RND_0.34873349921

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I have always held random in high esteem. There's no other simple function which could come close to producing similar results, and what magnificent results.. But let's face it: the makers of this series have quite randomly selected electronic tracks from all over the world, from various artists, with and without labels, and the outcome is puzzling. In the sense that though the music really is diverse, the artists' level uneven etc, Rephlex-style breakbeat and drill'n'bass still dominate.

Puzzling, as I said, but there are some explanations to it: 1. the tracks were randomly selected from amongst the like-sounding, but this would be an appalling assumption, and there are some strong claims against this, quote: "It wasn't intended to be exclusively limited to electronic music, it just so happened that the artists sound pretty damn electronic." Happened. Randomly. So that's the second possibility. The third is that that's what the majority of electronica is these days.

A listener on the other hand shouldn't be bothered with majority, but with quality, and whilst breakbeat as a style can scarcely be good or bad (which is not to say it ain't lethal in big doses) the tracks here just happen (see - it makes sense) to be quite uneven.

It is very (I'd say extremely) likely that if you dig electronica at all you'll find something to please you here. My favorites were eu ('turt' - a spitting image of Autechre); metamatics - beauty, elegance and utter strangeness despite breakbeats; andreas tilliander for his quietly pondering glitch of 'snedsteg'; and as for theboylucas.. well, you just have to listen to him, there's a dash of genius (or Philip Jeck, or both) in the boy. A momentous concept, an inspiring record. The mystery of 0.34873349921, however, remains. Random incarnate?