Flux Information Sciences - Private/Public (2001) [SAA Album Club discussion thread]

[dankrsta]

Flux Information Sciences - Private/Public (2001)

This album was suggested by bob. And here's what he said:

Originally Posted by bob.

Flux Information Sciences challenges the listener....with creative chaotic artistic terrorism by combining the 'no wave' sound with assaults of bombastic noise.....they are however as playful as they are menacing...this album was released on Michael Gira's Young God Records who said [they are]"Life-threatening and entertaining"....the rumor according to the Young Gods press release is that this album was recorded in front of a live audience of people who were forced to be naked and blindfolded....

edit....figured i'd add the press release

PRIVATE / PUBLIC - Flux Information Sciences | Flux Information Sciences | YOUNG GOD RECORDS

Hmmm..."Life-threatening and entertaining", Gira said. What do you think?

[OccultHawk]

OK

Am I gonna be first?

First off, thanks Bob, for the suggestion and the link.


Alright, I'm not quite up to believing the hype on this one. It's intense and fun, but ultimately it's been done many times many times better. And mainly by Thirlwell. This would impress me much more if it came out in '87 instead of 2001. Heck, the Foetus album, Hole, offered us all this back in '84. I find that it's very rare for second or third generations to out do the originators and that's how I feel about this. Still, it's a good aggressive record and a fun listen. However, due to it's lateness on the scene i would say it's actually a bit conservative, ironically. Three stars out of five.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Alright, I'm not quite up to believing the hype on this one. It's intense and fun, but ultimately it's been done many times many times better. And mainly by Thirlwell. This would impress me much more if it came out in '87 instead of 2001. Heck, the Foetus album, Hole, offered us all this back in '84. I find that it's very rare for second or third generations to out do the originators and that's how I feel about this. Still, it's a good aggressive record and a fun listen. However, due to it's lateness on the scene i would say it's actually a bit conservative, ironically. Three stars out of five.

I'm a huge Jim Thirlwell fan and I have to say I don't see the comparison at all here. This album sounds nothing like Hole at all to me.

[clutnuckle]

The long songs are seriously taxing. Reminds me a lot of Liquid Liquid; when their songs were short, you could dig them because the repetition didn't wear on too long. However, this encapsulates a lot of irritating redundancy. Fans of early Swans will likely find a lot to dig here, as while it's not as cathartic, it definitely shares the same style of rhythmic backdrops. But I've always seen listening to albums like Filth as being cheated out of 50 cents at a haunted house. Thus, I'm not particularly digging it.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by clutnuckle

The long songs are seriously taxing. Reminds me a lot of Liquid Liquid; when their songs were short, you could dig them because the repetition didn't wear on too long. However, this encapsulates a lot of irritating redundancy. Fans of early Swans will likely find a lot to dig here, as while it's not as cathartic, it definitely shares the same style of rhythmic backdrops. But I've always seen listening to albums like Filth as being cheated out of 50 cents at a haunted house. Thus, I'm not particularly digging it.

There are no long songs on this album.

[clutnuckle]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

There are no long songs on this album.

I meant long as a relative term. Compared to the thirty-second segues, the 3-5 minute tunes seem lengthy. By 'long', I meant longest. Heck, there are even some of the two-minute songs that grate on me here.

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by clutnuckle

I meant long as a relative term. Compared to the thirty-second segues, the 3-5 minute tunes seem lengthy. By 'long', I meant longest. Heck, there are even some of the two-minute songs that grate on me here.

I'm really surprised to hear that. I'll be writing my full review later but I loved this album.

[OccultHawk]

I've always seen listening to albums like Filth as being cheated out of 50 cents at a haunted house.

I don't want to get into an off topic Swans debate but let me go on record as saying everything they did up to and including Children of God is genius. And that's not to discount the stuff that came afterward.

This album sounds nothing like Hole at all to me.

Even with those brutally accented odd metered beats?

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

Even with those brutally accented odd metered beats?

Have you not listen to that album in a while or something? The beats on Hole are by and large 80s rock beats with some ornamentation while the Flux beats much more tribal.

[TockTockTock]

I think it was my high expectations that I had for this album that ruined it. I saw a few reviews for it and saw that it got relatively positive comments. I listened to maybe a song or two before voting and thought they were decent. Unfortunately, when I listened to the entire album I was disappointed. I gave it a second spin to see if anything changed but nothing did. It's a bit like what OccultHawk was saying, except I can't pinpoint the exact artist. It just sounds like it was done before. I thought the track "Liposuction" was hilarious because it used a beat that came from one of my keyboards as a child, though. I knew Janzsoon would like this album because he's into loud kind of music (he's apparently on some "spastic and loud" musical tangent according to him). I tend to have a bias against loud and insane sounding music though, so you guys can discredit my opinion if you want.

By the way, Bob this is in no way an insult to your musical taste. You normally have really interesting suggestions, but this was just a disappointment. I have to say that I wanted to like this album, but it just can't happen.