 Different State
"Azure"
Vivo
(...)
"Azure" by 2 shaven head beauties Greg
& M.Marchoff, who record as Different State.
The opening number is "Honey from our mouths"..
and somehow I cannot relate the title to the
sound I am hearing.. but as titles are Subjective
and
personal affair.. I'm not going to dissect or
read too much into them..instead.. I'm sat
enjoying the breathing space these 2 chaps have
managed to give to a drum break already defined
in the breakbeat era of long gone.. its
definitely something Squarepusher would enjoy..
and most probably DJ.. Track 2 which is flowed
into with no track gap has some seriously cool
drums that I like.. that sort of lazy snare and
rim is cool. .thou the track is given way to
someone shouting tunnel /.. which I am not too
sure about.. but.. again it's a personal thing..
Wither which is billed as C outta A-G .. is so
Cabaret Voltaire it hurts..
and guess what .. I like it.. now I realise these
guys are not just
punctuating their tracks with vocals.. they
actually do vocals. its part of
their sound. And it works.. why.. because its
their own sound, it would not
be out of place on a major USA release, and I
would not be surprised if
someone like Trent Reznor gets a hold of this and
digs it.
D aka Plunge is cool.. no really I mean it..
I'm 1 minute in and I know
already I'm going to love it.. Ive got a soft
spot for people who just do
their sound. And the sound of the this is like
the best 80s bands with
modern attitude. Thou , I do feel the vocal sound
could be more defined
within the mix. .. which makes me think this is
definitely the sort of thing
I could get involved with musically.. simply
because its so fucking cool.
The sound of the claps, are so.. "we like
what we are doing" and that really appeals
to me.
I am skipping thru the sound element tracks
like E aka fluff, this is
because I need the vocal elements as I'm rather
interested in what they are doing with them.. we
are now on F aka "Resonance of Feelings"
its rather Skinny Puppy, and I'm sure they have
heard it all before from reviewers and people
that they sound 80s.. but they do.. thou this is
NOT a critical point.. because I am not really
that bothered with the "latest" sound..
and I don't think that people should think it as
a negative.. the final track is G aka Azure 98.
There is a magnificent subbass which is very
appealing.
And I'm starting to think that if they do not
have vocals on this wonderful
backing track I'm going to be pretty pissed off.
3 mins remaining.. and they are having vocals,
fragmented by radio
interference.. then the live drums come in and ..
wow.. I like this.. somehow its really got me..
It's the energy and the spirit which is cool, I
mean their sound is ok, at times a little too 80s.
rather because people have worked the sound
before.. but there is something really good about
Azure.. I cannot help thinking its exactly the
sort of thing people like myself and Andy
Weatherall would love very much to remix. Simply
because the vocals and the ambience is cool as
fuck.
Andy Diey (Black Faction, Foreign Terrain )
Manchester 10.12.01- www.alchemyaudiolab.com
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