typical shave
(shave.xm)

As I write this review the "hits" counter for this track is sitting on a big fat 1. Is there no justice in this world? Apparently not but I digress ... slightly. I have no doubts that most people will think I'm crazy for giving this track such a high score but after repeated listenings I love it more and more. Mind you, I also love Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Pere Ubu, The Residents, Snakefinger and David Bowie's Low album. :) This is a piece of music but it is not a "song", at least, not in the traditional sense of what it is commonly called a song. It has a structue, yet it is fractured and erratic. It has a beginning, a middle and an end, yet they aren't necessarily in the right order, or even from the same piece of music. It's moody and atomospheric, with a haunting and insistent synthesiser sample playing beneath an ever-changing rhythm track. It starts off with a reasonably up-tempo beat but just as you are getting into a toe-tapping rhythm it fades out and is replaced with something untoe-tappable ... and so it goes on. Hmm, to use an old metaphor, trying to describe this piece is like trying to describe a sunset to a person born blind. You're best bet is to listen to it yourself: you'll either get it and love it, or you won't get it and hate it. If you get it, then it means you're a weirdo and if you don't get it, then it means you're not a weirdo. Whether one or the other is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. Personally I don't mind being called a weirdo if it comes from liking wonderful, esoteric music such as typical shave. Technically this piece is excellent. Despite it's small file size this composition lasts for 6m04s, which is a more than suitable length of time -- any shorter and it wouldn't be quite as effective. I will admit, however, that a part of me wishes it was much longer. The reason for it's small file size but lush sound is due to the samples used, which are minimalist, predominately 8-bit and arranged exactly as they should be arranged. Whether the composer(s) was successful in what they set out to achieve is unknown but the end product is wonderful. I hope there are more gems by smirk/damage out there.

Posted by TMA Placeholder Account on Fri 7th Jul 2000