I Guess Sometimes I Need to Be Reminded of How Much You Love Me

Magnetophone

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2000)
• Original Release Date: October 17, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad / Ada
• ASIN: B00004Y9V0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #419,635 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
Looking for a little adventure, electronica style? Try British duo Magnetophone's I Guess Sometimes I Need to Be Reminded of How Much You Love Me--a twisted, symphony of distorted bleeps, hypnotic drones, and melodic bloops. Matt Saunders and John Hanson have previously released seven-inches on the esteemed Earworm label; their music is atmospheric and textural, but made with a definite (if deeply submerged) pop sensibility. --Mike McGonigal

Amazon.com
With washes of noise, arrhythmic programs, and otherworldly invention of all sorts, the debut record from Magnetophone cuts through the creative heart of electronic music with intelligence and a belief in chaos. Unlike the melodic minimalism of other beat-driven headphone anarchists like Aphex Twin or newer contemporaries like Kid 606 and Nobukazu Takemura, Magnetophone also indulge themselves in pretty refrains of keyboard and strains of light trance music. Still, the overwhelming emphasis is unquestionably placed on wild, wandering arcs of songs and sound, thrown together and torn apart either purposefully or sometimes just for the hell of it. When it does, in the usual sense of the expression, "make sense," it's a fleeting moment, like the two-minute opener "Oh Darlin'." In this musical landscape, the song sounds like a single. The driving, building pulse of "Air Methods" might also make its way onto a radio somewhere if the world were to spasm and twist just a little bit. Other pieces would require a more drastic shift in the cosmos to find airtime, as compositions like "Temporary Lid/Georgia" stretch out in their sonic dreamlands with unhurried passages, ghostly recurring structures, and jazz-inflected, D&B rhythms. The entire proceeding sounds like either an ode to disarray or a love letter to the art of relinquishing control, or perhaps it's just a well-done burst of creative juice, the kind that electronic music can never have enough of. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An adventurous, but odd, release from the new 4AD, February 1, 2001

By	Christopher Culver - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Magnetophone, one of 4AD's latest signings after the departure of label chief Ivo Watts-Russell, specialize in a low-key brand of sonic noodling. Their first full album, I GUESS SOMETIMES I NEED TO BE REMINDED OF HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME, is a unique achievement, but one that certainly wouldn't appeal to everyone.

Eschewing traditional instruments in favour of all manner of old electronic equipment, Magnetophone produce a fuzzy, vocal-less noise pop that seeks to answer the question "What is music?" While many of the songs here are unlistenable, other tracks such as "Oh Darlin'" and "Milk of the Commander" capture the listener's attention well. The album is all the more enjoyable to long-time 4AD fans because some of the tracks, especially "Frankenholmes Drive," evoke memories of the "Early Works" of Warren Defever (His Name is Alive).

I GUESS... is not for everyone. In fact, I suspect a lot of people will despair of 4AD because of it, but I'm glad to see a release this original. The album is all the more enjoyable because of the remarkable design by v23, which uses an envelope instead of a booklet in the CD case and whose back insert is only half-size.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for everyone, but patience is rewarded, November 21, 2000

By A Customer

This CD will definitely not appeal to all, but it does something most music doesn't even try to do these days: experiment. Magnetophone are never going to fit in anywhere--neither as "electronica," nor as "avant-garde," but this bizarre exploration of the limits of what music can actually be is worth a listen. There's not much point, either, in comparing it to Aphex Twin, My Bloody Valentine with more keyboards, etc. 4AD took a real chance here, and continues a great tradition of signing superior instrumental acts.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars somewhere between autechre and brothomstates, November 22, 2005

By	bowery boy (seattle) - See all my reviews

magnetophone live in their own universe.

i guess sometimes i need to be reminded of how much you love me confidently skips, pulsates, fizzes and vibrates along lead by a barage of very self assured beats, sonic walls of sound and melancholy melodies. tracks are anywhere between 6 to 9 minutes long with a few 2-3 minute long snippets thrown in for good measure. oh darlin is a brilliant and lovely opener which then segues into the sonic bliss of frankholmes drive. melodies and drum beats are heavily buried under the sounds but they're there. one of my particularly favorite tracks is why stop when it feels so good? but at 9+ minutes it meanders along for far too long and doesn't quite go anywhere but it's a nice ride and definitely lives up to its title. grateful aren't we?, so much as to hold my hand and the emotional closer love needs you are all definite stand out tracks for me.

the album art is interesting too. the cover is actually a slip case too small for the CD to fit in but when you open it to try to fit the disc in, there's a photograph of a very angry looking woman with a blonde flip gazing at her reflection in a mirror. very clever.

this is very emotional electronic music with an edge. it really touched me. reserve a space of time to sit back, relax, and immerse yourself with a really good pair of headphones. it gets to you, as much as you don't want it to.