Scorpio Static – Tranceformation (self-released)
I’m not really an electronic music guy. I tend to like music with guitars in it, and real drums (though I will admit that drum machines can be cool–Big Black and Godflesh proved that to me). That said, I’ve got a few electronic albums, most of which date back to the 90s, when the alternative rock scene I was fascinated by got very close to crossing over with some of the parts of the electronic music scene, which were moving beyond house and dance music and getting into some more interesting, psychedelic territories. Back then we called it techno, and that’s how I still think of all of it–Moby, Aphex Twin, The Orb, Future Sound Of London, and all the other groups from those days that I was tuning into. I know these days there are a million little subgenres of electronic music, but how to tell them apart, or what half of them are even called, is knowledge I don’t have. It’s still all techno to me. (I know, I know, all of the electronic music fans reading this just got a headache. Sorry, folks.)
Scorpio Static – Tranceformation (self-released)
I’m not really an electronic music guy. I tend to like music with guitars in it, and real drums (though I will admit that drum machines can be cool–Big Black and Godflesh proved that to me). That said, I’ve got a few electronic albums, most of which date back to the 90s, when the alternative rock scene I was fascinated by got very close to crossing over with some of the parts of the electronic music scene, which were moving beyond house and dance music and getting into some more interesting, psychedelic territories. Back then we called it techno, and that’s how I still think of all of it–Moby, Aphex Twin, The Orb, Future Sound Of London, and all the other groups from those days that I was tuning into. I know these days there are a million little subgenres of electronic music, but how to tell them apart, or what half of them are even called, is knowledge I don’t have. It’s still all techno to me. (I know, I know, all of the electronic music fans reading this just got a headache. Sorry, folks.)
Scorpio Static actually reminds me of a lot of the stuff I was listening to in those days. The fact that this album is called Tranceformation makes me think that the style of electronic music that he’s going for is that which is typically referred to as trance. Well, I wouldn’t know a trance record from a microhouse record, so none of that matters to me, but what I can tell you is that this album sounds a lot like what Moby was doing back in the mid-90s when I first started listening to him. I know that these days when people think of Moby they think about Play, but his early stuff was a lot different, and the album of Moby’s that Scorpio Static reminds me of the most is 1993’s Ambient. Scorpio Static evokes that era of Moby’s career with hushed beats, overtop of which he layers piano and synth melodies. And this seems pretty cool to me. In fact, a few songs, notably “Point Of No Return,” even feature distorted guitars, which really makes me happy. If there’s anything missing from Tranceformation that was present on those early Moby albums that I liked so much, though, it’s the feeling of a large, expansive atmosphere. Perhaps it’s due to limits present in the means of production through which Scorpio Static brings his music to life–after all, Moby was a major label recording artist with a decent-sized budget even in the early days of his career, while Scorpio Static is doing everything himself. But nonetheless, as much as the melody lines here want to float high above the beats, they ofen just… don’t. Where atmosphere is concerned, Scorpio Static’s reach sadly exceeds his grasp.
Let me emphasize, though, that this is not a bad album. When techno (or any other genre of electronic music) fails, it’s because it gets predictable. Too much of the electronic music I hear played in clubs these days is exactly that–boring, repetitive shit. The songs are the same thing over and over for 10 minutes, and they don’t even layer much of anything overtop of their basic beats to at least disguise the repetition. No, they just pound you in the head until you want to lay down on the dance floor and cry uncle. Well, I’m sure that’s not the reaction of the kids on the dance floor who are rolling on E’s and sweating all over each other, but if you ask me, the true test of any piece of electronic music is whether it can keep someone’s interest when they’re NOT fucked up. Tranceformation is not perfect by any means, and I certainly think Scorpio Static’s next album would benefit from a bigger recording budget. But as it is, I can listen to his stuff while I’m sitting around at home on a weeknight without getting bored, and I’ve heard very little electronic music in the past half-decade or so that I could say that about.
