New Review of Duality

"... An American one-man band backed by more than two decades of work emerges with a dark trip-hop album that is equally varied, and shows the relations between industrial, ambient, drone/doom metal, psychedelia and electronics.

 Behind this name stands the one-man project of dark-skinned hip-hop DJ Christophe Gilmore from Chicago whose his first album 'Warhol' was released in 1988. Also, a great activist, calling himself an 'afro-futurist' and he has a whole series of performances at various festivals, charities, and is best known for his work on the soundtrack of 'The Gift Project Chicago' (together with very similar activists like Rebecca Zorach, Leslie Wilson, Kimberly Pindera , Patric McCoy and Samantha Hill). All of them have in common, although dealing with completely different activities (photography, sculpture, literature, critical theory, interdisciplinary arts) an association with the so-called, African-American diaspora to realize their activist collaborations.

While FluiD is totally unknown by his discography, he has been operating for more than two decades, it is quite messy and no one has so far put it in a chronological order. Most often mentioned as a remixer and collaborator with Ganymede, Fr/action, Heat From A Deadstar, Blood Into Water, One Dead Fuck, Worms of the Earth, DisinVectant, Black Saturn, Selbst-Morder, Finger Painted Dead and John 3:16. He also spent time in the industrial-gothic rock band Die My Darling, where he was a keyboard player and programmer. He was also a member of several bands where he played synth/keyboards and bass guitar - DOD, Wardrobe Cathedral, Immaculate Corrosion and Drug Of Choice. We also mention that there was a few years of primary music school, he began to play in the 6th year. He also studied orchestration of classical and jazz music and plays clarinet, saxophone, piano, flute and oboe.

 On this album, which he recorded in 2010, and was officially released in early 2011, on the Swiss label Alrealon Musique, is very similar to the sound sphere around the likes of Dalek and Massive Attack. Although, several compositions stand out from the trip-hop/hip-hop standards, drawing in new areas of post-industrial along with his indigenous hip-hop, corresponds to the trees of metal, jazz, psychedelia, avant-garde, electronica, noise.

When I first listened to this album without any knowledge of the biography of FluiD, all at once I thought that it was a band that's somewhere around The Young Gods, at least in the opening composition, 'DH-1'. Sluggish industrial, sampled bass, plenty of cacophonic intervals with different frequency breaks are arranged in a very harmonious instrumental. To me that all these sounds might be a full band: hear the bass, guitar noise works, and the echo of some ancient junk synths continues with a piano in the next section of 'AIC', that does not run away from Massive Attack. Keyboard harmonies, relaxed pace trip/hip-hop refers to a competent author who skillfully handled the pop format, shaping them into a very dark atmosphere. There are no vocals (maybe a minus for such skilled grades), except for 'Iron Communiqué' which has as a guest on the mic a certain Black Saturn. Revealing a very good casserole of hip-hop, storytelling and polumelodičnog vocalists, referring to his style. With an increased atmospheric industrial apocalyptic noise-gothic and whose low-tuned guitar riffs are most suitable to black-metal/drone standards. While the only sung track, the previously released 'Disrupting the Ghost' has a dark mood, moving through a psychedelic hybrid of electronic trip-hop and world music, while continuing the detachment of an instrumental album (only here and there dotted with some vocal samples) although woven very creatively, giving the impression of a dark lethargy in which apart from the occasional experiment, lack a full insight into the overall plot. For example, ambient post-industrial 'Refuge' and 'Sublimation In the Zero Hour', acting as a fraction of the concept. Froz n II is again in the manner of industrial with the added effect of dissonant drone/doom metal, while 'Dread Futures', 'The Absent Present' and the ending 'Parallel States' obviously show some evidenence of ambient, besides the classic dub, vocal and experimental samples of allocation is not appropriate for anything but harmonious filing of space.

Is that the big problem of today's minimalist trip-hop scene? Is it more or less roughly similar to what Tricky said ten years ago, "that I did something like this at the time of be-bop and jazz, 50's, my music would be the usual crap" . However, it is obvious that all the criteria of the pop scene (whatever that is) substantially leveled at such semi-sampled/semi-played music it has to be considered an artform. Being a DJ and musician as well, FluiD is still not at all difficult (remember only Thievery Corporation). Surprisingly an artist, who is already as his biography says, a trained musician, his own knowledge and skill is here presented through a minor and very poor, already worn and battered form. Still, not as important a factor as the fact that FluiD identified with those who have far less talent and knowledge..."

Album Score (1-10): 7
Horvi 11.12.28