IanRedpoint wrote:Rodheh wrote:I certainly don't rank RDJ up as high as other artists I listen to (and I'm not even in the boat of acting like he was breaking ground in the early 90's because IMO FSOL was doing what he was doing far, FAR better at the same exact time - just not on Warp) but it doesn't matter, because he is important.
That's an interesting point of view. I find FSOL sound very dated to me now. I loved Lifeforms and Papua New Guinea is obviously still a great tune, but I think their digital sound feels very rooted in the '90s. Same with Leftfield. The Aphex releases from the same time still sound pretty unique, with many sounds I still can't date.
I'll admit that I may be slightly biased after I saw FSOL interviewed around the time of ISDN and they came across as really humourless and up themselves.
I think that fact that RDJ still makes music purely for his own enjoyment is what has me looking forward to Syro. His tunes have a playfulness that is rare in other's music.
They sound rooted in the 90's but "hold up more" for me and really what I mean is this: you can take Tales of Ephidrina, listen to it with good cans (or speakers) on a good device and it sounds great and has a more sophisticated palette of sounds. Selected Ambient Works (first one) lacks in sound quality and shows its age with tracks like Green Calx (which I still really like). Selected Ambient Works II (which is my favorite) is definitely more mature in its sound palette, yet the sound quality still stops somewhere short of what FSOL seemed to maintain and slightly improve from around 1992/1993 to the turn of the millennium.
Stylistically? Rooted in the 90's for sure. I would say the same about 90's RDJ though, so go figure. My main gripe is not with RDJ being praised but with FSOL kind of just being brushed over entirely. Maybe not in certain scenes, but RDJ is the most popular (in a "mainstream" sort of sense) artist in his field. FSOL right now aren't even much more than a sticky note on the metaphorical ambient techno wall, but they were doing some really interesting things early on compared to similar artists.
As for the guys themselves...I've had it explained to me that one is completely insane and the other is fine. I don't know the interview you saw but it could be possible that the "insane" guy is an asshole or something, lol. That's something RDJ avoids, but he does have a bit of an ego issue. I also feel like BoC have a bit of asshole in them as well, but not in a "fuck you" kind of way, more in a "let's poke the thing in the cage again!" kind of way. None of that stops me from loving all three.
