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Andy Jackson

AI AJ

Review by Gary Hill

With all the buzz, both positive and negative, about AI, this seems timely. Jackson discovered a synthesizer function called "Natalie" that simulates a human voice. As he put it, you tell it the notes and lyrics you want to use, and it will "sing" the song. That's the simplest angle of it, but he tweaked and played with it from there. Then he wrote songs that are lyrically speaking for an AI. The music is often synthetic in texture, too. It's an intriguing combination that makes for an album that's unusual, intriguing and entertaining. Now, this comes with a CD and a Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray is an audio, rather than video, disc, featuring several audio configurations of the album. Since the songs are the same throughout, I've just done one set of track reviews here.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024  Volume 3 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review
Dataset – singularity
There is a weird, electronic vibe to this that sounds almost classical in nature. This is weird and machine like. Imagine a more classical Kraftwerk, and that gets you close to a lot of this. It takes on more of an Art of Noise groove further down the road. While there are some hints of voices here, this is essentially an instrumental.
300 seconds

More organic and rock related, this has some great prog vibes at play. This is a great prog piece that is moody, but also so interesting.

For the best

There is a sad sort of feeling to this. The cut is rather stripped back, and the vocals feel electronic. This is tastefully odd and very much art music.

Pareidolia

Here we have more of a mainstream prog rocking tune. It gets some rather funky guitar later, but still works within a progressive rock template. There are some hints of world music at times, too. This is one of my favorite tracks here. It's so cool. There are some symphonic vibes later in the piece.

Swim like a submarine
A bluesy sound gets us underway here. There are hints of Led Zeppelin along with Pink Floyd. I gets more driving and rocking as it continues. The guitar soling on this thing is so cool, and the track is more completely proggy in the later sections.
HHH conflict

Coming in trippy and rather freaky, this has some psychedelia and space rock vibes merged with art rock. This builds out in dramatic and powerful ways. There is a creepiness to it, but also a lot of magic. This dissolves into trippy space at the end.

I am but I am not

The rhythm section is prominent as this gets going. The track has a cool moody prog vibe at play. There is a cool rock groove at the heart of this. It's one of the most mainstream things here. That said, it's still got a twist to the art side. This is also one of my favorite songs here.

Dissolve

There is a noisy art rock vibe at play here. This has hints of King Crimson. Pink Floyd is another valid reference point. There are definitely psychedelic things in the mix. This is freaky, and so cool.

The lifting of the veil

At about ten-and-a-half minutes long, this is the epic of the set. Strange, trippy electronics get it going, and it builds outward from there in a gradual way. Around the two-minute mark a rubbery bass heralds the entrance of a more rocking movement. This has some talk box type vocals at times. The lyrical vocals are pretty. This piece has a lot of great melodic prog at its heart. It's another highlight of the set. It works through several sections and moods and has some rather Pink Floyd like stuff at times.

 
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