Red Extensions of Me

Infobox Album | Name = Red Extensions of Me
Type = Album
Artist = The Flashbulb

| Released = February 24, 2004
Recorded = Winter 2003
Genre = IDM
Length = 62:50
Label = Sublight/Suburban Trash/Bonnerwachs
Producer = Benn Jordan
Reviews = * [http://www.explodingplastic.com/reviews/flashbulbredextensions.html Exploding Plastic] (8.1/10)
Last album = "Resent and the April Sunshine Shed"
(2003)
This album = "Red Extensions of Me"
(2004)
Next album = "Kirlian Selections"
(2005) |

Red Extensions of Me is the fifth official full-length release from Benn Jordan as The Flashbulb.

In particular, this album seems to be driven by the aesthetic of Drum n bass/Jungle theory, used to accentuate a particular focus on electric guitar-controlled MIDI sequences written in a neo-classical metal style. Furthermore, the last two tracks ("Lucid Bass I and II") are straightforward Drum n bass tracks, featuring a long, repetitive running time/rhythm and elements such as triggered samples of sleep therapy tapes during the breakdowns, the classic DnB rhythm, mandatory Amen break/Apache break chopping, looping, dreamy, pitchshifted synth passages and robust, heavy, droning sub-bass lines.

As usual for Jordan, the track list of the album is stuffed with tracks all along it that serve as short breaks from the main theme of the album, for example, short classical piano pieces ("In an Instant") or folk music-esque acoustic guitar/singing tracks ("If Trees Could Speak"). This is even the first album released by Jordan as The Flashbulb to feature outside musicians in the recordings. Despite all of this, however, the comparisons between his work and the work of his peers Tom Jenkinson and Richard D. James only grew exponentially with the release of this album. It is a criticism that Jordan has fought against since he was first branded with the label of a copycat in M³. In particular, many parallels were drawn between this album and Squarepusher's Ultravisitor, because of Jenkinson's use of raw Amen break chopping and "bass guitar"-controlled MIDI sequences. Red Extensions of Me was released just "before" Ultravisitor, although promo leaks of Ultravisitor first appeared several months before its release.

Track listing

# "In an Instant" – 2:02
# "Lawn Wake I" – 4:17
# "Lawn Wake II" – 3:11
# "Lawn Wake III" – 3:29
# "Sun Rise Jul" – 1:16
# "An External Frost" – 2:58
# "Planet Th" – 3:07
# "If Trees Could Speak" – 1:48
# "The Sun and the Star" – 2:25
# "Didj Z" – 1:54
# "Black Lawn Finale" – 4:25
# "Sensual Data" – 5:08
# "Never Remember January" – 2:36
# "Sunset Hamlin" – 2:35
# "Earthtone Morphine Battery" – 3:35
# "Eight Empty Beds" – 1:25
# "Lucid Bass I" – 7:56
# "Lucid Bass II" – 8:43

Personnel

*Benn Jordan: Composer, performer, producer
*Greg Hurte: Violin

External links

* [http://www.theflashbulb.net Official site]
* [http://suburbantrash.c8.com Suburban Trash]
* [http://www.sublightrecords.com Sublight Records]