I’ve waited too lengthy on this one. I have been decided to evaluate it for months
now, and there have been quite a few false begins and public declarations (to
whomever might hear me) that Beats II could be my subsequent evaluate. So what
went fallacious? It is not the album, that is for certain … so, if there’s any cause
that might shift the blame from myself, it will be that it is onerous to inform
the place to start with it. DLW creates music that may be onerous to pin down. It has
a approach of unsettling your equilibrium, and on first method it may be fairly
formidable.

A number of the press round Beats II spoke of “multiperspectivity” and
“multidimensionality,” which is probably going not a nasty technique to seize in phrases the
fractional beats and cut-up nature of the recording, however it’s a bit
foreboding. The music itself, nonetheless, shouldn’t be. It was recorded as one lengthy
improvised piece then processed/reprocessed in such a approach that particular person
tracks grew to become sharp fun-house mirror reflections of one another. Exhausting cuts
between the songs recommend beginnings and ends, however in addition they might be middles
and associated items that do not essentially comply with in a recognizable sample,
however as recommended by the names of the items, symbolize (or are represented by)
colours.

Thus, I feel there’s the place, presumably, I acquired hung-up. The colours, the
cut-ups, the brief tracks that each work with and in opposition to one another, and my
wobbly steadiness after listening. Nevertheless, if one lets go and permits Lillinger’s
staccato hits and Xacto-knife slices of the beat to easily propel
Westergaard’s commanding bass traces and Dell’s extremely syncopated loop-like
melodic statements, it’s fairly simple to slip into the musical world that they
have been fastidiously constructing over time. The opening ‘purple’ lasts all of
16 seconds, however in its brief brutal life, it establishes that what you’re
listening to would require your full consideration. Within the comply with up, ‘yellow’ (a
beneficiant two and a half minutes) finds Dell enjoying a looping set of chords
over barely shifting time-frames and on ‘wine’ (a shade within the Crayola
Crayon 64-pack, proper?) it is Westergaard who embodies the fluctuating pulse.
All through the 20 brief tracks, nothing is stable, however every thing is difficult and
sharp. The music is completely compelling, and sooner or later, the shards of enjoyable
home mirrors grow to be extra like a kaleidoscope of fascinating sound.

Beats II … as soon as you discover your approach in, you will begin listening to shapes and
tasting colours anew.