Bumped into Matt Wand of Stock, Hausen & Walkman as he was hawkingthe new Rip Off Artist CD to the Manchester shops. Opening his box ofHot Air to reveal brains aplenty: "You can have one for a fiver if youwrite a good review!" Thus bribed I went home to ruminate on whetherthis Rip Off Artist was some kind of scam since my first impression wasthat this could feasibly be a follow up to Stock, Hausen &Walkman's wry techdance appropriator 'Oh My Bag!' Hot air has neverbeen proven magnetic so maybe it's just a case of like attracting like.Whoever he's ripping off, the bribe was not necessary. The Rip OffArtist is said to have recorded this in Southern California. There aresome quirky Matmosian shuffles in there, or am I just hearing thisbecause I played this right after the 'California Rhinoplasty' EP? TheRip Off Artist, or Matt Haines as his mum probably insists on callinghim, uses a smaller range of sounds, or at least his sources seem lessdramatic, mostly relying on good old frazzled bleepery, but he has alighthearted foot shuffling fluid beat organisation technique which isexactly what you might expect from Hot Air, if indeed you expectedanything at all from this slightly odd and idiosyncratic label. The RipOff Artist is alleged to have helped out Uwe Schmidt with recording andhas thus been accused of ripping off Atom Heart. I haven't heard enoughAtom Heart to know if that's so, but this is certainly a rapid motionmelodic addition to the ever expanding quirky sampled cut up beatsglut. Is the cover picture of a brain just a ploy to get a glowingwrite up on this Brain? No, it's not, but how can an album that openswith a track about how 'Asparagus Spears My Artichoke Hearts' possiblybe less than soupy?Hot Air website: www.simplesampling.com
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