A brave experiment by Simballrec in which 84 artists contribute 99 tracks, '45 Seconds Of:' is, as you'd expect for a single CD, the exact length of each contribution. Naturally there are advantages and disadvantages to such an assignment; for one there's disappointment as each excellent track is cut short just as it is about to build up into something great, then there's the sometimes rather tenuous connection between each track with only the loose term of electronic music being the common factor. Yet much credit is due to the selection committee and the artists involved because most of the arguments for '45 Seconds Of...' are persuasive. Most of the names may not be familiar with only the likes of old hands such as Silver Apples and Martin Rev approaching some level of fame. Dntel, Sybarite, Mall, Coelacanth, Jeremy Dower (one of the few to feature three times) and L'Usine add much needed warmth to proceedings with Hood as reliable as ever on that score. Very few bases are left untouched as Alter Ego & DJ Wicked get busy with scratching, Kraig Grady does peculiar things with bell chimes and Tujiko Noriko brings in inevitable Japanese quirkiness. Thankfully, there are certainly more periods of cohesiveness than disarming, disorientating volte-faces. Where it all works best of course is that the listener will be encouraged to seek out further work by the artists involved which they otherwise might never have had the chance to.
A brave experiment by Simballrec in which 84 artists contribute 99 tracks, '45 Seconds Of:' is, as you'd expect for a single CD, the exact length of each contribution. Naturally there are advantages and disadvantages to such an assignment; for one there's disappointment as each excellent track is cut short just as it is about to build up into something great, then there's the sometimes rather tenuous connection between each track with only the loose term of electronic music being the common factor. Yet much credit is due to the selection committee and the artists involved because most of the arguments for '45 Seconds Of...' are persuasive. Most of the names may not be familiar with only the likes of old hands such as Silver Apples and Martin Rev approaching some level of fame. Dntel, Sybarite, Mall, Coelacanth, Jeremy Dower (one of the few to feature three times) and L'Usine add much needed warmth to proceedings with Hood as reliable as ever on that score. Very few bases are left untouched as Alter Ego & DJ Wicked get busy with scratching, Kraig Grady does peculiar things with bell chimes and Tujiko Noriko brings in inevitable Japanese quirkiness. Thankfully, there are certainly more periods of cohesiveness than disarming, disorientating volte-faces. Where it all works best of course is that the listener will be encouraged to seek out further work by the artists involved which they otherwise might never have had the chance to.
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