Customer Reviews

Necropolis: The Dialogic Project

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

 

 

This was originally released in 1996 along with his solo project "Songs of a Dead Dreamer". 1995 and 1996 were big years for the NYC illbient/dub/ambient scene, and this mix CD reflects that. Mad tracks by other leading illbient artists are included, such as Byzar, Subdub, abstract junglist DJ Soulsinger, and WE (Quark Soup is one of the dopest dub tracks I have ever heard). The album is very abstract and is hard to swallow for some, the first two tracks sound like noise to the untrained ear, understandably. But Dj Spooky's theory is Abstraction, or a Stream of Consciousness, as he defines it. Its all done on purpose, before he drops his own remix of Ben Neill's "Sistrum" (Grapheme)and gets the album started. But personally I feel Zvona the most, I dont know what language it is in (perhaps Hungarian?), but this track defines this album as "illbient" - in that Spooky is unafraid to utilize anything to maintain the Stream of Consciousness. This is a REAL Dj mix and nothing else by Sasha or whatever can even compare to it; its all about artcore.

This album is an exploration of sound that tantilates the senses and aroses the mind. It expresses thought and rythem in bizarre ways creating a texture of sound that is not easily appriciated by your average music lover. Like a fine wine this album is not for everyone. If your a raver club kiddy looking for something new to bounce to this is not the album for you. If you want an album you can space out to one your commute or just want to sit down and listen intently to all the aspect of this music this is the album for you.

Spooky's genius does not lie with his technical skills alone. His ability to meld the electronic sound fields with a new feeling of natural, interior landscapes is unparalled. When you are enmeshed into his rhythms, samples, sounds, and mixes, you neither pay attention to any singular part, nor do you imagine a person, sitting in the studio with his record collection creating albums. No, you instead are transported to some unconcious fragment of your imagination where the darkness of the artificial and natural worlds combine to express a new dialectic. Here, the barriers between the live and the recorded, the electronic and the natural become distorted. You start to dislodge yourself of the rigid burden of Western music with its clear beginning and end. Necropolis then becomes vibrations, disturbances in sound that can be summoned again whether in the past by association or some uncertain future.

Being a long-time fan of DJ spooky and his artcore movement, I was thoroughly satiated when I found this CD the other day. This fantastic collection of subway cars, street noise, flea markets, combined with jungle beats and samples gives us an astounding range. The album progresses from ambient to jazz to jungle to some trance. It all works so cohesively, it's like being in a citified dream. Props to artcore!

This CD probabaly gives the best presentation of Spooky's esoteric hypothesis about his work. His trademark production moves like aminotic fluid and the tracks exhibit the streets of New York as a telephone pole erupting with flyers, each providing a destination for his after-hours stroll.

Uh, no. A mix-CD of things that Spooky digs, with some remixing here and there. I had to listen to it a few times to find 1 song that I could listen to more than twice. It's not that the music is bad, it's just hard to grasp. Hey, I like the dilalecitcal manuevrings of The Art of Noise, too, but I think I'd know when I'm licked. It's thick, it's spooky and it's a tough listen to get through. A lot of it just comes off as pure noise, and I LIKE Spooky, in general.

wheres the music? all i hear is static and street noises? this is possibly the worst cd i've ever bought. it produces only on good track (the 14 one) and even though its really good its the only good thing on the whole album. i've heard many talk about how smart dj spooky is supposed to be. well he doesn't show it on this cd. unless you want to own one of the biggest pieces of crap ever created don't buy this cd. sorry dj spooky but you not the genius you think you are.

Electronic Music is an enteresting genre that encompasses everything from Steve Reich to The Chemical Brothers. DJ Spooky is certainly more towards the former than the latter, and suffers from some of the same problems that mark the low points of Reich's career, namely getting so caught up in ideas that the music suffers. The difference between Reich and Spooky is that over-intellectualism plagues only Reich's low points, while it defines Spooky's work. And I like experimental music, especially experimental techno music. This album, on the other hand, uses ideas as an excuse to produce absolutely unlistenable trash that is not only difficult on the ear but boring at the same time. Combined with Spooky's constant search for street cred (especially considering he studied Roland Barthes at Bowdoin) and his need to demonstrate that he's read French literary theory and semiotics make for one talentless album. DJ Spooky's really good producing job is on "OFFBEAT: A Red Hot SOund Trip". Pick up that album, and leave this one on the shelf.

I gave this album one star because ZERO wasn't an option! This is the first & only album I've heard from this DJ. I made a HORRIBLE mistake. I purchased this album after reading reviews that Spooky's music was "tight." I wanted to check him out for myself. Hey, I'm into experimental music, but there's got to be a limit. Only about three songs of this entire CD have a distinguishable beat. I loved the movie "Groove," I can get down to a spinning dryer and the sound of a zipper as it hits the side, slides, tumbles and then hits the side again. That ROCKS! Necropolis, however, does not. It doesn't flow and there is no rhythm. It's a BAD acid trip! There are some cool sounds. For example, the clicking sound of a train-car running over the tracks & some spacey taser, zapping type noises. If you wanted to sample these sounds and incorporate them into an actual song, then this CD is for you. These sounds do not stand on their own. Therefore, listening to this CD was not enjoyable in my opinion. I may give Spooky another chance, but he's off to a bad start with me.