: Various Artists – Idol Tryouts Volume 2 (Ghostly International/Inertia)

Various Artists – Idol Tryouts Volume 2 (Ghostly International/Inertia)

By Seb Chan June 16, 2006

Quite simply the best compilation so far this year, Idol Tryouts 2 showcases a label at its prime. The Ann Arbor-based Ghostly International label has swiftly become the label to best represent the diversity of North American electronic music – from techno and house to electronically enhanced futuristic hip hop , modern industrial, lush ambient and experimental tones. This label diversity has been helped by an impressive design aesthetic, right from the earliest releases. Idol Tryouts 2 expands the roster further with a retrospective of some previous releases, some ring-ins, and new material. Disc one, subtlted avant-pop, opens with the sweet electro-pop melodies of Solvent before settling back into the rubbery techno funk of Matthew Dear and later the classic stripped back funk of Dabrye’s Magic Says. Some of Ghostly’s recent signings have been ‘proper’ bands and their latest Skeletons & The Girl-Faced Boys is a chaotic jittery freak-out soul fusion jam, and Benoit Pulard’s The Depths & The Seashore could have been pulled from 1991 shoegazer indie. Disc two is full of ambient delights – Loscil’s subaquatic pulses, Cepia’s widescreen haze, Greg Davis’s unravelling guitar spindle, Tim Hecker’s processed fuzz and feedback are the standouts.

http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

I’m sure it’s a good comp, but is it really “Quite simply the best compilation so far this year”? Surely a) you haven’t heard every compilation released so far this year and b) the judgement of ‘best compilation’ is subjective across a range of variable criteria?

I’m teasing – I know that when one encounters such an absolute statement, one can usually assume an invisible “in the writer’s opinion”. What prompted me to comment was that I haven’t been very impressed with the previous work that I’ve heard by some of the artists mentioned in the review, so I’m skeptical that they’d be able to create “Quite simply the best compilation so far this year” – but I’ll track it down and decide for myself.
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Heh heh.

I’ll take the bait . . .

For my mind it IS the best compilation of the year so far.

Note that I said best compilation – not best album.

It is far from the best album, but in terms of compilations that aren’t mix CDs (Dubstep Allstars 3 is the best mix CD so far this year) or reissues (Soul Jazz’s Tropicalia comp probably wins out there) it certainly is.

Compilations generally suck – they lack flow, are more filler than killer, are stacked towards tracks you already have elsewhere etc. Idol Tryouts 2 is a good selection of differing styles and sounds and really does manage to cover a lot of territory without having too many ‘quick skip that one’ moments – especially on the ambient disc.

So maybe I have lower expectation of compilations than other releases – but if I do I think many reviewers who get deluged with stuff do too.

I’m all with Simon Reynolds when he has been recently been arguing that reviewers need to be a bit more opinionated and subjective.

I don’t think any reader should or would expect me to have listened to ‘every compilation’ released this year. But would know that I do listen to a LOT of new music and thus might decide to trust my taste.

Anyone in this media-overloaded world knows that reviews are subjective. If they like the things that I’ve said are good in the past then most probably they will agree with me on this review too. Otherwise, if they have differing tastes to me then they probably won’t dig it.

Jon Dale reviewing the same comp at Stylus Magazine found it bland and dull. On the other hand Ron Schepper of Textura (and Cyclic) found it fantastic.
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Shannon!

My turn to stir.

Locsil, Dabrye, Matthew Dear, Greg Davis, Tim Hecker . . . . who in that list do you find overrated?

;-)

On a big club system Matthew Dear and Dabrye sound quite awesome. That Dabrye can reduce his beats to such minimalist constructions and yet retain the necessary dancefloor funk still amazes me. On a decent set of hi-fi speakers and a good amp, Loscil is fantastic 3am submarine music.
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

I don’t mind reviews being opinionated, but I’m more interested in them being critical. Frankly there are too many positive and superficial reviews, especially in Australian media. Maybe it has something to do with the old cultural cringe.

We agree that value judgements in music reviews are largely a matter of taste. I’m afraid that John Dale’s ‘bland and dull’ comment applies to what I’ve heard so far from Dabrye and Loscil. It’s not that I hate their work, it just doesn’t interest or inspire me – it’s pedestrian. I *want* to like their stuff, given the positive comments about them, but I can’t lie about it. I’m sure they’re lovely people and all…

What I’ve heard of Greg Davis and Tim Hecker’s music has been much more interesting.
http://www.frogworth.com/blog/ Peter Hollo

Locsil, Dabrye, Matthew Dear, Greg Davis, Tim Hecker . . . . who in that list do you find overrated?

Mathhew Dear. Maybe Loscil.
First CD of this comp is hugely boring. Second has a couple of decent tracks (you didn’t mention the Twine, which is excellent).

Best comp of year so far is Ad Noiseam 2001-2006 (although the 2nd CD isn’t as great, and I haven’t even watched the DVD yet).
The Hefty History is Bunk comps are also both better than Idol Tryouts 2. Quite simply.

I can out-snark Shannon any day! :) [But I've actually listened to the comp - once downloaded, once at SO Music, and therefore had two opportunities to be disappointed.]
(Yes, my opinion counts as nothing because I owe you lots of reviews! Sorry, couldn’t be a busier time of year for me. Currently commenting on dialup from Noosa…]
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Shannon – Dabrye really needs to be heard on a big loud system in a club – otherwise you’re not hearing the whole thing.

Peter – Yeah I should ‘ve mentioned the Twine on disc two which is pretty killer. You don’t dig (or dance to) house or techno though so I can understand that you’d not enjoy Matthew Dear, Daniel Wang or the like.

I’m yet to review the Ad Noiseam, its on my to be listened to list (and has been for ages). I have watched the DVD which was disappointing – but mainly for understandably low budget reasons.

That said I doubt I’d put the Ad Nosieam on from beginning to end on a sunny Winters day as I might (and have) with the second disc of the Idol Tryouts.
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

Get those reviews in, Peter! ;) I’ll have to check out that Ad Noiseam comp.

Seb, I saw Dabrye when he was out here a few years ago. I remember Bradbury heckling him at the Opera House Studio, and while I felt sorry for him, I also agreed with Bradbury’s opinion on that occasion.
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

Dabrye at the Studio was not a good example of a bumpin’ club environment . . . . it IS dance music, functional music to move bodies.

Speaking of the Opera House, I kinda wished I’d gone to see Kanye West in the concert hall . . . . just to see how/if he worked in that setting.
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

Well if Dabrye only works in such restricted circumstances, then it’s not interesting IMHO, unlike a lot of other ‘functional’ dance musics (from some African musics to, say, Basic Channel) which are also interesting in many other ways.

Back to my original comment, the issue was saying that something is ‘the best’. That’s not subjective, it’s pseudo-objective, or solipsistic. Yeah we’re sophisticated enough to translate it automatically into our own terms, but, but, oh whatever. I prefer to say that something is ‘my favourite’ rather than ‘the best’ cos my favourites are much more flexible and obviously subjective. There is a power game being played when one labels something as ‘the best’ and it has different consequences… not that I’ve never done it.

Anyway, I’m too doped on cold & flu meds right now to get too serious about it…
http://discursivespace.net/shuffle missnae

I’d say you’re getting pretty serious about it (especially for someone doped up on pseudoephedrine)!

Anyway, interesting snark fellas. I’ll chip in my two cents by saying that Loscil is 3am submarine music – quite lovely – and if there is hype around it I wouldn’t know. I haven’t heard any myself.
http://www.frogworth.com/blog/ Peter Hollo

Don’t believe the hype! Especially if you haven’t heard it.
I wouldn’t really know either, but there is hype going round about Idol Tryouts 2, so I always have to do the snark in that case.

Reviews, reviews… just around the corner. For variable values of “corner” and “just around”…
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

OK now I’ve listened to it and I agree with Peter. The Twine and Tim Hecker tracks are pretty good, but the rest… rather forgettable, sorry. I don’t hate it… but I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again any time soon.

(Loscil, for example, isn’t doing anything that Pan American or any number of others weren’t doing years ago.)

When I think about how great those 1990s em:t and Virgin Ambient compilations were, I do worry about what has happened to ‘electronica’ since… It seems to be just a shadow (ghost?) of its former self. Adding 5% glitch isn’t enough to make it interesting, I’m afraid.

Is electronica at a dead end? I probably shouldn’t contemplate these things when I still have a fever…
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

It can only be at a dead end if you expect it to be going somewhere . . . .

The idea of electronica being a vanguard of music expired years ago.

But maybe the whole idea of a vanguard did too.

These days I’d rather ask ‘how does it make you feel?’ . . .

On another note though, I’d be quite happy listening to ambient music from whatever deacde for quite a while. There’s no reason why Loscil cannot site beside Pan American in a collection alongside Eno and Biosphere and half the Type label’s recent releases.
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

I don’t believe in originality or an avant-garde, however i do like to *feel* stimulated or excited by new music, whether that be through interesting concepts, developments, permutations or combinations of elements, or simply through strong affects.

When something sounds a lot like something else, without bringing in other elements of interest, well, I’m afraid I just don’t see the point. I’d generally rather listen to thing that it is trying to sound like.
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com Seb

But surely something that sounds a lot like something else may be a slight variant that in turn inspires another greater variant.

A bit like an evolutionary mutation sequence?
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son Shannon

Well sure, but most mutations aren’t useful, and I don’t have the time to track them all, not when there are more interesting things to do, or listen to.

Cyclic Defrost

An Australian magazine focusing on interesting music

Various Artists – Idol Tryouts Volume 2 (Ghostly International/Inertia)