s w e e t b e a t s
august.18.2000 - #240
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artist : Sean Deason
album : Allegory & Metaphor
year : 2000
label : Intuit Solar
genre : Lo-Fi
catalogue : ITU-1006
url : www.intuit-solar.com
quality : 192k HQ True Stereo
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01 Creation 5:54
02 Phunk 6:10
03 Allegory & Metaphor 6:50
04 2030 AD 7:00
05 Ambience 5:33
06 Interlude 2:07
07 Zig 10:28
08 Psybadek One 5:38
09 My World 7:25
10 HipHopTrack 7:47
11 Another Interlude 2:19
12 Allegory & Metaphor revisited 6:42
12 tracks | 1:13 mins | 101 mb
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Sean Deason takes Detroit techno into extreme down-tempo territory where
emotive subtleties lurk within the tranquil mist of this synth-heavy
album. The Detroit artist seems more interested in the bedroom than the
dancefloor on Allegory & Metaphor; while there are plenty of funky beats
on songs such as "Ambience" and "Hiphoptrak," these rhythms are
dramatically eclipsed by the thick layers of serene synth tones that
hover throughout the entirety of this record like the mammoth darkness
of a bedroom's four corners blanketing the faint light of a flickering
candle. For an idea of Deason's gifted ability to transform synth tones
into heartfelt poetry, think back to the atmospheric tones of Derrick
May's "Icon" or Plastikman's Consumed album. The modulating strings of
Allegory & Metaphor aren't used as background decoration but rather as
the most prominent sound on the album. For example, the album's
centerpiece, "Zig," carries on for over ten minutes as a synth riff
wiggles and worms in a zigzagging manner with heavy layers of phasing
until a slow fade into silence. The title track and its album-concluding
reprise stand as the album's other noteworthy moments where music
surpasses its status as art and enters the domain of sheer beauty.
Following the epic nature of "Zig," some may be caught off guard by
Deason's lone drum'n'bass track, "Psybadek One," yet for as out of place
as one might assume drum'n'bass might sound on a ambient techno album,
it surprisingly fits in rather well with the continuity of the album;
the song's dense sheets of synth tones and subdued percussion make this
possible. In the end, Deason's synth-heavy, bass line-light album
challenges Richie Hawtin's synth-light, bass line-heavy Consumed album
as the best ambient techno album to come from Detroit's long tradition
of exceptional techno releases. --AMG
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s w e e t b e a t s
we like peaches.
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greetings to klangwerk, mgc, sour, & impg
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