Templates [Import]

Flanger | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ntone
• ASIN: B0000258GC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,542 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technodelica Fans, perk Up!, June 26, 2000

By 

Amygdala6 (washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Templates (Audio CD)

Rarely does jazz music so purely mesh with other genres. Sure, there's world beat jazz, D&B jazz, street jazz...it's all been tried before, with shrill attempts to take the sound to the next level.

Templates has achieved such a position. It has fused that lounge-lizard feel while throwing blistering samples and found noises into the mix. These guys make mincemeat out of rhythmic grooves, transcending urban beat with the flash and panasche of old school balad artistry.

If Miles were alive today, he would nod his head and smile, happy that artists like Amon Tobin, Kosma, and now Flanger have finally found the recipe for the next step in New jazz.

Let's hope that these musical prodigies continue with the great direction that they have respectively chosen to take in experimental music.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating hybrid of organic and electronic textures, July 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Templates (Audio CD)

Flanger find the middle ground between the classic-jazz textures of Amon Tobin and the twitchy, molecular electronic emissions of Oval and Pole. The rhythms aren't bracing; languid would be a better word. A solid, innovative record in a genre that is sounding increasingly homogenous.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not your father's kind of jazz, November 21, 2001

By 

bowery boy (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Templates (Audio CD)

If you're new to flanger, I would suggest purchasing their second release, 'midnight sound' first. 'midnight sound' is a smooth and flawless fusion of hip cool jazz and subtle IDM beats similar to autechre. Tracks start out with laidback jazz grooves that seamlessly transition into frenetic clicks and beeps before sliding back to a jazz groove. Had I purchased 'templates' first I probably never would have bought any other flanger releases simply because it's a bit unfocused and meandering. 'midnight sound' was the perfect introduction to flanger which in turn allowed me to appreciate 'templates' more than I would.

You can hear on 'templates' what flanger has perfectly honed on 'midnight sound', their fusion of IDM and jazz. However with 'templates' the electronic elements are at the forefront, overpowering the jazz grooves in a cacaphony of sound. The basic idea is here yet at times it misses the mark but in any case this is definitely good stuff, certianly not your father's kind of jazz . 'music to begin with' is great with it's spoken word intro announcing every type and genre of music followed by a split second sample of the mentioned music.It then fades into a bunch of clicks and beeps and warped bass that fuses into jazz. 'studio tan' and 'lata' are also stand out tracks .

Over all this is a great CD but it lacks the cohesion of 'midnight sound'. I can't praise 'midnight sound' enough ( see my review). flanger is one of my new favorite artists I discovered on a whim. If Miles Davis was still alive this would be the logical progression of his jazz fusion experiments.