Wanna Buy A Craprak?

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It's electronica and idm, to be sure, but in the days when these names invoke mostly tiresome meanings, Carpark has its goods selected and fresh. Here's their most recent delivery, a sampler featuring Kit Clayton, Safety Scissors, Casino vs Japan, Kid606, Hrvatski, Jake Mandell, to name but the most famous ones.

The music's various. What's nice about it is that the compilation sounds more like a composition of its own. Fresher takes on idm, electronica etc would have to defy cliches and 'Wanna buy Craprak' certainly succeeds in that, mostly without ignoring the general stylistic framework. The exceptions are So Takashi's 'Blue, blue, electronic blue' (which is pure lighter shade ambient) and Ogusuru Norihide contributes a very nice instrumental guitar track. The rest is (and innovates from) within idm.

Casino vs Japan's track is interesting - by mingling the soft analogue synths sounds with covertly sexy bass, an image of something new for idm, yet so old (60s and 70s, electronica's cradle) is conjured. Kid606 contributes a quite formal-sounding effect-processed minimalism of bells etc tinkling in 'If my heart...'. Hrvatski's track contradicts its laid-back guitars with fast monotonous beat. Signer 'Interiour dub' is great. There's something here characteristic to the whole disk - peaceful, laid-back outline, lot of ambient padding, all done with fixed determination (as expressed by rhythm etc) to get the main line through.

Dinky and Freescha are more on the dance side this time, Dinky with "traditional" but good indietronic female-vocals-on-electronica gear while Freescha could be nearly caught dabbling with electroclash. Jake Mandell's experimental, and giving that extra "mess up"-feel to what otherwise could be viewed as a quite pop-like disk, lest we forget the usual plinkety plonk erraticism (Kit Clayton vs Safety Scissors).