Kattoo - Places

[abasio]

Kattoo

Places

Hymen Records

2004

Tracklist

 

1 Place1 (5:15)

2 Place2 (4:32)

3 Place3 (5:59)

4 Place4 (5:12)

5 Place5 (4:51)

6 Place6 (6:23)

7 Place7 (3:34)

8 Place8 (4:30)

9 Place9 (6:00)

10 Place10 (4:47)

11 Place11 (7:44)

12 Re-Place7 (Rmx By Flaque) (4:46)

 

I remember someone telling me how great this album was so when I saw it cheap in a shop I picked it up. I'm glad I got it, it has some nice stuff, but I'm glad I didn't pay much for it as there is some really bad stuff too.

 

1. Place 1

From the vocal over the loud speaker to the squelchy beats to the subtle melody & long soft drone in the background this track sets a nice warm summer atmosphere. Feels like dew on a summer morning.

 

2. Place 2

A siren, the scene of a crime, the panting of a criminal & the sounds of a chase ending in a shooting. Instantly we are in a new place miles from the last place. This place is an urban ghetto. The beats are much more street & the vocals much more in the turntablist vein. I like the bass in this track, it carries what would be an average track into an urban dream.

3. Place 3

A much darker place now, a very sinister sample & drone like the dark ages. All the sounds here are grander & I'm put in mind of a secret underground hall used by a secret & sinister organisation. The mood changes as the people fill up the hall, the mood is serene but always with an undercurrent of bad intentions. This is a little slow to get going but when the melody comes in halfway through it turns into one of the best downbeat tracks I've heard recently. In the first few listens of this CD, this track always passed under my radar but as I focused on it, it's sheer magnitude shone. Great track.

 

4. Place 4

Transported again miles away. To a windswept moor in the middle of the night. Dark bolts of electricity come from the sky, once, twice then the scene explodes as this track turns into some hideous metal nightmare. I don't like this at all, it's noisy & crap. When the metal beats go it is much better but they spoil the whole thing for me. To harsh, not intricate just too much. Poor Track

 

5. Place 5

Sings Nightingale with the pitch control being messed with. This continues as the beats come in & some nice windy drones in the background. Soft guitar & shuffling beats are so much nicer than the place we went before. Towards the end the beats increase into a breakbeat & a good one at that. The melody at this time is really moving too. I like this place.

 

6. Place 6

Another harsh industrial place. The beats are utterly random & don't get into any kind of rhythm for a while. When kattoo does this it doesn't really feel like music to me. Just crap annoying noise. When the beats do even out it's a bit better & there is a melody hidden in the background which is pretty nice but the beats go all shit again & I have to say I don't like this track, it's pretty poor. The end is the only really decent part of it.

 

7. Place 7

A dark oppressive drone & sinister industrial noises. The intro is an impressive example of dark ambient. Suddenly there are fast hard beats. Random but ordered it seems that they fit even though they shouldn't. Sounds like a lot of the venetian snares' material that I've heard. Fast paced changes with no story or point. The dark ambient in the background is easily the best thing here & I'd like to have this track without the beats.

 

8. Place 8

The Batman The Movie samples add a dark (in a Tim Burton way) touch to this whereas the melody is a beautiful melancholy & the sounds of children playing in the background really sets the reminiscent mood. When listening to this track I feel like I should be thinking of my past with a big grin on my face & it does conjure for me many happy memories. This track is worth the purchase of this album alone. This is a fantastic track, very emotional, melancholic & nostalgic.

 

9. Place 9

This next place is darker again, a garden at night somewhere in Asia. I can hear the wind chimes sounding in the wind & the creaking of a wooden walkway as someone comes out to the garden. There tries to be a beat but it doesn't really materialise into anything more than a random nuisance. This would have been a lot better without them. This could be a really nice ambient track but those attempts at beats ruin it.

 

10. Place 10

Now I'm standing on the shore, listening to tide come in. The beats come in and chase away the atmosphere. It's still noticeable in the background & gives the track a nice outside air to it. When the organ comes in & I can hear the plane screech overhead I feel the track has taken a step deeper & when the melody comes in it a lush melancholic one. Very nice how it evolves as with the evolution of the whole track. Like a miniature fable in music. Very nice track.

 

11. Place 11

Okay, this is just awful. It's just a German guy talking. That's it, no music. No melody, no rhythm, no beats not atmosphere. At nearly 8 minutes, it is also the longest track on the album and is just....

Pointless crap.

 

12 Re-Place7 (Rmx By Flaque)

The 1st few listen of this album I assumed that the drivel of place 11 was the end & turned it off & I completely missed this Remix of place 7. Now I wasn't too impressed with Place 7 so how is the remix. Well, it's everything I wish place 7 had been. A nice dark atmosphere with chilled beats that are ordered & intricate.

 

 

Well this is really a mixed bag. As an album it doesn't have any flow. Some of the tracks are really good & Place 8 is worth the purchase but there are too many poor tracks to make this album one to listen to all the way through. If you want to make an IDM mix then buy this as there are some good tracks to put in one but if you are looking for a nice album then don't bother. There are 5 really poor tracks & they ruin the album. I skip whenever I play this & the album ends up being hard work rather than enjoyable.

 

Good Tracks #1 #2 #3 #5 #8 #10 #12 <- all these are little psychedelic journeys

 

Crap Tracks #4 #6 #7 #9 #11!!!! <- these are just crap

[Sawfly]

Well this is really a mixed bag. As an album it doesn't have any flow.

Well I think it's supposed to be like that. 12 different places

 

As for the actual tracks, there are some fucking epic ones on this album and some that are not really that interesting.

 

Place11 is pretty much the most horrible excuse for a track ever

[abasio]

Well I think it's supposed to be like that. 12 different places

 

As for the actual tracks, there are some fucking epic ones on this album and some that are not really that interesting.

 

Place11 is pretty much the most horrible excuse for a track ever

Yeah, I got the whole places thing but the places could have gone in a nice formation rather than just heaven hell heaven hell heaven hell like these did. Some sublime tracks yes but those that are bad I think are really bad!

 

and yeah, place 11 WTF??!?!?

[Gnome]

Sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about.You take one of the best IDM albums,review it on a psytrance forum and call it names like "industrial" (?!?) and "crap".

Please stay on reviewing only psytrance on this forum,please!

[abasio]

Well, I thought that enough of the tracks were psychedelic enough to deserve a place here. there are many non-psy trance reviews on this site. did you miss the discussion about variation and stagnation in the psy scene. sorry if I'm a little shit with genres. if the mods think it's a problem then they can remove it but I believe this has as much place here as many other albums reviewed.

 

if you (re)read my review you'll notice I didn't call this album industrial. I merely mentioned some industrial noises in 2 tracks and sorry if you disagree but some of the tracks I think are real crap.

[Gnome]

Well, I thought that enough of the tracks were psychedelic enough to deserve a place here. there are many non-psy trance reviews on this site. did you miss the discussion about variation and stagnation in the psy scene. sorry if I'm a little shit with genres. if the mods think it's a problem then they can remove it but I believe this has as much place here as many other albums reviewed.

 

if you (re)read my review you'll notice I didn't call this album industrial. I merely mentioned some industrial noises in 2 tracks and sorry if you disagree but some of the tracks I think are real crap.

Simply check the discogs rating.It's 4.6 after 40 votes,sure ratings don't say much but,when Goa classic MFG's New Kind Of World gets a 4.1 you see where im going.

Many moments of this album that might sound noisy and crap to you,which i totally understand since you obviously don't fancy this kind of music,are considered as class by followers of both Kattoo's previous works (Beefcake) and Hymen records.

Anyhow,everyone deserves an opinion and since most people browsing this forum would agree with you on that noisy moments i see no reason fro removing it.

[abasio]

I do like this type of music and even on this album I thought 7 tracks, that's more than half were very good. i didn't like 5 tracks and place 11 I hated. i think this comes across in my review. if the whole album had been like those 7 I would like this more. i need to copy this without the tracks I don't like to make it more enjoyable to listen to.

i like random and weird believe me but I find some of this just unpleasant.