Airlock "Drystar"
(2000, One Little Indian, 724384994228)
Songs (Click the -icons
for some small realaudio-samples)
1.
Drama 73
2. Slipinside
3. Face Down
4. Dj risk vs Airlock
5. Alpha
6. Drystar
7. In the Mouth of the Fish
8. Awakening
9. Quiet Hour
10. On the 2nd Floor
11. Escape
12. Sleepinside
Music & Lyrics: Esra Tasasiz / Airlock
Musicians :
- Esra Tasasiz (vocals)
- Pierre Mussche (keyboards & samples)
- Ernst W. Meinrath (keyboards)
- Renaud Charlier (keyboards)
Guests:
- Renoar Hadry (bass)
- Laurent Blondiau (trumpet, flugelhorn)
- DJ Risk (from Transformerz) (scratches)
- Alejandro Quesada (cello)
- Pete Davis (Beats & Programming)
- Shawn Lee (guitar)
- Fritz Sunderman (guitars)
- The Arco Musicale (led by Dirk de Caluwé & arranged by Dirk Brossé
& Dirk Cockx) (strings)
Recorded at Musicom Studio's en ICP Brussel
Produced by Airlock
Artwork : Think1
My opinion (not translated yet, sorry)
Airlock: technically speaking, this is no debut (a few years ago they already
did the soundtrack for the short movie Parabellum - with a few Front
242's in the paramilitary main roles - and with the company Musicom they have
been active for a number of years in the world of advertising and soundtracks).
But on itselfs this is an intro that well worth noticing.
Remarkable is certainly that the band was signed by One Little Indian (label
of Björk and others), and had "le choix de l'embarras" on the basis
of one sent demo. In accordance with their background in advertising, the sound
of Airlock lies "smooth in the ear". It isn't very original: "Awakening"
is a carbon copy of "Kinky Love" by Pale Saints, "In
the mouth of the fish" is closely related to Air, and "Drystar"
coudl've figured as a Massive Attack B-side without problems. Other songs
are more in the vicinity of Hooverphonic or Portishead. Indeed,
one could think of worse examples ...
The opening trio of the CD are the best, because on "Drama 73",
"Slipinside" and "Face down" there's a good
balance between the four main ingredients of Airlock's music: strings (very prominent,
and well-arranged by Dirk Brossé a.o.), melody (only well-established
in the first three songs, later on giving way to more atmospheric tracks), synth-effects
(listening to Airlock on my portable PC I wasn't at ease at all, because the effects
on Sleepinside etc. resemble my computer's system noises so much) and the voice
of Esra Tasasiz (sometimes very strong - "Slipinside"
- sometimes rather disappointing -"Awakening" or"Escape").
In the songs after these three, the balance isn't struck so well, because there's
always one of these elements that's overemphasized. The titletrack of "Drystar"
on the other hand is a somber but compelling little masterpiece.
The result is a a CD full of atmosphere that has a few too many mishaps to earn
the label "strong in all its aspects". But "strong on great deal
of aspects", they are already.
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
This Album in the Press
- lve in Rif-Raf (ed.ned) : "In de bijgevoegde bio wordt gegoocheld
met termen als "itchy DJ Krush-isms, and edgy Underworld-on-downers atmosphere
en the Massive Attack-esque avant-garde song Awakening". Ik heb veel minder
woorden nodig om het debuut van deze Belgisch band te omschrijven: ik noem het
eenvoudigweg muzikaal behang, een flauw afkooksel van Hooverphonic".
- D.A. in The Ticket "De bijna-Belgen van Airlock verbazen met
een beloftevol eerste album, dat zijn voedingsbodem vindt in de Engelse triphop.
Puristen zullen waarschijnlijk wel iets aan te merken hebben op de kwaliteit van
de mastering ... maar dit kleine gebrek valt in het niet als je de harmonie van
de arrangementen en de intelligentie en kwaliteit van de sound beschouwt".
Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell
me about it !
Where to buy this CD ?
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on January
14, 2001, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
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-icons
for some small realaudio-samples)
