dematerialisation is in part the story of the decline of the 70's soundworld, with the 90's being this very interesting point in which technology and this hazy soundworld were married.
I've noticed that blue note records sound amazing. I'm not sure if this is how they made them but it seems like they recorded live performances in the studio. A lot of instrumental music you can tell it's been chopped up, multiple takes, etc. So it isn't really the sound of the real world. It's too perfect. You can tell maybe that these things aren't sharing the same space.
the neptunes and i guess timbaland are interesting because they steely dan-ify that sound world. they'll have acoustic drums and strings and whatever else but by that point they're clean and in their own growing chambers. nothing bleeding into each other. nothing murky or swampy.
This is oddly mesmeric:
If we expanded to albums, we could do Liquid Swords vs Cuban Linx.
If we expanded to albums, we could do Liquid Swords vs Cuban Linx.