2004
The Au Harem D'Archimede
About This Album
Two full-lengths in as many years, after a decade of nothing but singles -- as strange as it is, Ricardo Villalobos seems to have found his true calling as an album artist. Thé au Harem d'Archimède follows Alcachofa as another unified set of tracks that's equally adaptable to private and public settings. Horrifying preconceived ideas be damned, Villalobos' work continues to sound more and more like everlasting percussion jams that have been edited to fit the vinyl and CD formats. Granted, we are still talking about minimalist electronic music -- and not a circle of tripping, half-naked crusties playing bongos with their eyes rolled into the backs of their heads. To give you some idea of how much Villalobos has opened it up, go straight to "Théorème d'Archimède." The track doesn't get danceable until four minutes in, after a succession of distant-sounding gusts of wind, chirping birds, circular guitars, tribal drums and knocking bells, and an unmistakeable reference to Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets" -- a fleeting sequence of rolling toms and splashes of random tinny percussion objects! -- appears around the three-minute mark. (See also: "Frank and Hennes," from a compilation called Music for Children, which lifts the same band's "Fearless.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,6 and 7)

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