Dimension Mix (Dig)

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 23, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Eenie Meenie Records
• ASIN: B000A8AXBI
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,360 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As adults we make assumptions about sound, that some combinations of notes and structures are inherently pleasing. Mass market forces dull our senses over time so that fat major chords and verse-hook-verse arrangements are the main (often the only) ingredients necessary to inspire a zombie-like lurch to the record store. But we forget how wide open to the listening experience we were as children. Other forces came into play then, mixing the pleasure of repetition with an exhilarating newness. Electronic music offers a lot of potential as a music form that might find success with this niche audience, a fact not lost on more adventurous composers like laptop wizard Nobukazu Takamura (particularly in his Child’s View persona). Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson recognized it early, a good forty years ago in fact, releasing 10 records conceived and created just for small ears on their Dimension-5 label. Dimension Mix is both an homage to Haack and Nelson’s work, as well as a charitable venture aimed at helping kids with autism. It’s also an opportunity for some of the hipper names in off-center alternative music to get goofy. Beck drops his indie-folkie cool for "Funky Lil’ Song," sounding freer and sillier than he has in a long while. Stereolab blend right in with their chanteuse drone, along with other artists like Fantastic Plastic Machine, Eels and DJ Me DJ You, who all make contributions chock full of mirth and disarming playfulness. Your inner child will approve. –Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Havin' a Haack Attack, September 19, 2005

By 

S. A. DiCola (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dimension Mix (Dig) (Audio CD)

My boat's just hit the tip of the iceberg as I delve into the fantasy sounds of Bruce Haack's music. Electric Lucifer Books 1 and 2 are the only Bruce Haack discs in my collection, besides this fantastic tribute CD.

On first listen, I'd have to say that this CD would be the perfect thing to pop in at the end of the night for you & your friends to mellow out. Full of heady psychedelia, hypnotizing electro beats, and swirling synths--each artist on this CD contributes their own unique brand of Haack's trippy kids music. Think Sesame Street on acid in a flying saucer whizzing around in a video game.

The Beach Boy's "Love You" album comes to mind as I listened to this tribute disc-- the topic of the songs are simple, sweet, innocent, and creative; set against a backdrop of rockin' synthesizer music, but "Dimension Mix" has a bit of a techno-loungey edge (think Dimitri from Paris and Ursula 1000)

Stand outs on this disc-- "Funky Lil Song" by Beck (this could easily pass for something off of a late '70s Beach Boys album); "Spiders" by Money Mark (late '80s club beats help ease your fear of "Ah-Rock-Nids"); "Liza Jane" by Apples in Stereo (sounds as if they could have written this as their own); "Abracadabra" by From Bubblegum to Sky (think the Swingin' Medallions transport their brand of bubblegum rock 40 years into the future) and "Rain to Earth" by the Stones Throw Singers (collabo of PB Wolf and Gary Wilson among other Stones Throw labelmates making warm, dreamy Casio-flavored melodica).

Dimension Mix offers a diverse mix of artists, peaking my interest in a few I'd never heard of until now. It would have been interesting if Ween, Devo, or a Mike Patton/ hip-hop collaboration could have been included on this tribute-- but that would be asking too much.

***On a side note-- the packaging design of this CD is right on par with the music!! I give props to the design team for capturing the trippy playfulness for this tribute to the "King of Techno". Anyone else see the resemblance of these graphics to those Ed Emberley drawing books that you used to pick up at the library when you were a kid?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yay for Bruce Haack!, September 9, 2005

By 

Evan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dimension Mix (Dig) (Audio CD)

The "King of Techno" deserved some recognition, and now we have a movie and this awesome tribute album, to enlighten the world. It's great to see artists like Beck and The Eels giving him credit for pioneering an entire genre of music. Even if you don't know who Bruce Haack is, check it out - this is an all around great album.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funky Lil' Songs, September 9, 2005

By 

Sadie Wren (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dimension Mix (Dig) (Audio CD)

This is a fun album! The songs are really eclectic - some of them are cute and upbeat, others are spaced-out and dreamy, but they all create great atmosphere, and they're thoroughly enjoyable. And then proceeds go to a charity to help fight autism, so you can't go wrong. My favorites are "I'm Bruce" by Fantastic Plastic Machine and "Soul Transportation" by DJ Me DJ You.