Master View

Description

Product Description AV. Sounds like something you stick in a drip. Makes you think of government funded outreach events or the foyer of a trendy gallery. Somebody had to take this audiovisual thing out of the art house and into the mad house. And by heaven, it had to be Hexstatic. ‘AVIN’ IT!! Renowned duo Hexstatic have toured every dusty corner of planet earth presenting ever more demented assualts on the limits of good AV taste. They have done horror specials for Halloween, they have done comedy specials for, erm, the Big Chill. They have made groups of saucer eyed ravers don 3D specs and flinch from their mighty rhythms. They have done rather marvellous bootlegs that have pictures, too. They’ve done it all, basically. Everywhere. So when they began work on their second album, they decided that there was no way on earth ("No way!" they cried) that the record wouldn’t also be issued as a plush dvd of, well, crazy AV shit, brother. So they gathered themselves and a few firm friends and created "Master View" (named for those seventies sort of slide show thingies – ah, look at the cover whydoncha?). And it delivers just the kind of thrills ‘n’ spills you’d hope for: vintage video game porn for the over thirties, cartoon ninjas killing dogs, sixties future psych, giant teddy bears, birds that sing along to the tune, bloco shenanigans, rapper Juice Aleem spitting out the Beatles, dancing gadget catalogues, pretty coloured circles, you bloody name it. And then it does it all again in 3D! And that, my friend, is the shit. And in addition, the music is every bit the equal of its pictured parts (as is evidenced by listening to it on the simultaneously-released cd instead). A loose mash up of classic electro, trademarked Ninja funk, pilferings from the pair’s global outreach programme, sneaky samples and enough good humour to leave you sweetly oblivious when yer mam catches you dancing round the living room in just your pants and some 3D specs. Oh. No. That was just me. Review Master View is Hexstatic's latest offering. As the title suggests, this is about sight as well as sound – videos to all the tracks are included on a DVD. What's more, the DVD and the audio CD come in the same package, so you don't have to fork out for both formats. For this alone, Ninja Tune should be applauded. However, there's more to recommend this than mere value for money.Musically, Master View is 11 tracks of the kind of quality cut-and-paste, largely instrumental hip-hop you'd expect from Hexstatic (and, indeed, most Ninja Tune artists). It's unlikely to win any new converts, but if that's your bag, the music's top notch. But stick the DVD on and you're in for a real treat. A mixture of computer animations and cut-and-paste videos awaits you, some of which can be viewed in 3D with the glasses supplied and all of which are great, highlights including the retro video-game montage of "Extra Life", the singing parrots on "Perfect Bird" and the martial-arts fighters flying out of the screen at you in "Salvador". Different, and a real success. --Marc Bloomfield P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review "A display of musical imagination which staggers with or without the aid of complimentary glasses." -- Q"Hexstatic flex their audio-visual mash-up muscles impressively.. brilliant." -- IDJ"Inventive beats, breaks and arcade game funk complimented by wild videos. This innovative album pushes things forward sonically and visually." -- DJ,"One of the most ambitious album projects of recent times." -- Knowledge"Trumpeting oodles of looney leftfield tomfoolery in the best Ninja tradition Inspired." -- The List See more