Search - James Holden :: At the Controls

Headphones needed

Michael Mcmahon | Norristown, Pa | 05/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have heard Holden's style before, do me a favor, forget you ever heard it. Because he has developed something completely new here. Not bad of course, just new and fresh. Both discs are a style of their own, but the second disc is what grabbed my attention. Possibly because it is a little less ambient, and a little more upbeat. The first disc is more than likely going to make you scratch your head and say "how did he do that". The second disc is a more club atmosphere (well at least at the end). James came at this with the mind set that I am going to create a studio album. Unlike Sasha with Fundacion where he tried to create the club atmosphere. Hence Headphones are welcomed. Some of the great tracks are Nathan Fake's track (obviously). I also loved the second track on the second disc and the reboot song on the second disc for obvious reasons. But to point out certain tracks on these discs that stand out sort of defeat James' purpose. He created a flawlessly mixed compilation. In other words when the track changes, you can't tell, at all (unless your looking of course). Some of the songs are spread out over 3 songs. One gripe, the piercing noise that comes in at the end of the beautiful soundscape of Aphex Twin's Atel is completely annoying. Not only that, He keeps hitting you with it. Kind of hurt my ears. Oh well, get this one if you are diverse in your music and will appreciate a new sound. Great work Holden."

Superb mix / not intended for mainstream ears.....

marcosai | northeastern corridor, stateside | 09/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'balance 005' was progressive brilliance -----for the next chapter in the holden saga, we are graced with a serious IDM [intelligent dance music] presentation-----absolutely gets better & better with each listen (another neo-classic compilation by one of the UK's elite/top selectors) ------ check the import reviews for more world-class type insight/clarification......"

Hand Over The Controls

Mark Eremite | Seoul, South Korea | 01/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most house music is about layering broad strokes, finding the complements in sounds and beats and meshing them to create a solid sonic environment. Fine detail is needed to blend the edges, to align the notches where the music fits and to blur the spots where there may be bumps. If the genre is a well-tailored suit, the necessary skill is twofold: picking the right fabric and cutting/sewing it together well.



Holden's double-disc set threw me off at first; I kept looking for the fabric, when almost all I found was meticulous stitching. What I was hearing was most certainly "electronica" (a pointless classification if there ever was one), but beyond that, well, it was anyone's guess. A first listen, to anyone not familiar with Holden and his work, will bend the ears as much as it does the genre.



Therein lies the beauty of Holden's "At the Controls." Many of his contemporaries play board games with sound, moving by definable rules to a clear end goal. Holden's aural experiments are more like a Rubik's Cube: muddled and uncertain at first, but steadily realigned, patterns and cohesion arising only after seemingly random shifts and turns. There are a lot of colors on this cube: dark ambient fogs, industrial ratchetings, the siren-song of trance, and the unmistakable heartbeat of deep, deep house. In the hands of a lesser artist, they would certainly clash. Holden's eye for detail, however, creates a pastiche of achingly ethereal noise. With a master's ease, he bends and blends until out of the storm of sounds we see rays of the light behind it.



The first record has a mostly metallurgical tone. Over the passively sweet vocals of Kate Wax ("Angel Blues"), Lucky Pierre's strings and muted trumpet ("Angels On Your Body"), the invigorating guitar of Death In Vegas's "Anita Berber," and the traditional trance inspirations of Midimiliz's "Trace Function," Holden casts a cool, neural net of iron and lead (found best in "Metro Pop," "10101," and "Perlandine Friday"). It's a dichotomy that at first seems like a contradiction, and which can make for some rather dark listening. However, by the time Holden whips out "Charlie's House" (by Nathan Fake), it's obvious that he's going for something far more transcendent. This is clearly the glorious climax of this record, a powerful combination of computerized crinkles and plain, old, uplifting joy.



He carries this mood wholly over into the second disc, shifting that puzzle box of beats ever faster with songs like Motiivi: Tuntematon's "1939" and Ego Express's "Live and Sirius Prime," the colors and codas rising up golden and glowing in songs like Middleton's "Solemn Thirsty" and Slag Boom Van Loon's "Poppy Seed." By the time he reaches his second climax in the reprise of Plastikman's "Cor Ten," the album is almost fully realized, a precisely ordered collection of musical chaos. I say "almost" because, by the close of AFX's "Every Day," this puzzle box still has a few misplaced squares, a few turns that didn't work. These are found in his harshest and most mechanical tracks. The rigid rips of wiry static in "Nazi Trance F*** Off!" sound like a failed experiment in rhythm structuring, and "Hotter Now (Stripped Down Mix)" is SO stripped down that it plays like half of a song.



Even these brief lapses, though, bear the stamp of Holden's need to orchestrate every last blip and nod of this almost unclassifiable album. Although the end result has its tiny patches, its ragged moments where the songs run bare, the whole thing is truly astonishing, a cloak of vivid life. I suggest you try it on; this suit wears well."