gullbuy music review

The Bad Examples

title

Profis Like Us

label

Ata Tak

format
CD

The Bad ExamplesDeceptively simple and minimal, but certainly in line with dub culture, the Bad Examples give us a cd of mysterious power. A cousin of To Rococo Rot, if they were to do the theme music to a horror tv show, Profix Like Us has a lot to offer in its simple yet elegant approach. Often times simply a plucked keyboard line, and slowly spinning antiquated drum machines is all it takes to bring to life a subdued funky atmosphere. There is an equal combination of Eno/Cluster mood setting with Germanic soundtrack productionwork; it's like a lost soundtrack.

1. night theme 1 - starts us out with a tense thematic intro tune.

2. ein hauch von nirgendwas - a whistling thermin sound haunts this theme.

+3. merino - this track has pinching drums, rolling synths, and twirping keys, and is one of my favorite tracks.

4. night theme 3 - has a watery introduction, contemplative rhythms, and is low-key mama funk, the kind with toned static additions.

+5. profis like us - this is upbeat, almost St Etienne-esque, with a fine boxy bass, I could almost hear this as a Sly Stone outtake, thanks to that rainy cymbal sound. There's also some dub melodica elements (the St Etienne side of things). Handclaps make this tune that much more fun, and also a favorite.

6. night theme 2 - another pass the time interlude, in a Hardy Boys Blues walk through the woods kind of way. Zapping keys solo, and a bluesy bass augment this interlude.

7. endlos kurzer - bubbly synths, and a completely melodic keyboard melody make this an interesting song. eventually things become doublepaced, with cheesey synth solos. Two minutes left a rhythm break goes mad, to spice it up even further.

+8. soulful netzeil - melodic and soulful, my favorite part is the held-on chorus motif, with the warm New Order-styled syntheziser.

9. let's pretend we're sequencer - a little more dated, germanic sound, with the mechanical head-bop sound, probably my least favorite song contained herein.

+10. night theme 4 - static background synths keep this tense, while various melodic keyboard solos play throughout.

---Patrick Rands, June 11, 2002