TENNIS
furlines
2CD, Bip Hop
While
I am sitting here, February is turning towards its end, which means that
this record has already been released some time ago and I am still no
further into figuring it out than I was before. Whenever I think about, what
it is exactly that makes the electronic excursions of Douglas Benford aka si-cut.db
and Benjamin Edwards aka benge so special and unique, all I can think of is,
that “furlines” is the warmest and most human electronic record I have
heard in a long time. Of course, this is a big step from their first record,
“europe on horseback” which sparkled with abstract rhythms and filled
the forms with emptiness. “furlines” is no less abstract or innovative,
but the cool atmosphere of computer-generated music was exchanged with the
warmth of people producing music with computers. Take for instance the track
“bat 2 far”, which feels like someone remixed the adagio from a baroque
chamber concerto with static noise and some clicks and looping and it turned
out beautiful.
The
whole album is beautiful. The sounds mix and mingle and flow – even though
there are quite contrasting elements and disturbing sounds in awkward timing
– like slow summer days. Dreamlike, might be the word to describe the
feeling. The romanticism of urban people who dream about the life in rural
areas, but would never think of really moving into the country for good.
Because they know that dreams can’t come true, that dreams are better of
left in the realm of fantasy because reality destroys dreams just like that.
Well, at least most of them. Some manage to live their dreams, but those are
finally the most pragmatic of all. And then they fall onto ideas such as
making animal-jokes in all titles of tracks on their newest record. Very
clever. Try to explain the joke to a 65 year old farmer who has never been
in a theatre and never sat in front of a computer. Of course, Tennis find
their target group like everyone of them and this is a (rather small, I’d
guess) group of people, who are definitely highly educated, mostly male and
living in a dreamworld that makes them think that record labels and French
philosophers are important. Thinking about it, the world might be a better
place, if these were the majority. Not a lot would get done while a lot of
things would be talked about, but the world would be more peaceful, I guess.
I
wonder, if any track of “furlines” will ever be played in a club. Guess
not. It is too weird and smooth at the same time, too elaborate and straight
forward. Will clicks’n’cuts-purists forgive them using the sounds of
jazz-guitars on “bad hare day”? Would they ever care? I know, it is bad
style to use a lot of questions within a review, but I can’t answer those.
Especially a track like “bad hare day” offers such a lot of interesting
moments with its bass-line made from hissing noises, the middle-part with
the volume-trickery, the clicks and cuts and ever so on. Tennis ain’t ever
satisfied with just one single thing, they want to go new ways. Or rather:
they want to talk a nice walk down new ways.
