Spring Heel Jack
68 Million Shades
[Island]
Rating: 6.8
Holly, my Crystal-Meth snorting, E-dropping, spazzed-out rave buddy tells me
that "breakbeat" is the up and coming techno sub-genre to look out for.
Perhaps. 68 Million Shades is a fully electronic album comprised primarily
of layered beats interjected with almost- real instrumental moments. Sure, I
just described every techno recording ever made, but (and that's a big but,
like Holly's), aren't you sp'osed to be able to, like, dance to techno? I
tried. No luck. My downstairs neighbor called the cops, in fact (must've
been my fat ass hitting the floor after a particularly perplexing tempo
change). In any case, 68 is fast, filled with extremely dry
drum sounds that leave you wondering where the songs really are behind all
of that "breakbeat".
-James P. Wisdom