Son-Dha
Red Sector A Speeds Up Alio Die
Relapse
Ah, the great mysteries of life. Did aliens visit ancient civilizations? Is there a God? Are we wasting our time looking for the unified field theory? How is Bob Hope still alive? Compared with these puzzlers, the question “How did this album ever get released?” is a minor one… yet I’m still confused. I’m not saying this is a bad record – it’s actually kind of nice – but let’s break this down.
Relapse Records grabbed Stefano Musso, an obscure Italian techno artist who calls himself Alio Die and dabbles in “deep, evocative experimental ambient and electro-acoustic soundscapes” (from the Hybrid Records Web site). Then they tapped Andrea Belluci, a slightly less-obscure Italian techno artist who calls himself Red Sector A and specializes in “an intelligent marriage of deep atmospheres and new e-music” (from the Minus Habens Records Web site). Then the Red Sector A guy takes samples from the Alio Die guy and puts them into ambient soundscape song-type thingies. How did they think this would move any significant units at all? Why should we, the American listening public, care at all?
Well, because it’s kind of cool-sounding, I guess, as far as this kind of thing goes. Everything seems to be hyphenated here: There’s shimmer-chug, like in “In Mean Time (New World Experience Mix),” and there’s burble-bliphop, like in “Shuar (Floating Mix),” and “Onyx (Afterlife Mix)” can only be described as happy-Goth-ethno-trance. Overall, I think I’m more down with the Red Sector A approach than the Alio Die scene, but let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments – they sound great together, and this is just a very cute little album.
The CD booklet and the Relapse Web site both list ten tracks, but my disc only contains eight, so I can’t say anything about the last two songs – but I still like the eight tracks (56 minutes or so) that I have heard. This won’t change the world or anything, and those who prefer a more straight-ahead approach should look elsewhere. But I approve of the speeding up of Alio Die by Red Sector A, and so will most of you.
So, one mystery solved. Next up: who told Jennifer Lopez that she should go around looking pissed-off all the time? Damn, girl, lighten up a little!
Relapse Records: http://www.relapse.com
