Album: LAX
Author: Frans de Waard
Publication: VITAL WEEKLY (source)
Date: 02/25/2008

LAX stands for Los Angeles Airport. When you check in your luggage it gets a sticker 'LAX' for that airport, or 'JFK' for New York. I read Rothkamm's liner notes, which seem to be dealing with conspiracy, millennium bug and all that. Rothkamm is a man of concepts, and a man to change his music. The three previous releases 'FB01' and 'FB02 - Astronaut Of Inner Space' and 'FB 03 (E Pluribus Unum)' dealt with electronic music in the best 'Forbidden Planet' style, which succeeded best on the second release. Here on this CD release he goes out to using computers, from Mac to Atari and from Music V to Csound - to mention two types of hard- and software used. It's funny to see the similarities with the two previous releases, as it seems almost that Frank Rothkamm wanted to translate his science fiction music from analogue to digital, with glissandi played on various types of software an such like. However it moves away from the poppy like character of the second release, and is more in serious avant-garde area. At times it sounded like Arcane Device, with feedback like tones, and such like. A bit more noisy than the previous releases also, but it never ventures into the world of 'real' noise. It is fine release since it breaks, if only technically, with the past and hopefully a road to be explored more in the future, maybe to find another masterpiece like 'FB02' on it's way.

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