Customer Reviews

Reunion

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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I was pretty surprised when I first listened to The Flashbulb's "Reunion." The frenetic breakbeats and ADD programming of albums like "Kirlian Selections" have been replaced with downtempo, almost jazzy arrangements. The atmosphere is actually contemplative. This is clearly not a typical Flashbulb album.

One of the only connecting threads to Ben Jordan's previous work is the presence of many small tracks that blend seamlessly into the next. There are plenty of interesting ideas here, but something makes this less interesting to me. It's more than a simple case of confounded expectations - it's interesting, but doesn't play to The Flashbulb's strengths - virtuosic programming. He's a fine multi-instrumentalist, but I liked it in smaller doses on his other albums.

Because this is an atypical release, I'd recommend those interested check out "Kirlian Selections," "Flexing Habitual," or "These Open Fields" first. For fans, it's interesting to hear this other side of Ben Jordan's personality. It's not my favorite, so I'm giving it three stars - actually I'd give it 3.5 stars if Amazon would let me. It's good, but not great.

Review by: Luca Maini at [...]
(12.06.05) Réunion shows a sharp change in The Flashbulb sound. His previous works are something that can be described as melodic breakcore, with a jazzy IDM influence (dull definition, I know.) while this is totally instrumental, I mean played with physical instruments that don't include a laptop. So it's funky ("French Pissing"), bleepy rock ("Little Tuesday," "Oaklawn UFO"), oriental sounding ("Sangari 7," "God Is Speaking"), downtempo warm electronica ("Addict Swelling")... basically it's not classifiable, the better thing you can do to get an idea of what this album sounds like is to get a copy and listen yourself. This radical change of style reflects Sublight Records' politics: no matter what kind of music it is, artists in the roster can give the audience anything they want, even if it doesn't fit with the label's previous output. This choice will probably surprise all those who were critical with The Flashbulb, saying he was too much inspired by well-known artists, mainly Aphex, Squarepusher or V-Snares. Well, Réunion is a very personal record that probably reflects Benn Jordan's inner feelings, and that can be hardly traced back to anything you've heard before.