Iradelphic [VINYL]

I cannot disagree more with the previous reviewers! Obviously this is a departure from Clark's more streamlined electro past, but after such accomplishments in one field, proper artists tend to branch out - and I think what Iradelphic has, acoustic bias and all, is a remarkable maturity and intelligence without losing its appeal (I cannot stand electronic music that abandons melody altogether in the name of experimentation...). This album actually deserves a wider and more diverse audience than his previous releases.

I don't understand why many people are hating on this album. 'Oh no, another warp artist using guitars!' Well if it works and adds to it, and they just want to do something different, then really, I don't see what the problem is. Artists like Clark are too good for just using electronics to create music to make their own musical vision come to life.

It has an atmosphere of strange hypnotic beauty and ethereal soundscapes that really grow on you, the genius is still there (I defy any electronic enthusiasts to listen to Com Touch and NOT see how it isn't genius, granted, Ghosted has potential to be a landmark of extreme genius, nearly putting you on Mars, but it stops abruptly at an odd moment), and is more acoustic and minimalist than his previous albums (reminding me of Mogwai and Kevin Shields in places, the beautiful piano work on Black Stone is highly reminiscent of Mogwai), maybe even returning to his roots as he made about 3-4 albums in a row which almost blew the roofs off our houses with his blend of glitch and hardcore techno in such a unique, beautiful way.

I've just got it, listened to it 5 times in a row, and it gets better every time, coming close to being his greatest, most mature, and certainly most beautiful and ambitious achievement to date. Pure genius. The critics aren't taking kindly to it, but then again critics are notorious for giving bad reviews for any form of art that's ahead of it's time.

I quite like the fact that Clark has chosen to do something different. If I wanted to be blown away by stomping melodic techno soundscapes and glitches, I'd return to his previous albums. This isn't Liam Howlett we're talking about here, whose yet to grow up and just makes the same kind of childish music over and over, aimed at the mainstream crowd and the kids, this is Clark, and apart from that, there is no comparison. In fact, in the current music industry of experimental electronic genius, I don't think hardly anyone can. He's coming fairly close to being the Brian Eno of the 20th-21st century, in his own way.

I'm sure his next album will be a mind blower, but this is Clark exploring new exciting territory, giving the heavy bangs to the head a rest with a nice little strange and ambient record that's a slow burner and transports you into another place out of your listening zone, and quite frankly, I like that change. And I like music that takes me to that other place.

As for Boards of Canada, the reason for the disappointment of The Campfire Headphase is that it takes them roughly 10 years to make a record. If it didn't take as long, we'd have alot more love for that album, but Clarke doesn't take anywhere near as long, so I wouldn't worry about it. Every artist has to try something different once in awhile, as a way to break and make progress.

As for Campire Headphase, 7 years and counting for that one. But Clark's offerings more than make up for that, and I'm hoping he'll go into a similar direction of exciting musical exploration, heard on the already underrated masterpiece that is Iradelphic.

Give it a few listens, it begins to make sense. Its not his finest moment, but then even those have tracks you wanna skip. No? Just me then. The two tracks with Martina Topley-Bird are lovely, sunny, almost Balearic numbers. Com Touch and Tooth Moves for me are the real high points. Black Stone is haunting and quite simply beautiful/beautifully simple. I love his knack of making what sounds like a too long for itself melody come back in time and resolve. If you get my drift?