Search - Low Res :: Approximate Love Boat

Spellbinding - A High Watermark

04/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...Zelonky's Low Res project has a tale to tell. He explains that an alien race, the Lomaxians, has located the exact point of origin of the lone coherent signal in the vastness of the cosmos. Lomaxian engineers distilled the image and three cryptic words appeared on their monitors: "The Love Boat." Having concluded that this image was not a random event, but premeditated, the Lomaxians resolved to end decades of speculation and send a team of eggheads and musicologists to the source of this mystifying signal. The extra- terrestrial physicists calculated that the journey to the source would take a third of any Lomaxian's lifespan, but despite that fact, the opinion of the government was that whatever the expedition discovered would be invaluable.Many years after setting out, the pioneers reported back that they had begun the return voyage and that they had recorded the entire musical output of the Love Boat Planet. Everyone back on the home world was thrilled and beside themselves with anticipation.Disaster Strikes! At the halfway point between their home planet and Earth, a devastating error occured in the Lomaxian computer network, corrupting all of data collected. Since going back to the Love Boat Planet was out of the question (remember, each Lomaxian was already over halfway through his or her lifespan), the musicologists had only one option: fraud. From memory, they set out to recreate the spellbinding music they heard and gathered. Unfortunately, the only instruments they had available to them were the machines onboard their starship. Now they can only hope to be able to convince their superiors that the music they've crudely approximated is really the music of the Love Boat Planet.And this is what they came up with: Imagine Oval or Microstoria cast adrift in the infinity of the universe. Imagine you've been adrift for so long you can't even remember what a melody is, only that you can string together intonations that skim the surface of harmony, like a slim stone bouncing off the crests of waves before plummeting to the deep ocean. "Evanesce" starts out as remote and as cold as the intergalatic wastes; but soon the track changes and becomes turbulent as it passes through stellar matter. "Drat" sounds like an immensely attenuated shortwave radio broadcast of a light classical station that was disrupted while passed through a nebula or two. "Kilter" is a Lomaxian interpretation of cocktail jazz, except the gizmo they used to lay down the comping chords is an integral component of their starship's food replicator. The musicologists also sought to introduce their species to hip-hop beats on this track, too.Extremely thorough in their field recordings, the Lomaxians even catalogued the enticing musical sounds of an ice cream truck. "Sinister Ice Cream Truck" is no misnomer; I, personally, would be a little leery of buying Nutty Buddies, Jumbo Jet Stars and Bomb Pops from that particular van. "Wag" will at least introduce the aliens to the concept of tech-house; whereas the loamy "Field Holler" will leave them convinced that humans not only enjoyed sitting around and watching ...TV, but also loved to listen to viscous music.Perhaps you're perceptive and suspecting Zelonky of satire. Can it be a coincidence that the name of the alien race that engages upon this field- recording mission bears a stunning similarity to the folk musicologist and song hunter, Alan Lomax? (Incedentally, after some time spent with the record, it appears that Zelonky is only making a slight dig.) The spellbinding "Approximate Love Boat" signifies a high watermark for U.S. electronica, in contrast to the all- too- typical gruel of in- jokes and half- baked beats that DJ Wally and his sort cook up. Safe to report, then, that my urge to slaughter has been quelled. For the time being...-"