|
|
Artist: Various Artists
Label: Grand Royal Records Category: Music Average customer rating: Media: Audio CD Number Of Discs: 1 UPC: 758148006827 EAN: 0758148006827 ASIN: B00000K2D3 Release Date: 2000-04-04 |
At Home With the Groovebox
Tracks:
Similar Items:
Customer Reviews:
A rare gem!.......2002-06-19
Anyway, the album can be found pretty inexpensively these days since the company is no longer around but it's one of those albums that you just want to buy because where else are you going to find awesome Shibuya-kei and electronic artists using a Roland Groovebox to make their own music. For several years, I have been accustomed to listening to people's music made on the groovebox via mp3.com but by buying this album you can hear Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter and much more mess around with the machine.
This by no means is an awesome album compared to other electronic music albums. To me this is a project album of artists being given a groovebox and to make a song and then an album is released. But I'm a groovebox owner and to hear these artists make their own music is just too awesome!
Of course, it's not for everyone but it's one of those rare gems that you just don't find anymore.
2 1/2 stars. dissapointing........2002-05-13
The result (theoretical): These talented artists will utilize the Groovebox in many different ways and each will be intriguing and new and will make for a fun album that's also a study on the way artists work with modern technology.
The result (reality): Who you expected to be the most talented with the Groovebox produce the worst songs, and the people who you thought would have difficulty with it actually made the best songs, while still the album remains disappointing on the whole.
Old school electronic musician Jean Jacques Perrey kicks off the disc with a funky song that almost sounds entirely assembled from sound effects. His song may be the best on the whole album and it bares repeated listening. Many of the other songs, unfortunately sound as if the band decided to just finish a song quickly unconcerned about the quality so they could get it done and out of the way. They're one-offs. John McEntire tries to approximate some kind of Stereolab space pop, but fails. Then Air takes it's turn and the song they turn out is of course wonderful. I think the best way to describe it is as the feeling you have when you're know you're going to sneeze, and you feel it coming, you're eyes are squinting and it's just not coming out and you're hanging there. Air builds up a great sense of nasal tension. You're just sitting there waiting for the payoff. Pavement ends up with a strangely successful song called "Robyn Turns 26" with typically enigmatic Pavement lyrics. Coming from the other side of the indie spectrum, Money Mark and Beck surprisingly make two downright boring songs. Even Cibo Matto's contribution isn't as spectacular as you might expect. Then there's Sean Lennon... but at least Gershon Kingsley's reincarnation of "Popcorn" is nice.
Experimental and fun!.......2000-07-06
Five stars to the the ghosts in this machine!.......2000-06-06
The premise of this album is to hand an MC-505 "groovebox" to a cross-current of contemporary musical artists...and let their creative juices flow! The MC-505 is basically a minimalist workstation of sorts, one with which artists can build tracks employing a variety of vintage analog synth sounds (drums, bass, synths, percussion, etc.). Many of the sounds will be familiar to anyone who has heard an advertisement over the last several decades, let alone music from virtually all corners of the contemporary pop music scene.
The presence of pop-culture visionaries Cibo Matto and their helping hand/group member Sean Lennon attracted me to the package, and neither disappoints on this mostly-instrumental collection. In fact, Lennon's track really displays a side of him far removed from the shadow of his parents, Cibo Matto, and his previous solo work. Besides them, artists as varied as Buffalo Daughter, Beck, Air, Money Mark, and Sonic Youth create a diverse array of textures and rhythms. Even jazz veteran Dick Hyman effectively works his personality into the machine. In all cases the artists bring their vivid musical imaginations to the table, and take this concept beyond novelty and into something intrinsically worthy of repeat listens. Some tracks lock into dance-oriented grooves, while others exploit the more ethereal colorations within the box (and with great success, many of the featured artists do BOTH). The end result is that the listener is not likely to notice the concept, but rather the end results.
Music Album:
Music CD
Celebrating the Music of Weather Report ~ Jason Miles, Various Artists
Standards, Vol. 2 ~ Keith Jarrett Trio
International Swing Party ~ Dan Barrett
Lotta Sax Appeal: A Saxophone Retrospective ~ Various Artists
Uruguay: Tambores Del Candombe ~ Various Artists
Von Anfang An ~ Juliane Werding
Tanoshii Yuuni ~ Rc Succession