At the time of writing GTA IV has a 99 on metacritic which is pretty unheard of.
To be able to consistently meet and surpass expectations of this kind is really quite extraordinary. Got mine on pre-order and will be zoning into Liberty City for a good few hours over the bank holiday weekend. My own expectations hinge on whether it is able to evoke the kind of emotional connection that tv and film can so easily provoke and video games have long promised.
All the graphical sophistication, all the realistic physics models, all the uncanny ai in the world doesn’t matter a damn if you don’t care about the characters.
Imagine Mario Kart in a real world, with real cars. Now add machine guns, pistols, rocket launchers, Molotov cocktails, in fact every weapons in GTA. Now, let people get out of their cars and do whatever they want to win, or prevent other people from winning.
I had no idea that multiplayer was going to play such a big part.
I think this is about the time when the phrase ‘next gen’ actually starts to mean something tangible.
(and my wife starts ruing the arrival of the xbox360)
(for jk)yes, it’s a real robot playing a real synth.
though you might want to ignore the fact he’s doing something which sounds not entirely unlike ’sailing’ by rod stewart and paste in your own soundtrack. It’s certainly way better than the robot in that ‘infamous’ Herbie Hancock video.
My visits to the latitudes, leaving parcels of goodness at your door are getting fewer and farther between. If I keep going at this rate, l’ll soon be as illusive and as Father Christmas (though with a less predictable timetable) and with the way my belly’s swelling that red suit’s going to fit too.
As mentioned in our excuses for a quiet week last week we’ve got other things on our minds, one of which is spending less time with other people’s new music and more with our own.
This track which I came across whilst scuffing my toes on the internet the other day is kind of a prime example of the ensuing dilemma, its really, really great and this time last year I’d be going loop-de-loop crazy over it and resetting my ringtone - but much like the Wire has ruined regular tv for me by being too too awesome - so has living with one half of London’s greatest assault on boogie.
Tippy Toes seem to be the latest incarnation of New York supergroup with various members of DFA affiliates, Hercvles and Love Affair, LCD Soundsystem and Santogold spreading their funk around with sometime vocals from comedian Reggie Watts. There’s little else to be known about them, except this; that should Ulysses 82 get their ventilated, Kevlar driving gloves on this little beauty - I can only imagine how much more fantastic it would sound.
Like I said, its already great, and sure it’s already furnished with a lilting, heavy-heavy bassline, tremolo guitar, sweeping string, afro drum sound, psyche scrawl and something which sounds like the best noise i’ve heard out of an atari in years but let John-Baptiste and Je Suis C loose on this baby and who knows what damage it could wreak.
Tracklisting 01) Joseph Quaid - Spirit Intro 02) Lonnie Liston Smith - Journey into Space 03) 3 Chairs - No Drum Machine Part 2 04) Michael White - Coming From (Love edit) 05) Linkwood - Hear The Sun 06) Flying Lotus - Tea Leaf Dancers (Deep Range jackin’ mix) 07) Alif Tree - Forgotten Places (Ghost mix) 08) Afefe Iku - A 30 minute boat ride to Lamu Town (Talking Drums edit) 09) Joseph Quaid - Body Language (Test) 10) Hoerenjong - O.Boogie 11) The Ogyatanaa Show Band - Disco Africa 12) Oneness of Juju - African Rhythms (45 version) 13) Sabu Martinez / Roach Om - Spirits of the Universe (interlude) 14) Harold Mckinny - Ode to Africa (intro) 15) Tyrone Washington - Universal Spiritual Revolt 16) Andy Bey - Celestial Blues 17) Joseph Quaid - Spirit Outro
Best known for his excursions into the outer limits of scifielectronics and freakyremixes, Joseph Quaid returns this week with a mix highlighting the influences and aspirations of the firemusic sound. It’s a head-y brew of deep detroit flavoured soul and futuristic afro rhythms boding well not just for the deep range series as a whole, but for the ’soon come’ releases of this mighty (yet barely known) collective of musicians.
