[ASTRO] Technetium Listening Experiment #1

[Michael Kepler <kepler@metro1.com>]

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Made from Technetium, Listening Experiment #1

These are my track-by-track notes from my first listen to the
CD.  I listened to the RealAudio version twice previously, but that
doesn't really count.  RealAudio isn't quite Real enough for music,
if you ask me.

WARNING: I'm always hyper-critical the first time I listen to something.
It takes me a few listens to really know what I think of something.
I started out kinda apprehensive but liked it more and more as
I listened.  

A1 Message from the cd

Cute. Similar to 1KX tour intro.  That wacky panning makes me dizzy.
Back in the early days of the Mac, this program was called
"Smoothtalker" and it still sounds pretty much the same.

A2 Lo batt

Starcrunch loves his new pedal board.
What's with these vocals?  Is he trying to be "spooky" or
something?

A3 Jonathan winters frankenstein

Cool enough.  Probably really rocks live.  A pretty limited
sonic palette, however.  They've always had a simple sound,
but this is bordering on what I would have to call
"minimalist space punk".  There just seems to be something
missing.

A4 Don't think what jack

Hey, turn up that damned bass!  I can't hear it.  I liked the
mix on 1KX better, with the bass way up front.  For that matter,
I liked the bass parts coco wrote on 1KX better, they were more
interesting, not just kind of "following along" like this.

A5 Junk Satellite

Primus meets The Cure, or maybe Tool, in an alternate universe.
This is weird enough, I just have to like it.  Wait, it just
changed into Butthole Surfers meets Monster Magnet.

As long as they're doing something new, it might as well
be as truly new and weird as this.  The vocals creep me out,
which is, I guess, the intention.

Not bad at all, the most complete song so far on the album.
The previous tracks seemed under-developed.

A6 10 years after world war

Ok, I just put my Sennheisers on and I can hear the Bass better.
Maybe I'm just warming up to the sound, but this "Minimalist Space
Punk" track is pretty good.

A7 A saucerful of sucrets

Cute title for a Floyd fan like myself.  Hey, this one _really_ rocks!
I'll bet this really really shreds live!  I liked those guitar "outtakes"
at the beginning.  They reminded me of early live Who recordings.

Heck it even has a pretty good hook.  Well done.

A8 Breating iron oxide

I don't mind Starcrunch doing vocals.  I just mind him doing
_these_ kind of vocals.  He can actually sing pretty good,
he doesn't need to murmur and drone like this.

Not too bad overall, though.

A9 Muzak for cybernetics

I _LOVE_ this weird shit!  I'm glad to see them back making "noise"
tracks, and this one is a doozy. 

B1 Structo <mr microphone mixup>

Yeeehaa!  This totally rocks! 

B2 The sound waves reversing

This, of course, in the rapidly moving world of ASTROMEN, is already
a classic.  I'm not even sure if this is a new recording at all.
It doesn't sound different from the one from "Ufos".

Nothing here for old fart fans like myself to complain about.

As long as they're picking up tracks from recent 7" releases,
why don't they give us a CD/LP release including "The Wayward
Meteor"?  I _love_ that one.

B3 Theoretical sounds of slow motion

Damn, another really really good track.  Up to par with 1KX material.
And finally one that starts and ends with a sound clip from an old
scifi movie.

B4 Static cling <theme from>

Butthole Surfers meet Servotron in outer space.  Not bad.
Very adventurous sonically.

B5 Evert l pipkin

Starts out sounding like another really cool noise track and then...
it changes to something entirely different.  Another REM-esque
adventure in hi-fi.

You can't get much farther from the classic MoAM? sound, but
guess what: this is my favorite track on the whole disc.

B6 Weightless at zero return

What fan of the new or old sound could resist this track?
Very catchy while still sounding very new.

Preliminary Conclusions,

Some mixed reaction at first, but I think I'll end up liking this album 
quite alot, especially after I see them live again.  
That always brainwashes me real good.

I support the Astromen in following their own creative urges instead
of cranking out what the same old stuff.  I would have continued buying
the old sound, but I will just as happily buy the new sound.  Even
if these guys were to completely alienate me (get it?) with an album
that I can't like, I would still be tremendously grateful for the
body of work they have amassed so far.  As it is, I think I can follow
them on this sonic adventure they are taking.  

They _did_ warn us that the early stuff was just the beginning, designed 
to be more accessible, so that we would be prepared to accept more advanced 
Astro-Sounds.  Technetium is just an example of more advanced Astro-Sounds.

Mookie


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