Quote from: Duncan on September 24, 2014, 04:13:32 PM
Well, I finally got round to spinning my copy of the long awaited Hard Panning comp and have mixed feelings...
All of this is based on a first listen so I've not really absorbed it properly yet, but it does unfortunately seem to suffer from something I saw mentioned elsewhere about modern cut up noise sounding all very similar due to the same editing techniques being apparent in each track. There is always the chance that it could just be my untrained ear, but many of the tracks blend together in such a way that you often can't tell when one ends and another begins, which is not really helped by the instant transitions from piece to piece. I think that if only a couple of seconds between tracks had been inserted there would be a dramatically improved quality to this disc. I appreciate the way that the curators have tried to possibly give the album a feel of continued flow, but it kind of detracts for me and prevents each piece from standing on its own merits.
So, this - at least to my tastes - kind of tarnishes the whole experience BUT I wouldn't say that any track on there was bad. Everything at the very least delivers the kind of frantic, cut sound you are expecting and there are many great moments that make you stop what you're doing and give a sultry groan, perhaps even a fist pump or two if listening on the weekend. Stand out stuff from Facialmess and Lettera 22, with parts of MAAAAAAAAA, Kazuma Kubota, Encephalophonic & Developer catching my attention too. As I say, something of worth in every single track though. Seems to be some sort of uncredited 'secret' track at the end, not sure what it is but I can take it or leave it.
So there you go, sorry if this is a negative first mention. I'm looking forward to revisiting and finding out if I'm full of shit.
Wow, it's actually the first such detailed opinion on the compilation. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts in detail.
I'd like to address some of the points you raised.
First of all, the main idea behind the compilation was (in a nutshell) to document the evolution of the genre. In my personal, subjective opinion, the cut-up subgenre is an area where the most interesting things happen. That is due to the fact that most artist who operate in that area utilize a number of interesting compositional and production methods (again, in a nutshell).
I definitely agree that some of the techniques such as drills/micro-loops, hard panning, silence/noise contrasts etc. are omnipresent but at the same time every track on that compilation has a significant degree of originality to it. To me, there's a huge difference between, say, FACIALMESS and Jake Vida or T.E.F. and Kazumoto Endo. All of those tracks are easily distinguishable because they have a different flow, atmosphere and simply sound different in general.
The decision to press a gapless CD was difficult but both Sergey and I believed that we should make it as condensed and as powerful as possible. Introducing 1 or 2 sec. gaps might cause the compilation to lose the punch and unrelenting energy we wanted it to have.
All in all, I believe that the comp might require several focused listening sessions because of the sheer amount of extremely varied content.
Again, thank you for sharing your opinion Duncan, it means a lot.
