1 by Humanworkshop

Directly it becomes clear that we're dealing with Top Notch stuff here, because of the beautiful and atmospheric sample-based compositions of these three producers. Relaxed, moving and cinematic melodies are scratching calm beats. Some of the highlights are BASIC's Dinky Toy (eastern and enchanting), the trippy Seperated Junkfood by Remus and the uptempo Theme Song Six by Leisure-B (which is built around the melody of Busta Rhymes' Gimme Some More). These guys should give Ninja Tune a call....

- [cons] None.

+ [pro's] Everything.

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

Plato Mania:

[http://www.platomania.nl] [translated from Dutch]

---------------------------------------------------

The Humanworkshop CD is already Dance record of the year!

The Humanworkshop CD is already Dance record of the year!

Ok, have I got your attention? For the record I can also add to this that the Humanworkshop #1 is a cooperation between three young, very talented producers from the Netherlands. BASIC, Leisure-B and Remus manage to put down an album of very high quality by making clever use of samples and the moods they reflect.

Even though the album is electronic, one experiences it as if it were a good rock record. The songs vary between danceable, abstract and cinematic and have been refined to the last bit so that the album stays interesting after every round in your stereo. Humanworkshop #1 is the first "Warlike Deed" by these gentlemen, but it could already be the jewel in crown of the Ninja Tune label. The next time you visit one of our stores (Plato, Adm.) and you feel the irresistible urge to groove along with the CD playing on the sound-set, you will turn to the employee and ask for the title of the record. This person will mindfully turn your way with a somewhat strange grin on his face, and he will tell you: "This is the new Humanworkshop CD..."

-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------

Splendid Ezine:

[http://www.splendidezine.com]

--------------------------------------------------------

Dutch collective Humanworkshop seems primarily concerned with maintaining a large online sample library from which musicians can download sound files for free (maaad scene points!). Its three main members, Leisure-B, Remus and BASIC, put together Humanworkshop #1 as a class project in their sound design curriculum. If I were their professor, I'd give them an A for technique and enjoyability and a B-plus for innovation. There's a little too much of Amon Tobin's jazzily dark elegance for this to be a completely new animal, and "Theme Song Six" actually uses the same loop from Psycho as Busta Rhymes' "Gimme Some More" (though judging from the title, track producer Leisure-B is aware of his chosen sample's popularity).

That said, Humanworkshop #1 is really, really good. The three collaborators alternate tracks, and their styles are similar enough to gel nicely. To some extent, one track runs into the next (occupational hazard in vocal-free sample-based music), but when it happens it's deliberate. Leisure-B, Remus and BASIC are quite capable of differentiation when it suits them. In another Tobinesque move, the song titles are evocative, if somewhat nonplussing; BASIC's "Get Me Another Bottle", whose bendy guitar lines stumble atop slowed-down hip hop beats, is the most direct statement you'll see in this tracklist. "Seperated (sic) Junkfood" shows off Remus's dexterity at cutting n' pasting, juxtaposing watery strings with moodily grooving bass lines, then stopping everything to throw in a ragged violin scrabble. "Dinky Toy" adds some Eastern flavor to Humanworkshop's otherwise very European vibe with Oriental-slash-Klezmer clarinet and string melodies and layered rhythms.

You can use Humanworkshop #1 as background music or focus your attention on it. It satisfies either way. -- Sarah Zachrich

-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------

Onderhuids.com:

[translated from Dutch]

---------------------------------------------------

Creative professions are not what they used to be. Back in the days you could count on a lot of credit when you could produce something people could call Art. Nowadays you join the economic recession and you get nothing.

I like to write and my boss thinks it's good, even necessary that I do this in his time. But this doesn't mean that I make a lot of money out of it. I have only got a limited amount of money to spend on a monthly basis. I am not complaining here. Just stating the facts.

That is exactly the reason why I am so happy with the "Luisterpaal" by 3VOOR12. Here you will find the newest albums without having to pay for them. You can listen to them as many times as you like. And these are certainly not the least albums we're talking about here.

A couple of weeks ago I ran into the Humanworkshop album: #1. Daily the Luisterpaal was on. Just over an hour of lovely electronlic "listening music". During this I was staring at the lovely cover. The angry looking owl on the front gave me the creeps. In a positive and in a negative way.

Humanworskshop consists of three HKU [students] (Graduated now, Adm.). They studied sound design and should have graduated "Cum Laude" if it were up to me. #1 is a brilliant CD. Better than any exam-paper I have read until now. Unfortunately she disappeared from the Luisterpaal recently.

I decided to buy the CD. A life in the Luisterpaal was not a wrong thing, and cheap as well. But because there wasn't any other way, I had to take some action.

Unfortunately because of my creative profession I am not able to buy a lot of CD's. Economic recession, remember? But the Humanworkshop guys weren't so smooth themselves either. It seemed as if they were cultivating their creative profession. As good as the Music is, it is badly distributed, and also their income. The local record stores they mentioned on their site never heard of them up untill a week ago. Email send to the band returned immediately. I couldn't buy a CD.

Two weeks after that (I'd been counting) all of this changed. Somebody flipped the right switch. The CD with the owl is now in my possession. And after about seven rounds in my stereo I dare to say you need to own it too. Only if it is because to support people with a creative profession. Buy this CD. You won't regret it.

If you would like to support me in my creative profession, please contact my boss. I'm sure the two of you can work something out...

-----------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------

Party Scene.nl:

[translated from Dutch]

---------------------------------------------------

Humanworkshop is the name of the website on which a collective, consisting of Leisure-B, Remus and BASIC, are publishing their music. The site Humanworkshop.com also offers visitors the possibility to upload their own work for more exposure and discussion about improvements. You can find a lot of these initiatives on the internet, but there are only a few who manage to reach their final goal: to publish a real CD. But not the Humanworkshop album (you can order the CD online for 11,99). The name of the record is "Compilation", a mix of tracks by the three webhosts Leisure-B, Remus and BASIC. They have build their compilation around breakbeats with cinematic soundscapes that are accompanied by jazzy Big-Bass, floating piano keys and lost saxophone hits. If that is what you like to hear, than you've hit the spot with the Humanworkshop album. On the fourteen track long album you fall from shaky strings into freestyle percussion sessions. And if you are not hearing any strings, it seems like a whole orchestra is banging on cymbals and large drums. Style-wise the Humanworkshop album reminds a bit of what one would find on Free Zone compilations, in the time when lounge was still referred to as "Ambient" or "Chill out". The result is a lovely, rhythmic album that shows cohesion and shows a little bit more of itself every time you play it. Clearly a work created by humans.

Conclusion:

Good.

--------------------------

That's right folks.

Average Customer Review: