Thanks!jeanbatman wrote:Finaero wrote:Ooh, what did he say?jeanbatman wrote:In this interview, Jarre makes a bit of fun of Pink Floyd about the 1989 Venice concert
Analog-Umph wrote:With this album (and the last 3), I can see how much truly Jarre has become irrelevant to electronic music. Which I don't say with any joy.
This album, like the last 3 is nothing but pure noise, neither very intelligent nor emotional. Unfortunately.
"Equinoxe Infinity" has nothing to do with Equinoxe, it's no sequel to be sure, just as "Oxygene 3" has nothing to do with the first 2 albums, but is itself mostly vapid noise.
Like O3, EI has its moments which pass all-too soon, as if Jarre is afraid to really let loose and allow the listener into the music, allowing the necessary connection and fellowship. Perhaps he doesn't really have all that much music to show, which is certainly my conclusion about both albums.
I fancy 1, 2 and 6 on "Infinity", but even they could have been A LOT better. For all of the tech Jarre has, if I were to take the average of this album.... this is absolute junk "music"! And he wants to incorporate even more non-human aspects with the artificial intelligence nonsense? - which is its own evil - for those who have been following the development of it. Where is the humanity anymore, where is the spirit?
For all of the sophistication of modern synths, hardware or software, ways of recording, treating and delivering music, the music ITSELF is almost completely absent from all of these recordings. It's just sensationalized noise - when comparing it to the subtle works of art of his earliest releases. It's not even mixed to please the ear. There is nothing pioneering or original anymore - one can see this by simply going to anyone of the thousands of places online, where you can hear amateur musicians with their own synth demos, where good sound choice and actual music are beautifully present, (showcasing both synthesizer or sampler presets in a more creative way and combining them with the music of the piece, that is quite inspiring), much more so than you will find either of those elements in a Jarre album nowadays.
Oxygene and Equinoxe .... that was/is futuristic music, of a high-concept caliber, as if made by someone 900 years old, who understood more than just their immediate craft. I think the albums might be within the pinnacle of electronic music, so that even the artist who created them cannot re-create the same level of excellence. Ask complete newbies who never heard Jarre before to listen to Oxygene, Equinoxe, CiC, Zoolook, and they'll say it's very different music and quite innovative. But let them hear the new albums, and they'll say "nothing exceptional", because it sounds like everything else.... vagueness in high definition.
O3 and EI sound like a teen experimenting with his new synths, learning how to make something sound "cool". Succeeding at no more than good practice, perhaps showing future promise...???
It's as if the 2018 Jarre is a 19 year old Jarre and the 1976 Jarre was the fully mature musician creating more than just noise, even though he named his first big album after a sound created by creatively processing none other than white noise.
Btw, what's up with Mov5 at 1:11, the wind suddenly cuts out. That's just thoroughly sloppy mixing in an age where complete control is possible over every minutiae of a mix, in comparison to the 70s.
The best way to sum up EI is: too much meaningless/disjointed experimentation. Anyone one can do this kind of thing, and it always yields an infinite number of hours of sounds of every kind, in various configurations. It doesn't mean that it means something or anything. It's just meaningless noise, too vague and unrefined.
The way electronic music has opened up today, it allows EVERYONE to do this and even better on their own, without even knowing music theory. Every person can do an "Equinoxe Infinity" and an "Oxygene 3" on their tablet, let alone what one can do on their computer. So why should anyone heed or even pay for an inferior work which seems almost cobbled together and called "music", by a supposedly professional musician?
Jote wrote:I'd say I agree with most of what you wrote, but I definitely disagree on Oxygène 3. I honestly think it hit a sweet spot without trying too hard to mimic the original while still feeling like "Oxygène" more or less. That's where Oxygène 7-13 failed IMO. It tried too hard to be like its predecessor and it's really on the edge of a "fan tribute"/"parody" territory (Oxygène 9 and 13 especially). That's why I resent people saying "Oh, Robots Don't Cry should've clearly been on Oxygène 3!". No, it shouldn't! It would've ruined it its "independence" and thus it would fall into the self-parody category.Analog-Umph wrote:With this album (and the last 3), I can see how much truly Jarre has become irrelevant to electronic music. Which I don't say with any joy.
This album, like the last 3 is nothing but pure noise, neither very intelligent nor emotional. Unfortunately.[... snip long post...]
With regards to EI vs O3, O3 feels to be much more coherent and not so busy - because, if we are to believe JMJ, he limited himself to 8 tracks, just like on the original. With EI I feel like I'm constantly bombarded with seemingly random sounds and instruments. It's like the album is constantly trying to grab my attention with "ear-candy".
And while EI is not a sequel to Équinoxe... it kinda makes the same mistake as Oxygène 7-13 did - I tries too hard to reference the original. The almost direct quote from Équinoxe 1 in The Watchers. Or how the "If the wind could speak" (frankly, one of the better tracks on the album) is the new "Band in the rain". Or how "Infinity" kind of references Équinoxe 5. Or how Movement 6-7-8 tries to mimic the continuity of Équinoxe 5-6-7 - which, by the way, it does very poorly: the transitions are hardly seamless, it's very easy to pinpoint where the bass sound changes (both at start and end of "Machines are learning"); and not only that, when the bass intro of Movement 7 is done the main theme starts 1/16th note too early! (I can't stand how it throws off my brain-metronome); the tempo of Mvt6 (♩ = 100) doesn't match that of Mvt7 (♩ = 97.5).
If someone handed me this album and didn't say it wasn't JMJ I would probably say it's a "JMJ fan tribute" at best (and if Équinoxe 1 wasn't quoted in The Watchers I probably wouldn't even label it as such) - I probably wouldn't have said "oh, that's gotta be JMJ". But then again, to be fair, I probably wouldn't have guessed that Revolutions was JMJ if someone had handed me it in 1988.
Analog-Umph wrote:...
Too often people as you two Analog-umph, Jote haven't done anything of note creatively are far too Immature in disparaging others creativity.Jote wrote:...
Analog-Umph wrote:...
Beyond subtelty different emotions, beyond weaving synthesis, beyond creating diverse atmospheres,Jote wrote:...
Your best bet is to simply ignore. He's proven time and time again that he treats his opinions as facts. Whenever a contradictory opinion or legitimate constructive criticism is posted he will either reply "wrong." or will simply start attacking, insulting and patronizing ("you both are apprenctices you are trying to comment on something beyond both of you", "your rubbish personality" etc. etc.) the person who dared to disagree with the Truly Enlightened Oracle.jeanbatman wrote:You can't force people to meet your opinion, that's the one thing.