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RYOJI IKEDA, "MATRIX"

A major tragedy of thelast few years is the growing usage of computers as exclusive musiclistening environments. Kids are growing up in a world withoutexperiencing true high fidelity, a life without listening to anuncompressed music source through a stereophonic amplifier with warmroom speakers. It's all MP3 to them and why the hell not: it's freeright? Ikeda is probably onto this, which prompted him perhaps torecord something like 'Matrix.' Disc one, "Matrix [for rooms]"stretches about an hour over ten tracks. It absolutely cannot beexperienced to its fullest intent without a relatively decentstereophonic sound system with appropriate space between speakers,placed well inside a room. Well who the hell are you to tell me how tolisten to this? Track one: the pulses are established, elements fadein, space is established between the speakers. Walk around the room andhear pulses changing sequence or solidifying into one solid tonedepending on where you stand and how you hold your head. Track 2: thewood on a coffee table starts vibrating, rattling a pen. Track three:pitches change, earlier tones fade out, this guy is either a fuckinggenius or I'm going crazy. Track four: where can I get somehallucinogenic drugs? Track five: blissful massaging of the inner ear.I think I'm going to stop here and reccomend that you try your ownexperience now. Think of this CD as a movie you buy on video or DVD tohave at home, to watch every now and again, to entertain guests with(this disc does sound different if there's multiple people in the roomversus being alone) or just to pull out on a Saturday afternoon betweenlunch and your evening plans. Do not, however, listen to this on yourcomputer or in your car or anywhere 'convenient.' It demands your fullattention. For fans of Ikeda's head bobbing, almost poppy rhythmicmulti-tonal work, there's always disc two. ".Matrix" also features tennew tracks, a half hour of cleverly-crafted beat friendly gems, stylishand intoxicating. It is in no way less spectacular than disc one, bothof which make this package well worth the wait and an excellent bargainfor the inexpensive price.

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