WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Imagine pouring your, um, your absolute heart 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.660 and soul into this massive sprawling creative 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.439 project. Like you finally release it into the 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:11.240 world. You're holding your breath for the reaction 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:14.199 and the feedback just starts rolling in. Yeah, 00:00:14.220 --> 00:00:17.039 the moment of truth. Exactly. And one person 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:20.800 looks at it and calls it this fragmented, calculating, 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:24.820 spotty mess, like a complete disaster. But then, 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:27.079 and this is the crazy part, another person looks 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.559 at that exact same project, listens to the exact 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.979 same audio, and declares it an underappreciated 00:00:32.979 --> 00:00:35.420 masterpiece that literally predicted the future. 00:00:35.609 --> 00:00:38.210 I mean, it is the ultimate creative whiplash, 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:40.509 right? Totally. But you see this happen frequently 00:00:40.509 --> 00:00:42.950 with art that just, you know, refuses to fit 00:00:42.950 --> 00:00:45.030 neatly into a predetermined box. When you break 00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:47.789 the rules of a genre, you alienate the purists, 00:00:47.950 --> 00:00:49.630 but you might just be writing the blueprint for 00:00:49.630 --> 00:00:52.229 the next generation. Which brings us to exactly 00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:54.750 why we are here today. So welcome to today's 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:56.310 Deep Dive. We are so thrilled you're joining 00:00:56.310 --> 00:00:58.729 us because today we are exploring a piece of 00:00:58.729 --> 00:01:01.490 art that generated exactly that kind of wildly 00:01:01.490 --> 00:01:04.170 polarized head scratching reaction. It's a really 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.650 fascinating one. It really is. We are pulling 00:01:06.650 --> 00:01:08.709 our insights today from the Wikipedia article 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:12.370 detailing the 1989 album titled I by the British 00:01:12.370 --> 00:01:15.370 musical duo A .R. Kane. And our mission for you 00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:17.909 today is to basically investigate how a single 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:20.870 album can simultaneously be dismissed as an overly 00:01:20.870 --> 00:01:24.170 ambitious train wreck by some and, well, hailed 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:27.840 as a prophetic visionary triumph by others. It 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.540 serves as a fantastic case study. And not just 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.420 for music history nerds either, but for anyone 00:01:32.420 --> 00:01:34.939 who's interested in how we evaluate any complex, 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:37.500 rule -breaking project, you know, the tension 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:39.700 between those two extremes tells us a lot about 00:01:39.700 --> 00:01:41.879 the expectations we place on creators. Okay, 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:45.239 let's unpack this. To really understand the sheer 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:48.620 whiplash of the reaction to I, we have to look 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:50.760 at the pedestal A. R. Kane was standing on before 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:53.500 they, well, essentially jumped off it. There 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:55.219 were just some run -of -the -mill pop act throwing 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:56.840 things at the wall. They had a very specific 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.200 identity. Context is absolutely everything here. 00:01:59.299 --> 00:02:02.400 So the album I was released in October of 1989 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.760 on a label called One Little Indian. This was 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:06.680 their second studio album. They were coming off 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:09.159 their debut record, which was called 69. Sometimes 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:11.300 that's just written out as the numbers, six and 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:14.099 nine. And the critical consensus around that 00:02:14.099 --> 00:02:18.379 debut was incredibly specific. How so? Well, 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:21.080 critics praised it for possessing a quality of, 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:24.460 quote, organic and uncontrived otherness. Oh, 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:28.789 wow. Organic and uncontrived otherness. I mean, 00:02:28.909 --> 00:02:30.770 that is one of those critical phrases that sounds 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:32.870 beautiful, but also sounds like a complete trap. 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:35.169 It really is a trap. Right. Because if your entire 00:02:35.169 --> 00:02:38.710 brand is being uncontrived and organically strange, 00:02:39.229 --> 00:02:42.150 like making this ethereal, floating avant -garde 00:02:42.150 --> 00:02:47.030 music, then any move toward structure or mainstream 00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:49.629 accessibility is instantly going to look like 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:51.530 a massive betrayal. You hit the nail on the head 00:02:51.530 --> 00:02:53.550 when you establish yourself as the kings of the 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:56.349 underground by being formless and strange, suddenly 00:02:56.349 --> 00:02:58.409 writing a catchy hook is viewed as a cardinal 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:00.289 sin by your core fan base. Yeah, they feel like 00:03:00.289 --> 00:03:03.229 you sold out. Exactly. And that stylistic pivot 00:03:03.229 --> 00:03:06.939 is exactly what A .R. Kane executed with I. They 00:03:06.939 --> 00:03:09.039 didn't just subtly tweak their sound, they took 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.879 a massive, aggressive left turn directly into 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.479 pop, dance, and electronic styles. Though they're 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:17.400 trading those like floating guitars for the dance 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.300 floor. Heavily. The album overtly incorporates 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:23.120 received rock structures, reggae, and house music. 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.219 It is a dramatic shift from that floating otherness 00:03:26.219 --> 00:03:29.020 to the very grounded, heavily structured worlds 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:32.020 of clubs and pop charts. Wait, hold on. By received 00:03:32.020 --> 00:03:34.300 rock structures, do you just mean they started 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:37.699 using like standard verse chorus, verse formats, 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:40.180 the kind of predictable pop map that everyone 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:42.080 else on the radio was already doing. That is 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:44.759 a great translation, yeah. The predictable pop 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.039 map, they adopted the traditional architecture 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.939 of a rock or pop song, and they brought in the 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:52.500 pulsating repetitive bass lines of house music 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:55.120 and the rhythmic offbeats of reggae. Wow. So 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:57.080 they were aggressively engaging with genres that 00:03:57.080 --> 00:03:59.319 had very strict rules, which is the exact opposite 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:02.159 of being uncontrived. It makes me think of an 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.030 eccentric indie filmmaker, you know. the kind 00:04:05.030 --> 00:04:07.830 who makes those moody three -hour black -and 00:04:07.830 --> 00:04:10.110 -white films about staring at a wall in silence. 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:12.969 Oh yeah, the festival darlings. Right. And suddenly 00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:15.710 they announce they're going to direct a massive, 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:19.790 big -budget superhero blockbuster. But on the 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:21.990 way to the studio to shoot the superhero movie, 00:04:22.329 --> 00:04:24.269 they get completely distracted and spend a week 00:04:24.269 --> 00:04:26.990 in an underground dance club. I love that. So 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:30.420 the final film is this bizarre hybrid, right? 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:32.959 Moody black and white shots spliced together 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:35.300 with neon strobe lights, massive explosions, 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:38.939 and a pulsing techno soundtrack. That is a fantastic 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:41.319 way to visualize the friction of this album. 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:43.779 You have the ambition of a blockbuster, the accessibility 00:04:43.779 --> 00:04:46.339 of pop, but the weirdness of the underground 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:48.819 club all violently fighting for space on the 00:04:48.819 --> 00:04:50.759 exact same record. Which has to be a marketing 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:52.819 nightmare. Oh, absolutely. And the commercial 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:55.620 reality of this pivot is just as paradoxical 00:04:55.620 --> 00:04:58.410 as the music itself. Because you would assume 00:04:58.410 --> 00:05:00.870 that leading into pop choruses and house music 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:04.069 in 1989, like right as dance music is exploding, 00:05:04.670 --> 00:05:07.689 would guarantee a massive mainstream hit. You're 00:05:07.689 --> 00:05:09.610 building songs designed to be liked by a wider 00:05:09.610 --> 00:05:12.269 audience. You would assume that, but commercially... 00:05:12.250 --> 00:05:15.509 I actually mirrored its experimental predecessor, 00:05:15.850 --> 00:05:19.269 69. Really? Yeah, it had moderate overall sales 00:05:19.269 --> 00:05:21.670 figures. It wasn't a global chart dominator in 00:05:21.670 --> 00:05:24.250 the mainstream sense. However, it still managed 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:27.029 to top the UK independent charts. That is such 00:05:27.029 --> 00:05:29.209 a bizarre place to be trapped in. I mean, they're 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.329 the reigning champions of the indie chart, but 00:05:31.329 --> 00:05:33.589 they're making an album full of pop choruses 00:05:33.589 --> 00:05:36.050 and house music that the mainstream isn't actually 00:05:36.050 --> 00:05:38.790 buying in droves. Yeah, they were entirely caught 00:05:38.790 --> 00:05:41.350 between worlds. And because they abandoned their 00:05:41.350 --> 00:05:43.889 ethereal indie roots for the dance floor, the 00:05:43.889 --> 00:05:46.009 rock and indie critics were practically lying 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:49.050 in wait to tear them apart. Oh, I bet. This drastic 00:05:49.050 --> 00:05:51.470 genre mashing leads us directly into the core 00:05:51.470 --> 00:05:54.110 tension of our deep dive. Because the negative 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:56.689 and mixed reviews are incredibly revealing about 00:05:56.689 --> 00:05:59.750 the cultural tribalism of the late 1980s. Let's 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:01.389 look at the skeptics then, because they did not 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:04.629 hold back at all. Greg Tate. writing for Artforum 00:06:04.629 --> 00:06:07.110 back in 1990, so this is the immediate reaction 00:06:07.110 --> 00:06:09.730 to the release, was not buying the pivot at all. 00:06:10.029 --> 00:06:12.290 He claimed the incorporation of rock, reggae, 00:06:12.389 --> 00:06:17.189 and house was, quote, spotty. Yeah, spotty implies 00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:19.670 a serious lack of cohesion. He's essentially 00:06:19.670 --> 00:06:22.470 saying the genre experiments feel pasted together 00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:24.810 rather than naturally integrated. Like it's forced. 00:06:24.990 --> 00:06:27.850 Exactly. But his main critique was even sharper. 00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:31.329 He said that compared to the organic and uncontrived 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:34.279 otherness of their first album, I felt, and this 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.180 is his phrasing, more rudimentary and more calculating. 00:06:37.459 --> 00:06:40.040 Oh, calculating. That is the kill word right 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:42.639 there. He is accusing them of artificially constructing 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.899 these pop and dance tracks to chase a trend rather 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:48.060 than letting their art flow naturally. He's saying 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:50.279 the math is showing. The math is showing. And 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:52.360 to a critic who is looking for underground purity, 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:54.899 that is unforgivable. And that sentiment didn't 00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:58.240 just fade away after 1990 either. No, the skepticism 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:01.620 followed the album for decades. If you jump forward 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:05.480 to 2004, Chris Ott reviewed the album for Pitchfork. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.379 He gave it a 7 .7 out of 10, which is, you know, 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:10.980 technically a positive score, but his written 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:13.699 analysis was brutal. What did he say? He called 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:17.519 it a stylistically incontinent album. Wait, stylistically 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.939 incontinent? That is a wildly vivid insult. It 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:22.779 really paints a picture, doesn't it? It paints 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:25.000 a picture of a band that just cannot control 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:27.279 their own output. Like they're just leaking genres 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:29.670 all over the place without any discipline. He 00:07:29.670 --> 00:07:32.050 argued the album was fragmented by unchecked 00:07:32.050 --> 00:07:34.790 ambition. Ott acknowledged the drastic shift 00:07:34.790 --> 00:07:37.430 toward clearer production and pop choruses, but 00:07:37.430 --> 00:07:39.910 he concluded that a listener really had to endure 00:07:39.910 --> 00:07:42.709 the chaos and wait until the final quarter of 00:07:42.709 --> 00:07:45.189 the album for it to be capable of convincing 00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:47.829 anyone of A .R. Kane's genius. So you're saying 00:07:47.829 --> 00:07:49.769 the first three quarters are just garbage? Pretty 00:07:49.769 --> 00:07:51.750 much. For him, the first three quarters of this 00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:54.209 massive experiment were just a sprawling mess 00:07:54.209 --> 00:07:56.769 of ambition without an editor. I genuinely have 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:58.829 to push back on that pitchfork perspective, though. 00:08:00.209 --> 00:08:02.509 Framing unchecked ambition as a negative thing 00:08:02.509 --> 00:08:06.189 in art feels incredibly backwards to me. Oh, 00:08:06.189 --> 00:08:09.610 interesting. How so? Well, isn't pushing boundaries, 00:08:10.089 --> 00:08:11.790 breaking the container, and just throwing everything 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:13.629 at the wall exactly what artists are supposed 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:16.550 to do? If you are constantly checking your ambition 00:08:16.550 --> 00:08:18.610 and making sure your genres don't bleed into 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:20.610 each other, aren't you just playing it safe? 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.279 That is the eternal debate, isn't it? When ambition 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.639 shatters the listener's expected experience, 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:29.959 critics often reach for words like incontinent 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:33.340 or fragmented. They want a guided tour, not a 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:35.600 chaotic sandbox. Here's where it gets really 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.960 interesting, though. Not everyone saw this chaotic 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:40.539 sandbox as a failure. Let's look at the complete 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:42.679 opposite side of the spectrum, because the All 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:44.779 Music Review paints a vastly different picture 00:08:44.779 --> 00:08:47.240 of what A. R. Kane was actually doing. Right. 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.100 So Jason Ankeny reviewed the album for All Music 00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:53.009 and His take is a complete 180 degree turn from 00:08:53.009 --> 00:08:55.610 the pitchfork review. He doesn't hear a spotty 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:58.350 rudimentary mess at all. What does he hear? He 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:02.029 unequivocally calls I, an underappreciated masterpiece. 00:09:02.429 --> 00:09:04.350 I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical there. 00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:08.129 Going from stylistically incontinent to underappreciated 00:09:08.129 --> 00:09:12.500 masterpiece is a massive leap. Is Ankeny just 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:14.580 projecting modern musical trends onto a past 00:09:14.580 --> 00:09:16.340 failure just to make it sound deeper than it 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:18.799 actually was? What's fascinating here is Ankeny's 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.899 specific reasoning for that leap. He argues that 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:24.259 the album, despite being largely overlooked and 00:09:24.259 --> 00:09:26.600 misunderstood upon its original release, actually 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.139 functions as a crystal ball. A crystal ball? 00:09:29.299 --> 00:09:32.419 Yes. He says it was prophesying virtually every 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:34.919 major musical development of the 1990s. Okay, 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.080 so he's suggesting that the genre -mashing, the 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:40.840 aggressive blending of rock, reggae, house, and 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:43.159 pop that sounded like a calculating mess to Greg 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:46.200 Tate in 1990 was actually just A .R. Kane mapping 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:48.500 out the sonic landscape of the entire next decade 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:50.440 before anyone else had the vocabulary for it. 00:09:50.580 --> 00:09:52.899 That is the core of his argument. Think about 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:55.720 the alternative and dance scenes of the 1990s. 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:58.600 They would go on to seamlessly blend electronic 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:01.519 beats, indie guitars, and pop hooks. A .R. Kane 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.019 was doing it in 1989. People simply didn't have 00:10:04.019 --> 00:10:06.279 the framework to understand it yet. It just sounded 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.240 like friction. It's only in retrospect once the 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:10.980 rest of the culture catches up that you can look 00:10:10.980 --> 00:10:13.139 back and realize the mess was actually a map. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.139 But how does an album physically sound like a 00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:19.139 crystal ball while also driving professional 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:23.139 music critics absolutely crazy? To understand 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:26.159 that, I really want to look at the literal structural 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:28.320 anatomy of this record. Let's do it. Because 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.980 when you see how it was physically built, you 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:33.320 start to completely understand why Pitchfork 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:36.470 used a word like incontinent. Yeah, the sheer 00:10:36.470 --> 00:10:38.809 scale of the project is staggering, especially 00:10:38.809 --> 00:10:40.990 for the time. We are talking about an album that 00:10:40.990 --> 00:10:44.950 runs for 67 minutes and 49 seconds. Nearly 68 00:10:44.950 --> 00:10:47.409 minutes of music. I mean, the compact disc era 00:10:47.409 --> 00:10:49.809 had just really taken hold, allowing bands to 00:10:49.809 --> 00:10:52.490 push way past the time limits of a standard vinyl 00:10:52.490 --> 00:10:55.250 record. And A .R. Kane clearly took full advantage 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:57.659 of that. extra real estate they filled every 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:00.159 inch of it packed into that 68 minutes is a track 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.460 list of 26 individual songs 26 tracks yeah and 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:06.279 it is not just the volume of songs it's the chaotic 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:09.019 pacing You look at the runtimes and there is 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:12.279 zero consistency. You have these sweeping epic 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:15.240 anchors holding the album down. Like a love from 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.340 outer space is over five minutes long. Down is 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:21.120 five minutes and 14 seconds. Supervixens and 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:23.379 Catch My Drift are both exactly five minutes 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:25.820 and 40 seconds. Right, those are massive immersive 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:28.399 deep dives into pop and house music. They require 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.600 the listener to settle in and lock into a groove. 00:11:30.779 --> 00:11:33.539 Right, but then sandwiched directly between those 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:36.820 massive immersive tracks are these obscure short 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:38.600 interludes, but I do not mean a minute -long 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:41.419 transition. Track seven, titled Off into Space, 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:44.220 is exactly four seconds long. Four seconds. You 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:45.860 barely have time to register the sound before 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:48.440 it's gone. And track 24, sorry, is five seconds 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:50.700 long. Hello, the very first track that kicks 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:53.519 off this entire massive 68 -minute journey is 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.500 27 seconds. It's a completely dizzying way to 00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:58.440 sequence an album. You are constantly being pulled 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:00.659 in and out of the experience. It shatters any 00:12:00.659 --> 00:12:02.919 sense of traditional album flow. You are forced 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:05.679 to constantly readjust your attention. It honestly 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:07.919 sounds exactly like scrolling through a modern 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.360 social media feed. Oh, that's a good point. Think 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.110 about it. You get a four -second micro - of a 00:12:13.110 --> 00:12:15.830 meme smashed right up against a five -minute 00:12:15.830 --> 00:12:18.769 video essay immediately followed by a 10 -second 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:22.850 joke. It is constant aggressive context switching. 00:12:23.769 --> 00:12:26.090 Ankeny was entirely right. They really were predicting 00:12:26.090 --> 00:12:28.769 the future. They predicted the fractured attention 00:12:28.769 --> 00:12:31.929 economy in 1989. That is a brilliant analogy. 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.259 The structural chaos of the album perfectly mirrors 00:12:35.259 --> 00:12:38.379 the media consumption habits of today. But, you 00:12:38.379 --> 00:12:41.580 know, to pull off that level of friction to seamlessly 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:44.320 or aggressively transition from a five -minute 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.480 house track to a four -second burst of noise 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.379 requires an incredibly dense, sophisticated level 00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:52.330 of production. I can imagine. To make 26 tracks 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:54.690 that bounce between reggae bass lines, classical 00:12:54.690 --> 00:12:56.950 strings, and four -second interludes, you can't 00:12:56.950 --> 00:12:59.309 just have two guys tinkering in a garage. They 00:12:59.309 --> 00:13:01.289 must have had a small army in the studio with 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:04.149 them to execute this. They absolutely did. The 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:06.889 album was co -produced by A .R. Cain themselves, 00:13:07.230 --> 00:13:09.649 alongside Ray Schulman. And just a quick note, 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:12.049 A .R. Cain, which consisted of Art Cain and a 00:13:12.049 --> 00:13:14.830 second musician, just listed as A .R. Cain in 00:13:14.830 --> 00:13:17.409 the credits they handled arranging, audio production, 00:13:17.730 --> 00:13:20.549 engineering, guitars, vocals, and multiple instruments. 00:13:20.610 --> 00:13:23.710 OK, so they were busy? Very busy. But the personnel 00:13:23.710 --> 00:13:26.129 list surrounding them is massive. So who was 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:28.389 in this army they built? Well, you have a sprawling 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:31.350 roster of engineers. Nine different engineers 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:34.389 are credited. on this album. Fine. Nine, including 00:13:34.389 --> 00:13:36.909 notable names like Lincoln Fong, Paul Kendall, 00:13:37.090 --> 00:13:40.110 and Ken Thomas. You have Benny DeMassa holding 00:13:40.110 --> 00:13:43.490 down the drums, Colin Karens on bass, and the 00:13:43.490 --> 00:13:45.830 vocal textures are wildly varied because they 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.350 didn't just rely on themselves. Right. They brought 00:13:48.350 --> 00:13:51.250 in multiple outside vocalists, including Maggie 00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:53.889 Tamballa and a mysterious vocalist credited simply 00:13:53.889 --> 00:13:57.379 as Girl Lorna. Girl Lorna? That is incredibly 00:13:57.379 --> 00:13:59.899 iconic. It adds this perfect layer of mystique 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:02.399 to the whole production. It does. But the real 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:04.580 density, the element that truly thickens the 00:14:04.580 --> 00:14:06.960 sound and creates that friction with the dance 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:09.580 beats, comes from the strings. They utilized 00:14:09.580 --> 00:14:11.740 extensive string sections. Classical strings 00:14:11.740 --> 00:14:14.580 on a dance record. Oh, yeah. Ginny Ball, Sally 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:17.820 Herbert, and Jeremy Metcalf on violin. Sue Dench 00:14:17.820 --> 00:14:20.659 and Jocelyn Pooke on viola. Martin McCarrick 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:24.090 and Audrey Riley on cello. plus an entire additional 00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:26.750 string group credited as the false harmonies. 00:14:27.049 --> 00:14:28.710 Okay, the false harmonies. That sounds like the 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:31.409 villainous rival band in a 1980s teen movie. 00:14:31.570 --> 00:14:34.350 It is a spectacular name for a string section. 00:14:34.590 --> 00:14:38.230 It really is. Just imagine trying to mix a delicate 00:14:38.230 --> 00:14:41.570 classical viola arrangement from the false harmonies 00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:45.049 over a heavy synthesized house music bass line. 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:48.080 The technical headache of making that sound cohesive 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.500 must have been immense. Which is exactly why 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.740 they needed nine engineers. Seriously. And this 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:55.259 brings us to my absolute favorite detail in the 00:14:55.259 --> 00:14:58.179 entire Wikipedia personnel list. I'm ready. Because 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:00.860 amidst all these highly technical engineers, 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:02.940 all these classically trained string players, 00:15:03.059 --> 00:15:05.820 and all this serious heavy musical architecture, 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:09.379 there's a credit for a musician named Chris Tombling. 00:15:09.659 --> 00:15:13.159 I am almost afraid to ask. What instrument did 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:16.460 Chris Tomling contribute to this 68 -minute masterpiece? 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.720 Well, Chris Tomling is credited with playing 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.240 the violin and a balloon. Wait, a balloon? Like 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.519 an actual literal balloon? An actual balloon. 00:15:24.899 --> 00:15:27.940 Right next to the viola, the cello, and the house 00:15:27.940 --> 00:15:31.139 music drum machines, we have an official album 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:33.960 credit for a balloon. That is incredible. I can 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:38.259 just picture the scene in this grand... Serious 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:41.320 recording studio, right? You have nine engineers 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:43.559 sweating over the mixing board, the false harmonies 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:46.039 are meticulously tuning their cellos, the reggae 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:48.399 bass is warming up, and Chris Tomlin is just 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.299 standing completely deadpan in the corner, aggressively 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:53.960 rubbing a balloon into a microphone. It's absurd. 00:15:54.100 --> 00:15:55.980 That is the exact kind of unchecked ambition 00:15:55.980 --> 00:15:58.539 I was defending earlier. Yeah. It is pure chaotic 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:01.080 creativity. I agree completely. And if we connect 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:03.379 this to the bigger picture, this massive roster 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:05.899 perfectly validates every single critic we've 00:16:05.899 --> 00:16:08.480 discussed today. both the negative and the positive. 00:16:10.779 --> 00:16:13.320 Think about it. If you were Greg Tate in 1990 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:15.700 and you are looking for the organic simplicity 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:19.580 of their debut, this massive 26 -track balloon 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:22.639 -infused, genre -hopping, nine -engineer production 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.179 absolutely looks like a calculating, spotty mess. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:28.980 It looked entirely incontinent, as Pitchfork 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:33.240 argued. It is bloated. But if you are Jason Ankeny, 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.919 looking back from the modern era, you see that 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.259 throwing all those disparate elements into a 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:41.740 blender, the house music, reggae, classical strings, 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:44.740 micro tracks, and literal balloon noises was 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:46.840 exactly the blueprint that alternative music 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:49.200 would eventually follow. So the chaos was the 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.679 prophecy. Exactly. Both critics are looking at 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:53.720 the exact same data points, just through different 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:55.899 historical lenses. So what does this all mean? 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:57.960 What can you, listening to this deep dive right 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.740 now, take away from the strange, polarizing 26 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:05.200 -track story of A. R. Cain's I? I think the fundamental 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:08.160 takeaway is a defense of unchecked ambition in 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.420 your own life. Whether you are an artist, an 00:17:10.420 --> 00:17:12.640 entrepreneur, trying to build a business, or 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.980 just someone trying to solve a problem in a completely 00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:18.440 new way, do not be afraid to be a little stylistically 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:21.140 incontinent. Do not be afraid to put the four 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:24.180 -second absurd idea right next to the five -minute 00:17:24.180 --> 00:17:27.480 serious master plan, because the messy, fragmented 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:29.339 balloon -rubbing project you are stressing over 00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:32.099 today might just be recognized as a crystal ball 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:34.829 tomorrow. I love that. It is about trusting your 00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:37.450 own process, even when it looks completely chaotic 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:40.390 to the outside world. Which brings me to one 00:17:40.390 --> 00:17:42.650 final fascinating detail from the source material 00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:45.150 that I want to leave you with today. The Wikipedia 00:17:45.150 --> 00:17:47.789 page notes an interesting paradox regarding the 00:17:47.789 --> 00:17:50.829 title of the album, and it raises a really profound 00:17:50.829 --> 00:17:53.309 question about the nature of the ego in collaborative 00:17:53.309 --> 00:17:56.609 art. Ooh, okay. Lay the puzzle on us. The title 00:17:56.609 --> 00:17:59.049 of this sprawling album is just the letter I, 00:17:59.210 --> 00:18:01.390 and importantly, it is stylized as a lowercase 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:05.089 I. A lowercase I. Just a tiny single letter. 00:18:05.259 --> 00:18:08.119 Yet, as we have just spent this entire deep dive 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:12.299 discussing, this is a 67 -minute, 26 -track mammoth 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:15.400 of a record. It features a massive ensemble of 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.119 string players, nine different engineers, multiple 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:21.099 vocalists, and balloon players. Right. It is 00:18:21.099 --> 00:18:24.319 the very definition of a sprawling, highly collaborative 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.839 effort. Furthermore, the text notes that A .R. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.559 Kane was no stranger to massive, crowded collaborations. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.019 They were actually part of the supergroup Mars 00:18:32.019 --> 00:18:34.539 and had a massive hit single together called 00:18:34.569 --> 00:18:38.049 Pump Up the Volume. Oh, wow. Pump Up the Volume 00:18:38.049 --> 00:18:41.109 was a massive cultural touchstone, so they absolutely 00:18:41.109 --> 00:18:42.990 knew how to play nicely in a crowded room. They 00:18:42.990 --> 00:18:45.289 weren't just isolated hermits. Exactly. So here 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:47.329 is the puzzle for you to mull over today as you 00:18:47.329 --> 00:18:50.369 go about your work. Why name the specific album 00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:53.750 the most bloated, creatively dense, highly collaborative 00:18:53.750 --> 00:18:57.250 project imaginable after the smallest, most singular 00:18:57.250 --> 00:18:59.970 concept of the self? That is a wild contrast. 00:19:00.190 --> 00:19:03.769 Right. Is the lowercase i simply an ironic inside 00:19:03.769 --> 00:19:06.009 joke by the band about how massive the project 00:19:06.009 --> 00:19:08.630 got? Or does it represent something deeper about 00:19:08.630 --> 00:19:11.890 the creative process? Does the lowercase i represent 00:19:11.890 --> 00:19:14.210 the shrinking of the individual ego dissolving 00:19:14.210 --> 00:19:16.450 into the massive collective chaos of the art 00:19:16.450 --> 00:19:19.529 itself? Is it the ultimate ego trip to name a 00:19:19.529 --> 00:19:21.849 universe after yourself or is it the death of 00:19:21.849 --> 00:19:24.210 the ego entirely? That is a brilliant question 00:19:24.210 --> 00:19:26.650 to leave off on. We hope you enjoyed this deep 00:19:26.650 --> 00:19:29.170 dive into the chaotic prophetic world of A .R. 00:19:29.250 --> 00:19:31.589 Kane. Thank you so much for joining us and keep 00:19:31.589 --> 00:19:33.970 exploring those messy masterpieces. Until next 00:19:33.970 --> 00:19:34.130 time.