the Drift

d r e a m

we try
but we don't belong

you'll know where you are

mmm. cookies.

Fender CIJ ST71-93TX | Yamaha AES620
Line 6 M13 > ^Effects Loop In > OM Labs Sahasrara > Xotic BB Pre-amp
Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret > Tech 21 Liverpool > Effects Loop Out^ >
Stereo Out >> Boss FV-50L > Vox AC4TVH 4W amp & V112TV 12" cab
>> Vox Pathfinder 15R

ASIO bit-matched WinAmp > ASUS Xonar Essence STX >
Denon AH-D2000 | Audio-Technica ESW10jpn | Nakamachi Soundspace 1

iPod Touch 2g 16GB > Sennheiser IE8

Total Damage: $7010+++

Other notable gear I own or have owned/loaned/tested extensively -

Epiphone WildKat | Monsterpiece NPN Fuzz | Goosoniqueworx Boosty | Visual Sound Route 66
Voodoo Labs Tremolo | Electro Harmonix White Finger | Electro Harmonix Mini Q-Tron
Red Witch Medusa | Death by Audio Total Sonic Annihilation | Line6 DL-4
ProCo Rat2 | Tonefactor Huckleberry | Boss CH-1 | Boss DD-20 | Yamaha Magicstomp
Empress Effects Tremolo | Boss RE-20 | Moog MuRF
Vox VBR-1 Brian May Special | Blackheart Little Giant & 12" Cab

Audio-Technica AD700 | ALO Cryo SXC 18g| Ultimate Link Silver Master-i | Crossroads XBi
Sony MDR-EX71 | Westone UM1 | Etymotic ER6i | Graham Slee Voyager
Mogami 2549 OFC IC | iBasso D3 Python

Feel free to ask me for mostly unbiased reviews in proper english - with pratical considerations from the viewpoint of a budget-conscious student

but for now we are young
let us lay in the sun
and count every beautiful thing we can see

fave albums of 2008: no.07

Friday, December 19, 2008 ( 7:54 PM )

7. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

Indie and pop producers, DJs and dance experimentalists alike have been pilfering the fringes of disco for years. Such periphery forays have certainly yielded their fair share of forward-thinking music, but the lack of an attempt on disco's unabashed-guilty-pleasure jugular has certainly been a disappointment. Hugely maligned in history and underrepresented in the hipper-than-thou dance scene, the genre - in the vision of pioneer Arthur Russell - has been granted an overdue revival in 2008, and the architect-in-chief is Andrew Butler. He is joined by a disparate but complementary vocal trio of the androgynous Antony Hegarty, lesbian DJ Kim Ann Foxman and transsexual songster Nomi...well, how else would one nail that disco diva sound?
What cannot be stressed enough is that Hercules and Love Affair leaves behind the cheesy trappings of disco, but highlights its musicality. Never stooping to cheap theatrics, the album carries itself by the finesse of its songs. Lead single Blind serves as an infectious sample of the group's aesthetic, a pulsating dynamite that envelopes as it grooves, toying with Hegarty's voice and a subtle, snaking trumpet line. The artistry enfolds the lyrics as well, with a particularly wistful pean regarding hope and optimism to dread and realism - "as a child I knew / that the stars could only get brighter.....now that I'm older / the stars should light upon my face / but when I find myself alone / I feel like I am blind".
Incredibly self-assured and self-contained, Hercules and Love Affair is pimped with wordless vocal samples, octave-tripping bass lines (featuring Tyler Pope from !!!), supple horns, beaming keyboards, and a slew of fresh heartbreak - hardly the most original of material, but Butler and DFA producer Tim Goldsworthy's idiosyncratic construction achieves a record as muscular and sultry in parts as the Greek gods they reference. The opening quintet permanently belong on any forward-thinking DJ's playlist, while slow-shifting pair Iris and Easy charm with subdued flamboyance. Addictive and gregarious, Hercules... evokes a four-to-the-floor impulse that tingles long after the lights go out. One more!