Copied and pasted from another forum, here's my take on it....
Just listened to this for the first time and it was a terrible disappointment. It had a few moments, but at least until track 6 I could hardly believe how devoid of substance it was. I don't think it sounds a lot like any of the previous Plastikman albums, but then there's no reason why it should...I always thought it was pretty sad that he got some sort of backlash when "Consumed" came out cos it didn't sound like all the other stuff. Plastikman always had an innovative edge that pushed things in a different direction with each chapter, but to me this album sounds like it was made by someone who'd heard all the previous PM work and wanted to make something that sounded like it was made by the same person, although that hardly makes sense as it was in fact made by the same person. It just sounds to me like imitation rather than innovation. Imitation of his own past masterpieces, perhaps, although I also hear strains of Taylor Dupree, 12K style dry, bitty minimalism...just not done very well at all, and with some rather nauseatingly bad use of delay effects. The production is kind of hard to deal with, with a lot of very dry and tight kick drums (that would in fact sound excellent on a club rig, so no real complaints there). That said, it has no space to it, it's very...close. I just could not connect with it until he started to bring in some atmosphere in track 6 or 7. If I had to compare it to a previous album it's definitely most similar to "Consumed", which instantly became my favourite PM album when I first heard it (only last year)...but this one has none of the depth, character or atmosphere of that album. It doesn't sound like he's really tried very hard...or tried at all. The album, from what I hear (and as the name might suggest) is supposed to be the best ever glimpse into the mind of Mr Hawtin...sounds to me like he really needs a rest. I've seen a bunch of reactions to it so far...everything from "shit", to "going to be a classic", to "very good". Personally, I'd buy some of the tracks if they came out on 12" vinyl (track 8 in particular is very good) but overall I'd be loth to shell out for the whole album as it's really not got much going for it. That last track, as has been mentioned, is a definite taste of the PM of old, but I've already got several albums of that stuff. hmmmm, I really was looking forward to this album, but it doesn't even approach the levels of what I was expecting. Anyway, these are all just my opinions after one listen. Perhaps parts of it will grow on me, and I'll still definitely go along if he does a Plastikman live show.
