[EzExZeRo7497]

June 21st, 2014
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Genesis III​.​20 'Ov Idyllic Miners by Aliceffekt
David Mondou-Labbe is a very prolific musician, with many genres under his belt. Genres ranging from industrial, chiptune, witch house, witch house and lolicore. Aliceffekt is his glitch/chiptune/industrial project - a fairly underground one. Some people here might know Aliceffekt for tracks like Downtemperature and The Wises Were Wrong. They're generally decent, but nothing too spectacular to me. Genesis III.20 'Ov Idyllic Miners is his fifth LP.

It starts off with the industrial track Decent Aetdth - a looming and mechanical track. It's heavy and clinicial, similar to a grey industrial atmosphere. Pretty neat, but it doesn't last too long. The track soon changes to a heavy kicking industrial track 2 and a half minutes in. It strongly reminds me of gabber, which isn't really my thing. The parts outside the gabber parts are nice though, but not stunning.

The industrial onslaught continues with The Wicked, The Twisted. It's heavier than before, and definitely more relentless. It almost feels merciless and intimidating, with the sinister sampling. Actually quite the intriguing track. It doesn't get too bland becaues of its short length. That's a plus, especially for short tracks like this.

The Shamen, The Visitors has very similar characteristics to the previous track, but less aggressive. It's a lot passive in comparison, but it definitely has a powerful sound. Its reserved use does make it quite interesting, it's not as mindless as Decent Aetdth. It changes pace substantially 5.5 minutes in too, which is pretty sweet. It's hard for me to talk about the visions I imagine here - but it's like an active factory. Sounds of clanking machines, all that. Solid track.

The album is entirely industrial music. Quality ranges greatly, like the repetitive Serial Procession of Yous to the progressive The Shamen, The Visitors. None of the tracks is bad, though. Do have a little soft spot for industrial music though. Not that it's a bad thing, I might get into this genre more. But yeah, I don't have much to say about the quality of the album. It has some good tracks, but equally subpar ones. It averages out as a decent album.

The album is alright. One of Aliceffekt's better albums to me, but that's not saying too much. Not too fond of his albums, but he has some tracks that do stand out. His albums are mainly mixed bags, and this is no exception. Fortunately it isn't too mixed, I don't dislike any of them. Don't quite see myself listening to this again though. The good tracks aren't particularly impressive.

Album Highlights: The Wicked, The Twisted, The Shamen, The Visitors
Track Average Rating: 3/5
Overall Rating: 6/10
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One by C418 (recommended by Arkuski)
C418 is the ambient project of Daniel Rosenfield. He's been making music since 2008, but is fairly underground at the time. He soon gained popularity for being the music/sound producer for Minecraft. Today I'm going to review One, which has music used for a Minecraft documentary.

As you'd expect from ambient, this is quite atmospheric. Cliffside Hinson creates visions of tall natural formations at the distance. After focusing in onto the natural formation, you start having this whirl of emotions - from slight melancholy to unbridling joy. It's a bit too bipolar in a sense, also a little unnecessary too. The orchestration is a little too much, but it's not intrusive.

Independent Accident reminds me ever so slightly of Blue Calx by Aphex Twin at first. There are probably better comparisons, but this is one I can think of. It has similar atmospheres, both blue and isolating. The track does move with orchestration though, which I still think is a bit excessive. No need to be so filled with instrumentation, minimalism works just fine. The piano in this track is wonderful, honestly wished that it had more solo time. The violins shroud the piano slightly, which doesn't help much. Basically a good ambient track that is slightly ruined by unnecessary layers.

Could elaborate more on each track if anyone would like. I don't really want to talk about each and every track, because there's so many of them. Anyway. Knowing that most of the music here is used for a documentary, I didn't expect too much. Surely enough, most of these tracks don't provide too much. Some of them do sound pretty, but that's it. Tracks like Surface Pension, Swarms and Buildup Errors have this issue. They do sound rather nice, but that's all I get from it. It's easy to notice their beauty, but its beauty is superficial. The emotional value isn't there.

I'd say the album as a whole is hit or miss. The hits aren't particularly the best, but they're still hits. Preliminary Art Form is one that hits me quite well. The generally subtle approach works well at first - then progresses to something quite beautiful. The instrumentation becomes more intricately louder and prevalent as the track goes by... really pretty. The misses however, are quite common. I thought half of the tracks are decent/average at best.

The short tracks seem to fair better though. Most of the time I just wished that they were longer, because they were really good. Tracks like Imposter Syndrome, One Last Game, Lost Cousins, PR Department... you get the idea. These tracks clock at sub-2 minutes, other than Imposter which is 2:30. I'm not sure why this is the case. It might be because Daniel put in more effort into putting in more in small packages. If that's the case, then I feel that the longer tracks should be way better. He'd be pretty lazy in that respect, I guess. He has shown the potential to make short tracks interesting - so he could make long tracks interesting as well. Just need some more effort.

The atmospheres here are pretty varied. I don't know why, but Lost Cousins reminds me of the To The Moon soundtrack. Total Drag is a nice track where you can just sit back and relax. It's pretty chill, it feels like you're watching things happen. Maybe a sunset? Not sure. The Weirdest Year of Your Life is a track which pumps you for the rest of the day. It'd probably be labelled joyous, but I see it as a free-spirited and motivational track. Definitely cliche, but still a good listen.

I don't have much of a problem with the tracks themselves, but rather the overall length. 31 tracks and 95 minutes? There is absolutely no reason to make it that long. There isn't a particular thematic to this album - just a compilation of tracks. It'd probably be better as two separate albums, instead of one. It's quite the tiring listen otherwise. Some of the tracks felt repeated as well. Not sure if they're just recurring melodies, though.

My problems aside though, this is quite the album. It is most definitely a mixed bag, with some sparks of brilliance and lack of inspiration. From my track ratings, it seems that I liked 10 of the tracks, found 9 decent, 12 of them not too good. Leaning a little bit to the negative side, but I still find it alright overall. This would definitely be much better if the album is cut in half though. As it is, it is too exhausting of a listen. I don't think I can sit through the album at once again. Individual tracks though? Absolutely.

Album Highlights: No Pressure/One, Tsuki no Koibumi, Impostor Syndrome, Preliminary Art Form
Track Average Rating: 2.92/5
Overall Rating: 6/10