Mega Listening Party Time Pt 1

It's a lot easier to listen to 10 CDs by different artists than 10CDs by one artist...
This is one of the things I've learned.
I've also learned that this process probably isn't going to radically alter my likes and dislikes, although it will hopefully extend me a bit.

So
Clark - Body Riddle: I don't get this one yet - or rather, I don't have a concrete image in my mind of what this album is all about. It is good though, and covers a lot of ground. I think Clark is seriously underrated in the halls of electronica.
Turning Dragon is Banging Techno. It has all of the aspects of Clark's previous work, but is much more immediate, coming as it does from live work.

Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Another dubstep album that isn't really dubstep. It's strange how the instrumental disc and the vocal disc (same tracks for those that don't know) offer completely different listening experiences. I think that a mix of the two is optimal, since some tracks do better w/o vocals, while some really shine with them.

Burial - Burial, Untrue
What can I say that hasn't been said. Except maybe don't listen to Burial on a grey rainy day in a series of grey rainy days unless you are really feeling the grey rain. I think some of the initial amazement has worn off, but these are both incredibly solid albums. Etched Headplate off of Untrue is particularly recommended, and much kudos to Burial for not bottoming out after the success and hype of the first album.

Pole 1 2 3
Pole's first 3 albums keep growing on me, and they fit well with the subterranian mood left by Burial and Pinch. It makes a lot of sense that these 3 albums got reissued as a 3 disc set, since they are all explorations of the same themes and ideas. The point though is that they are very cool themes and ideas, and Stefan Betke has definitely brought something to the genre of Dub-informed-electronica which was completely new at the time. There's a sort of ascetic aspect to 1 2 3 which is quite different from the tones of, e.g., the Basic Channel crew.

Pole R
A surprisingly good remix album. The new pole tracks point the way, not to the next album, but to Steingarten. Love the stabs of guitar and small sounds. Burnt Friedmann's mixes add a touch of lounge, but it's the two Kit Clayton tracks which really make the set as they shuffle grimily around.

Pole - Pole
An interesting experiment...could have worked but didn't quite. In retrospect, bits remind me of Jan Jelinek...

Pole - Steingarten
Sound. Designers. Dream. You understand why Stefan does so much mastering. Deceptively simple, but this is an amazingly fantastic outing, which has an even more original sound than 1 2 3. Hiphop, dub, noise, but man, those little sounds, and the space they define. Go the steingarten!

dB - Peron
This album should be much better known than it is. It's a bit Jan-Jelinek-alike, but it has a whole lot of great microhouse tracks replete with grit and damaged samples. Go track it down.

Farben - Textstar
This microhouse outing by Jan Jelinek makes me wish I had the full 16 tracks as to be found on the rather rare Starbox 4x 12". I doubt that there is any better microhouse out there than this album - the attention to detail is fantastic, and the way in which Jan builds interesting music out of such a small palette is inspiring.

Gramm - Personal Rock
I think this one was the warm-up for Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records. Less dancey than Farben, the whole degraded sample texture thing going on. Even a little bit of dub experimentation here and there.

Jan Jelinek - Loop Finding Jazz Records
Gauzy goodness. This sits happily next to Endless Summer and Loveless in terms of textural glory. A steady 4/4 grid keeps the thing grounded.

JJ avec les Exposures - Nouvelle Pauvrete
At this point Jan figures out that he can't keep working the same ideas w/o going stale, so he fools around with rhythm, more obvious instrument textures, Serge Gainsborough-type singing, and a certain jazziness. Jan has already demonstrated that he can do no wrong, and this just seals the deal.