Download
III
Reviewed by destruKt
Download seem to be taking big steps forward with every release, but this time it seems like
cEvin, Philth and Anthony Valcic have finally done what they set out to do in the first place
- shake up the roots of Canadian experimental techno. Industrial purist's be warned, this is
not the Download of old, I can already hear the whinges of electro-industrial fans the world over.
One of the biggest changes obviously came with the departure of Mark Spybey (of Dead Voices
on Air). Gone are the organic textural sounds and harsh vocalisations prevalent in the previous
releases. This isn't a bad thing; While Spybey's solo work under the DVOA moniker is
impressive, his trademarks are better suited to dark-ambient grind than the pulsating techno
rhythms of Download. The result is a more cohesive sound, pure eletro bliss.
III's influences are clear. Philth's forays into dark techno seep into the mix pushing the work
closer to that of English experimenters, like Aphex Twin and Autechre than anybody in the
current "industrial" genre.
"Tooly Hooof" ducks and weaves through uncharted weirdness and in the best tradition of
intelligent-techno is totally undancable.
"Cunning" is lightweight dance floor trance with smatterings of ambience, thoroughly suitable
for E induced ravers.
"Moth" will apparently see other forms in terms of a planned remix EP. Starting with cEvin's
trademark backtracking it delves into waters exploring FSOLish rhythms and warm melodies.
"Tunnel" is a futuristic romp touching on elements of drum 'n bass and branching off in fifteen
directions at once, shame it ends so soon.
"MZEO B" is another trancy number, good for the dance floor albeit a little regular, holding
true to 4/4 movements.
"Streaked" is a Download track if ever I heard one, reminding me of dubbier versions of things
on The Eyes of Stanley Pain.
"Flight of Luminous Insects" begins with cheesy ambient synth's but get very aggressive and
noisy withhigh-tempo rhythms before returning to darker washes of sound.
"Beauty in the Eyes" is a wonderful excursion into minimal beats, echoing some of the work in
the platEAU project. One of my favourites, exploring all corners of the electro spectrum.
"Seeeping Solus" is simple and childlike with looping break-beats. Hard to get a grip on...
music for a drug experience maybe?
"Pleck" is a solace for analog synth's and another classic Download number, however it only
goes places in the last minutes with its lush washes.
"Bellshaw" is the reason cEvin and crew should be doing more soundtracks, its urban hip-hop
rhythms are ultra-futuristic, partly inspired by the dark sounds of the New York Illbient
scene. Best track on the album
"Were" is a beautiful close to an amazing album. Peggy Hill's cello puts this on a new level.
cEvin, Philth and Anthony need another outlet to explore these sounds more.
III is an album that works best when heard from start to finish. There are no "Glassblower's"
or "Base Metal's", it doesn't need them, this album stands on all twelve tracks.
As a result III is probably the first Download album to really gel as a complete work.
Furnace and The Eyes of Stanley Pain had some outstanding tracks, but these were bogged down
in a sea of broken fragments and incomplete ideas. Finally the point has been reached where
the shackles of Skinny Puppy are removed and Download can speak for itself, leading the way
for Canadian left-field techno.
Last Sigh
Download
III
Reviewed by: Michael C. Lund
The title of this -- "the third" -- Download album says a lot about the imagination that went
into the whole endeavor. After two wonderfully original and compelling CDs -- on which melody
and noise went hand in hand in a higher unity; every fresh 'listen' still reveals new details in
the intricately composed sound-pictures; the percussion's constantly evolved and never seemed to
settle into any predictable patterns; and Spybey and Orridge added the final touch of grace with
vocals that were at once enticing, clever and unconventional -- comes III, which has none of the
above qualities, and on the whole sounds much more like another Plateau CD, than what one would
imagine from Download. III may make a splash in pseudo-alternative dance clubs, where two,
three, and four minutes of the same incessant drum-loop will help even the most inept yuppie
muster up the courage to venture onto the dancefloor. But, for anyone who enjoyed the more
experimental and original aspects of Furnace, Microscopic, The Eyes of Stanley Pain, Sidewinder,
and/or Charlie's Family, this new release can only be a disappointment.
Without going into a detailed track-by-track breakdown (there simply is not enough detail to
write about), the more specific shape of III is as follows: The first three tracks sound as if
someone abandoned a beatbox in the studio and went on an extended lunch break -- especially "Moth"
is extremely long (7 min) and monotone, carrying on the same percussion-loop for minutes at a
time. The beginning of "Tunnel" sounds promising -- more playful rhythms, more breaks, more
effects -- yet, halfway through this track (the shortest on the album at 3'50min) the inspiration
apparently ran out, and the remainder of the track consists of variations at best, but mostly just
repetition. After another promising intro to track 5 ("MZEO B"), it too follows the model
described above: funky, monotone percussion.
Tracks 6, 7 and 8 are the richest, most varied (which does not say all that much), and
atmospheric pieces on the CD. "Streaked" has a nice dragging, distorted feel to it, although
this piece also stalls and dies in its tracks before it is over. "Flight of Luminous Insects"
would have been quite a decent tune -- very dynamic percussion pattern, processed vocal samples,
elaboration's and other details woven into the concoction -- if it didn't sound so much like
"Glassblower" without the distortion and Spybey's (much missed) vocals. This song also suffers
from extremely extended intro/outros that really add nothing to the overall effect of the piece,
and in themselves are rather unimaginative and boring, even if the outro does serve as a nice
transition to track 8. "Beauty in the Eyes" has some nice harmonics, and is a quite pretty
little thing, even if it does little more than linger in the air up until the final moments,
when some treated percussion is thrown in to round things off.
The next two tracks return to the dreaded funky-drum-loop-ad nauseam formula with the added
'attraction' of a female voice thrown in here and there on track 9. The last two pieces are
less conventional fare, with a cello very prominent in the sound-picture on "were," which closes
the album. However, at that point it hardly matters; the listener ( if he has any respect for
himself at all) will have replaced III on the CD-player with something (anything) more
interesting, or been lulled to sleep by the never-ending, relentless, trance-inducing percussion.
To sum things up: There are a small handful of tracks worth hearing on III, but it should
immediately be pointed out that those tracks -- singled out for their 'virtues' on III -- would
have provoked a frown or a quick press of the skip button, had they occurred on any of the
previous Download releases.
Last Sigh
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