L ö W - Nosce Te Ipsum

"Nosce Te Ipsum" means "know thyself". I try. One thing that I know about myself and that you should know as well - I don't like ambient music. It was an idea that should've stayed in Brian Eno's hospital room.

That said; thank god this isn't straight-up Ambient. And since it's a short remix EP, I'll go song by song.

Track 1 gives us the original version. It is straightforward no surprise stuff with sweepy undulating pads, a reedy melody, crushed percussive rhythms. It's cool. It's a bit sleepy n slow for my overactive brain, but there's timely ear candy in the form of blips, bleeps and samples to keep me listening.

Track 2 by Lucidstatic just plain owns the original. Yeah that's right. This is the peak of the disc. The 31 length winner. The synth patches are thicker than. The percussion is harder. The song is just bigger all around. This version does more to evoke the 21st Century schizoid man who was mentioned in the LöW bio on low.com (or whatever). Good fukkin work.

Track 3 by r.roo is common-place piano-plunking string-dragging "hey this is soo heavy" music. The fourth listen revealed no more than the first.

Track 4 by Blutspan has a bit more to hold one's attention. Still chock full of sweeping oceanic pads, but the somewhat tribal percussion and occasional stutter keeps the mind from wandering. The synths have some very tasty layers to them. The save goes to track 4.

Track 5 by Dyskhord is a good closer. Hectic spastic and silly. Experimental noisy and fun. It runs the gamut of style and atmosphere. The longest song on the disc covers the most bases. I like. Thanks for that. It ends this disc on a high note. Always a good idea.

Know this about 'Nosce Te Ipsum' - it is a decent if short indicator of the impressive artistry available thru CRL. Jul 01 2012