house and techno are bad

D

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
I love me some Omar S.

http://www.discogs.com/Omar-S-In-Side-My-Head/release/584919 is a fun filtered house track.

http://www.discogs.com/Oasis-Thirteen-Two-Eight/release/916247 is probably my favorite overall.

But Theo Parrish...I tried listening to Parallel Dimensions. Just can't get into it at all. I would even go far as saying it's shit. Every track is just a sample looped over and over and over, and not a very good loop either. And the whole thing sounds like it was passed through a murkifier. Listening to that album is like those dreams where you are trying to run but your legs get stuck in the ground so you are barely moving. He may be a good DJ though.
 
S

skull kid

Well-known member
"But Theo Parrish...I tried listening to Parallel Dimensions. Just can't get into it at all. I would even go far as saying it's shit. Every track is just a sample looped over and over and over, and not a very good loop either. And the whole thing sounds like it was passed through a murkifier. Listening to that album is like those dreams where you are trying to run but your legs get stuck in the ground so you are barely moving. He may be a good DJ though."

there's this thing called weed. not sure if you've heard of it or not. it's ok though - you probably just don't like house music

this http://www.discogs.com/Theo-Parrish-Pieces-Of-A-Paradox/release/4298 and this http://www.discogs.com/Theo-Parrish-Solitary-Flight/master/1922 are the best things he's done, and some of the best house music ever made

got to rep for this one as well

http://www.discogs.com/Theo-Parrish-Instant-Insanity/release/35075

AMAZING marvin gaye sample flip
 
D

DigitalDjigit

Honky Tonk Woman
Thanks for the tips. I went and checked them out on Youtube. I do happen to like house music quite a bit. I just don't think Theo Parrish is any good at writing music. Maybe that's why his tracks don't sound like anyone else's? He does have some interesting sounds, for instance the kicks on that Pieces of a Paradox are pretty unusual. But the hi hats on "Dusty Cabinets" sound very annoying to me. Props for not following the typical rhythmic template but they sound very stiff. It really reminds one of stuff people do with drum machines when they first start out. What else is going on in that track? The same simple basslines with a note on every off-beat just going on and on. Aside from the kick the sounds are very dry. So it's really something that could have been thrown together in 15 minutes by anyone.

Look how many times he triggers the same samples in "Ebonics". The pads are very amateurish again.

"Solitary Flight" is one of the only good tracks I've heard from him ("Synthetic Flemm" is pretty decent too). But it's probably just a couple samples.

I don't know. Maybe you like this sort of naive, amateur sound. But it's not for me.

It raises a good question though. Why do I adore Omar S's "Day" where he loops that Supremes sample incessantly while the repeating sample in "Instant Insanity" drives me up the wall?
 
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B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
loving the sacred cow sacrifice.

'Day' is great late night listening - thanks. In answer to your question, cos it's the fucking Supremes.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
I suppose if you come at a criticism of Parrish from the angle of 'his production is pretty unpolished' then you're right, but that's kind of missing the point. The rough n ready aspect is an important part of his sound. The hi-hats in dusty cabinets are amazing, feels like an example of proper groove that is difficult to fake, haha. Like the way the pattern sort of shifts in and out of phase... I guess that's one thing I really don't like about much house is that it doesn't have that sort of crackly, worn, slightly distorted sound that Parrish does. Omar S does it too, his tracks sound cheap as fuck alot of the time (certainly the older tracks that I prefer) - but it pays off...

Check out The Rotating Assembly stuff for an album (and some EPs) of Parrish shit I don't think you could call 'cheap' at all. What with a full band and shit.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
DigitalDjigit said:
I just don't think Theo Parrish is any good at writing music....It really reminds one of stuff people do with drum machines when they first start out. What else is going on in that track? The same simple basslines with a note on every off-beat just going on and on...So it's really something that could have been thrown together in 15 minutes by anyone...The pads are very amateurish again...Maybe you like this sort of naive, amateur sound. But it's not for me.
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fair enough, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but i dig theo's stuff for some of the exact reasons you have a problem with it! i love the drawn-out, mesmerizing, ill-defined repetition. I love how, as an alternative to the high-gloss, pulverizing beats of most other house music, his stuff is so cheap/low-fi sounding, bordering on a sort of other-dimensional avant-garde house...but instead of being completely alien sounding, it's all filtered through a layer of the most personal chicago soul. where you hear badly produced, annoying repetition, i find woozy off-kilter minimalist explorations for altered states dance floors.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
Leo said:
fair enough, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but i dig theo's stuff for some of the exact reasons you have a problem with it! i love the drawn-out, mesmerizing, ill-defined repetition. I love how, as an alternative to the high-gloss, pulverizing beats of most other house music, his stuff is so cheap/low-fi sounding, bordering on a sort of other-dimensional avant-garde house...but instead of being completely alien sounding, it's all filtered through a layer of the most personal chicago soul. where you hear badly produced, annoying repetition, i find woozy off-kilter minimalist explorations for altered states dance floors.
Click to expand...
<<<<This.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
btw, excited about the return of patrick pulsinger: produced the new elektro guzzi and hercules & love affair albums and releasing his own album next month featuring fennesz, trumpeter frans hautzinger, elektro guzzi, abe duque and one track co-produced by sebastian niessen of snd.

he was one of the first techno guys i got into back in the day with his cheap records label, and enjoyed his more experimental releases since then.
 
R

Richard Carnage

Well-known member
Leo said:
btw, excited about the return of patrick pulsinger: produced the new elektro guzzi and hercules & love affair albums and releasing his own album next month featuring fennesz, trumpeter frans hautzinger, elektro guzzi, abe duque and one track co-produced by sebastian niessen of snd.

he was one of the first techno guys i got into back in the day with his cheap records label, and enjoyed his more experimental releases since then.
Click to expand...

Elektro Guzzi album is stonking, by the way (review here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=7495). Even if you don't like techno, I'd give it a listen. Proper murky.
 
T

tox

Factory Girl
DigitalDjigit said:
Thanks for the tips. I went and checked them out on Youtube. I do happen to like house music quite a bit. I just don't think Theo Parrish is any good at writing music. Maybe that's why his tracks don't sound like anyone else's? He does have some interesting sounds, for instance the kicks on that Pieces of a Paradox are pretty unusual. But the hi hats on "Dusty Cabinets" sound very annoying to me. Props for not following the typical rhythmic template but they sound very stiff. It really reminds one of stuff people do with drum machines when they first start out. What else is going on in that track? The same simple basslines with a note on every off-beat just going on and on. Aside from the kick the sounds are very dry. So it's really something that could have been thrown together in 15 minutes by anyone.
Click to expand...

Maybe you'd prefer his remixes...


... or when he's remixed?

 
slackk

slackk

-
absolutely fucking brilliant

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Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Flying Gorgars is the one for me this week. So brilliantly hypnotic, the way everything emerges slowly and before you know it you're in a zone. The echoing shakers that sound like a steam engine. Can't wait to see him at Doldrums.

Somebody pointed me in the direction of a great Kwaito mix today:

http://www.discobelle.net/2010/06/05/moroka-secousse-sa-house-kwaito-mix/

I've never really heard kwaito and know nothing about it, a lot of great tunes in this mix though.
 
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