It’s argued by many, that the time for collage as a primary means of expression has passed or at least it’s heyday has expired. Interesting then to come across a record like this that brings to mind so many echoes of sound work from the early to mid-nineties [and on a label whose history begins in that period too].
International Peoples Gang create an album of juxtapositions here – most of them melodic and beautiful, never straying into any kind of dangerous or unexplored terrain and quite often stepping foot into areas of deep cliché and expired musical inspiration (“Stop’). As much as there are several musical short comings here, there’ almost an interesting reminder of the simple pleasures of “expected’ electronic music, visible DSP and collage that seeks to stir the soul, or at least the ears. For the most part this album does stir something – whether it be memories of a past now almost unattainable or realisations of the simple beauty that can be reached with the most simple of source materials.
Lawrence English
