Title: An empty bliss beyond this world
Artiste: The Caretaker
Genre: Electronic, ambient, experimental
Familiarity: A little; I heard this once before but only one track I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Emp...ond_This_World
Track 1 An interesting recreation of an old vinyl or even 78 record playing some sort of ballroom tune; violins, bit of brass, bass, certainly recreates the idea of an echoing dancefloor in a ballroom where someone has left an old record player going. The sudden abrupt ending is jarring, though I get the feeling that may be the case with most if not all of these pieces.
Track 2 Jumps into an echoing acoustic piano, slower this time, kind of like a waltz. The hissing and clicking on an old record persists. Like the previous one, this basically repeats the same looped sequence all through. At least it;s allowed to finish.
Track 3 More piano, dancier this time, very dancehall or ballroom, with what sounds like the additional sound of heels on a floor walking slowly, and this time it's a full tune, not just one looped sample or extract. It does however cut off again unexpectedly.
Track 4 A jazz tune on trumpets and sax, clarinet and with piano this time very much in the background. Kind of like an old love song.
Track 5 Big orchestral intro this time, like out of those old Hollywood musicals and other films; almost expect a choir to start singing. Looped again.
Track 6 Music is mostly subsumed by the crackling on this one. Think it's bells or something. Oh, then a jangly piano comes through. And fades out. And back in. And out again.
Track 7(Hate) Okay, the dropouts here are driving me mad. It's James bloody Blake all over again!
Track 8 Back to pianos playing in empty dancehalls
Track 9(Love) Sounds like cello and piano now, much slower, almost funereal. Actually reminds me of Pink Floyd off
The Wall. “Mother”, I think.
Track 10 Don't get anything from this. Nothing at all.
Track 11 Pretty much a reprise, continuation or copy of track 9.
Track 12 Pretty much snippets of the first few tracks all run together. Meh. More dropouts.
Track 13 This at least has some sort of basic melody to it.
Track 14 Trumpet, but my interest, if there ever was any, is gone.
Track 15 And that's the end of that.
End result: I've no doubt this is clever, well put together and since it seems to reference or apply to or be based on helping people with Alzheimer's, I wouldn't want to put it down. But I also wouldn't want to listen to it. Many will rejoice in its clever use of samples, the moods it evokes, what it says through the music and probably there are those who see or hear something in the silences, the use of crackle and hiss and even the sudden abruptness of the endings of tracks. But I'm not that clever: all I want is something to listen to that I'll enjoy. And I did not enjoy this.
So, Love or Hate? What do you think? A clear
Hate. Sorry.
Chances of a full review: 0/10 (I think it would actually be next to impossible for me to review this)