Fluxion album review *ouch*

[ofthecrane]

http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tab ... fault.aspx

Score: 5.5/10

I may be pissing some people off here but let me say it, because I’m not here to make friends: in 2010, there's not much one can even really say about techno, and there's really not much reason to. One of the main problems of the genre is that it's been notoriously narrow in its approach. I could play any of the tracks from Perfused for anyone and I'd probably get about fifty different responses on who it could be. I bet even Fluxion would have a difficult time determining as to whether it was him or Magnetic Flux or Quantuum Flux or Flux You (not real techno artists, but they might as well be). Techno has made very little progression over the course of its history and it's kind of sad. There's been some minimal advancement in minimal techno, but can we even consider increased repetition and boiling down beats to their basics a step forward?

Like the sound itself, the key term is cyclic. There is almost no evolution to the sound; it's like the manifestation of Ouroboros, forever digesting that of the past and recreating that which with it gobbled up; it doesn't die but it doesn’t evolve either. I’m surprised a bigger, badder electronic sound hasn’t devoured it already.The Flying Lotus-es seem more ferocious this season. Even someone who's lighting up the scene or raising enough eyebrows to crossover to those who aren’t big fans of techno or any bastard spawn of it, like Pantha Du Prince, isn't doing much to progress it. I disliked Black Noise. All the tracks use the same few bells and similar textures, and the album itself sounds just like This Bliss, his previous LP (even with Panda Bear, I don't care). Perhaps the most telling about the genre is that any group that tries to advance the sound and experiment further, such as —hope I’m not dating myself with this reference— Mouse on Mars, is no longer considered techno and is instead labeled as something outside of it. Like the song structure, in order to be techno one must repeat himself. This article is a bit techno.

I don't know much about Fluxion. I was initially a bit annoyed until I realized this guy has been around for quite a bit and that he's staying true to his genre by putting out music as un-innovative as this in 2010. Oh, how I hate stagnant artists. The stuff certainly isn't ear-gregious or anything, but there isn't much that really made me turn my head or woke me up. I wasn't even offered the red pill. There are some marks of quality on this album, some cool reverb and patterns, nice bass lines here and there, but it’s certainly all been done before. Basic Channel perfected dub techno back in '95; he must've not gotten the memo. Either that or he liked the font so much he decided to photocopy it a dozen times.

I can appreciate the reggae dub in "Wabbler," but at the same time the textures are a bit bland and muzak-like. For a bit of it, I feel as though I am in some sort of doctor's waiting room or elevator in Jamaica. Lordhavemercy. I'd much rather listen to the delicious lush ambient dub of Thomas Fehlmann or something. Visions of Blah is eight years old at this point in time and yet sounds as contemporary, if not more so.

The album does pick up some points on the last few tracks. "Elation" and "Inductance" seem to be two of the more complex and layered tracks —and thus two of the most interesting— with some nice, airy ambient synths. These songs could certainly fit quite fine on one of the techno megamixes out there, but they'd be just as good or bad as any other track on the mix, and the mix would be just as good or bad as any of the other million mixes out there.

The truth is that Germany has a cloning machine it developed during those wacky Third Reich experiments. No, I'm serious. How else could one explain such scene sameness from one track, one artist, and one album to another? Germany must've mailed one to Greece for whatever reason. Perfused is a generic album for generic Germans. The same ones that drink Becks over Weihenstephaner.

- Jonathan Ryan

[oblioblioblio]

that review sucks.

[Evad]

the album sucks too.

[John Clees]

that review sucks.

lots of truth(s) in that.....

I was a bit let down when I heard the album... (and/or) I was very excited to give it a listen but felt down after listening to it with (that) expectation..

[Rookas]

what the fck is this thread about? album is average and the reviewers point is average. RA is always giving 3 to good releases and 4-5 to the hyped ones. and nobody cares

[patrick bateman]

RA:

Although a solid release, Fluxion's 2009 comeback album Constant Limber searched for the dance floor, straying somewhat unevenly across diverse terrain, mixing house, techno and dub in varied proportions. In short, Constant Limber sounded like a man stepping out after a long isolation and assimilating new ideas into his own language. Perfused, his new album for Echocord, is much more complete, a coherent document whose one step further toward the dance floor may nonetheless unsettle those still in reverence of the deep atmospheres of his past work.

In taking that step forward, however, Fluxion completes a satisfying and perhaps unintended circle of works. Although his fifth official album, Perfused feels more like the closing act of a trilogy begun with Vibrant Forms I and II from the mythical Chain Reaction years and extending through to the more ambient Spaces album on Fluxion's own defunct Vibrant Music label. These three sets form a trinity of mind, soul and body. The vaporous, intangible atmospheres of Spaces represent the lightness of the soul whereas the two Vibrant Forms collections were alternatively more hermetic, coiled up and lost their own thoughts. Arriving at Perfused, the body is most obviously reflected in the dance floor tendencies, but also in the physically dense construction of the tracks.

Whereas most (dub) techno tracks play games of construction, balancing one sound on another, pulling them away or adding them in to change the tension and momentum, Perfused works differently. Sounds are added and taken away, but the balance never changes. The music is essentially perfused, full to bursting and at times impermeable to its own details even as it works effectively in the club.

"Waves" and "Tantalizer," for example, both kick off heavily and stay low to the ground, bruising out sturdy four-to-the-floor rhythms. But the shimmering patterns below the surface of "Waves" can't influence the propulsion while the springing, metallic rhythms of "Tantalizer" bounce playfully but harmlessly off the rollicking bass. "Inflection" is smoother and sleazier, but the dub patterns play second fiddle to the muscular mid tones. When the hi-hat drops, it barely shifts the momentum forward.

"Inductance" and "Elation" are both the most melodically extroverted and easily penetrable. Perhaps for this reason they form the first single. "Elation" slips along a sublime and yet heavy dub-groove with sugary propulsion while "Inductance" is more classical and prismatic yet still full of peak time energy.

Two exceptions to the rule are "Horizons," which plots out a more downbeat mood, and the pure Jamaican-styled dub reggae of "Wabbler," recorded live in one take. Together they help to modulate the pace of the album. That said, the greatest criticism of Perfused is still the density of each track. It may help the majority of these tunes work in the club, but it masks the dub details that keep the music in flux. There is a wealth of dynamism at the core of each track, but reaching it can mean effort that may alienate some listeners. Even despite its occasional frustrations, however, Perfused is a solid work, both sonically and in quality, and one that also marks out a new and welcome domain for a mysterious and intelligent artist.

[trak660]

I'll choose Beck's over Weihenstephaner any day.

[ofthecrane]

what the fck is this thread about? album is average and the reviewers point is average. RA is always giving 3 to good releases and 4-5 to the hyped ones. and nobody cares

Nobody cares? Apparently you do.