“This has to be the best and the most well balanced opus of the 3 parts”
1 Casablanco 6:49 2 Walk 6:26 3 No Fear 5:54 4 Reach 7:34 5 Maschinengeist 5:04 6 Deep Inside 5:31 7 Mitra 6:24 8 I Saw 5:58 9 Tarantellum 6:36 10 Moon to Shine 6:02 Andy Pickford Music (DDL 62:22) (Electronica) (V.F.)
Casablanco sounds the end of this other fascinating, and greedy, trilogy from Andy Pickford with a pulsating rhythm arched on another frantic sequencer movement. The percussive marbles jump from everywhere! Even that some develop a slimy vision with a rubber dress, facilitating the abrasive rebounds which are starving for other bounces. The synth weaves its harmonic thread with solos which flow over this structure that a shadow of bass leads to the explosion. The percussion sounds and resounds in this lively structure filled with voice effects which, coupled to spasmodic jolts, weave a linear line of riffs which gives an even more mordant to a very explosive Dance Music of the new millennium. OBJECTS & EXPRESSIONS 3 begins with the best part, according to my tastes, of Objects & Expressions. Walk tempers the game a bit with a kind of Ambient House in a cosmic hip-hop suit. The bass is delicious, and its harmonious jolts are in a cosmic setting enriched of good percussive effects, such as these delicious tones of rattlesnakes. Voice effects and dialogues also adorn this panorama of rhythm and sound elements. The rhythm plays a little on its strength than more on its velocity, bringing even another harmonic element performed by a flute. No Fear is as catching as Casablanco and has also many more percussive effects, which makes it much more attractive. The bass line is very good and even throws a dialect in the form of belly gurgles and the orchestrations, dense and epic, are going against the sharp and jerky movement of the sequencer. We are not far from Trance & Trash here! Reach gives us a nice big 7 minutes of respite with a ballad, not denuded of a catchy rhythm, accompanied by a good guitar patch and later a synth which aims to our ears in order to deposit a big melodious worm. A great track and it sounds very AP of his 95's repertoire.
The volumes follow each other and are similar by the content of the structures! So, a beautiful melody is always followed by another thing as soft and tender, not to say romantic. Like this Maschinengeist which is a beautiful ballad at making melt the carapace of an eternal grouch. The arpeggios parade on a milky way awakening on their way a synth and its fluty tunes which mystify some beautiful orchestrations. The seraphic voices and a tempo which gains a little velocity! And always this delicious bass line which consolidates its presence when the title cracks for another acceleration pushed by the orchestrations. We are at the pinnacle of a sweet pinky tune which does fit very good in this mishmash of disheveled rhythms. At first glance, Deep Inside appears to us like a movie music, kind of espionage film, with its slow and heavy structure that is rather between Pulp and Sneaker Pimps. The music still breathes these sound effects which invariably are complicit in these riffs scrolling like adjacent line of rhythm to a sequencer's one and to some tasty manual percussions. Orchestrations, vocoder and acoustic guitar accompany this structure surrounded by another dense tonal envelope. Woossshh and wiissshh precede a piano line and its notes wandering through the metal breezes. The bass, superb in this OBJECTS & EXPRESSIONS 3 hurries to put us a rhythmic worm in the ears and "Mitra" puts down its hopping rhythm as lively as the arrangements in a mid-tempo dipped in the roots of Death in Vegas. I Saw is very close to this music with a heavy dose of a heavy and slow indie vibe. An Ambient House more pompous, Tarantellum gets compare to the structures of Casablanco and No Fear with less sound effects. A title without story! While that Moon to Shine finishes this last part of Objects & Expressions' trilogy with a slow beat adorned of sequenced sequins which sparkle like the reflections of a magical water in suspension. And behind a soft bass line, a voice in a vocoder murmurs Moon to Shine. A vocoder always presents in this trilogy and which replaces a singer in a pocket of fog without being too unpleasant. Indeed, OBJECTS & EXPRESSIONS 3 is the best and the well balanced of the 3 parts. Even though all that Andy Pickford touches is still worth hearing.
Sylvain Lupari (January 17th, 2019) *****
Available at AP Bandcamp