Customer Reviews

Aleamapper

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What can I say, this album is AMAZING!

Everything about this album blows me away. The unique cacophony of sounds seems like chaos, but with deep listening order can be found in it. It progresses throughout the whole CD making it hard to tell where the songs change. This is definitely a 5 / 5 and rivals my favorites such as Autechre / Boards of Canada / Jega for the top spot.

This is only my second Richard Devine CD (I've been enjoying Cautella for quite a while now), so I can't speak to his entire body of work. However, I can give some thoughts on this album compared to a lot of other electronic music out there.

We often say so-and-so has "their own style," but never has that been more true than with RD. I sometimes think of Aphex Twin at his most noisy and experimental (think track two on Windowlicker), but RD is much more refined and thoughtful. There are haunting atmospheres with the power of a Lustmord recording, but much more active. In fact, there are often so many things going on at once that the listener cannot keep track of everything and instead of hyper-compact music, it becomes an ambient wash of strange electronic whirring and buzzing.

One thing that I would like a bit more of is some harmonic material. It doesn't need to be a full-on melody with chords and all, but I always find it refreshing on his albums when there's a bit of tonality peaking through the haze of electronics. I can appreciate the sensual experience of pure sound manipulation, but I also like the brief connections to human music, as we know it.

That said, I can confidently recommend this album to adventurous fans of experimental electronic music. If beats are your thing, you'll find them in short supply. Same for melody. That's not really the point. RD makes music according to his own rules. It won't appeal to all tastes, but for those who enjoy stuff like Autechre, this will be great fun.

The man is a sonic wizard. Even after listening to most of my 3000+ CDs, RD still blows me away with sheer complexity of composition and uniqueness of sound. Perhaps Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares) put it best as a title on his "Horse and Goat" EP, "Richard Devine = A+ Studnet"

This is about as good as it gets. Sometimes technical and challenging like Autechre's Confield, othertimes moving glitchy dark ambient that creates moods like those in Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works II. One track is very much like an electronic version of Eno's On Land. Other influences might be a less whimsical Mouse on Mars, a slower Squarepusher, and a scary Venetian Snares. Only 2-3 tracks become fully "accessible" and move to a recognizable beat, but that's ok. If you're reading this review, you're ready to shatter a few musical boundaries. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

This album is quite, well... frightening. Analog screech and slow background noise makes a great soundscape, but it really is quite scary music if you're in the correct mind-set. Try listening to this after having a drink or two after midnight. You'll see what I mean.

This is an awesome CD. Richard devine has done something special in aleamapper. The soundscapes are carefully consructed down to the finest details, and all sounds are impeccibly produced. All the elements are there - sub-sonic infrasound bass, odd noises hitting from all directions, and strange phased and morphed voice samples. In fact, many of the sounds morph into and from one another. This is a very technical album indeed. You'll love it, if you can handle it!

Aleamapper may be a difficult listen even for fans of IDM. Think late 90's Autechre but minus most of the beats and melody. What we are left with then is a whole lot of synchronized electronic grinding and groaning, and although Devine seems surprisingly adept manipulating a great range of subtle distortions, much of it does not add up to a whole lot, while certain go-to sounds tend to make the darker ambient stuff bleed together.

This record reminds me of an early - Otto Von Schirach -
release called "8000 B.C." if you dont know who Otto Von schirach is.. FIND OUT!!
Alot of this record to me sounds:
Wet, Sloppy, Dark, *fungle, and a mixture of bio/mechanical
noises...In a huge chamber of some kind.
Not alot of slammin' sick and crazy beats. Kind of repetitive.
If you like ambient It would be great. As for me; I'm too hyperactive.