It's not good to be listening, or writing, against the clock. Perhaps I should have listened to this CD earlier in the day, but I was too absorbed in the commentary on the day's events at the Oval.
One thing I can say for this compilation is that the criticism I levelled at Wire Tapper 4 — that you could barely tell it was a compilation because several of the tracks sounded so similar — could not apply to this CD, produced four months earlier in 1999. There's a varied mix of much of the spectrum that The Wire champions, from electronica, ambient, illbient, noise, house, world, and senior citizens of the avant-music world (Robert Ashley and Evan Parker). Not much that would appeal to you, I guess, but a good variety all the same — and I like most of it, even if you don't.
One passing thought as I listened: all the marginal musics that The Wire represented in 1999 are still around more or less unchanged today. A little less breakbeat, perhaps, and a little more leftfield folk, but the main constellations shine on from the same places in the sky. The universe is still very much on the same axis almost ten years later.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
Wikipedia entry for this album
Rate Your Music entry for this album
Listen to this album in part at Last.fm
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