Plaid
Not For Threes

THE REVIEW

With Bjork at her peak and the Black Dog now established as a cornerstone of IDM, we come across a masterpiece from '97.

"Not For Threes" is the second phase of the Plaid project, the original branch of the "black dog" branded system.

The design of "Mbuki Mvuki" was fresh, complex, and extroverted back in '91, but here the plots become more intricate, influenced also by the zeitgeist, namely trance and downtempo that were making their way everywhere.

"Abla Eedio" immediately reassures us and gives us the idea that we are confronting a serious realization.

The art of positioning the tracks sensibly, but also instinctively...

The first three are tremendously alluring. They are works of art in fact.

"Kortisin" and "Headspin" properly jostle us in their intriguing drum'n'bass plots. The artificiality of the sound is overpowered by the beauty of the notes, or rather, the sequences and frequencies so dear to our Sicilian shores...

"Chanson Egocentrique"...

"Extork" features Nicholette on vocals, and we find ourselves in almost trance territories.. But at the second minute, there's the project's art. Bridge with exceptional basses and countertimes, cinematic, surreal... It's an electronic vortex so obsessive that at a certain point it manages to seduce you completely.

We reach the middle of the album enchanted, with the sci-fi "Prague Radio" and the minimal "Ol", one of the peaks along with "Headspin" and "Kortisin".

The Boards Of Canada of "Music Is Math" and similar owe a lot to these impalpable beats, etched in the sky. Clouds strolling over our minds, over our eyes.

"Lilith" is the evidence of what Bjork was at least until '97. A literally ownerless reality. The period is the unrepeatable one of "Homogenic" to put it simply...

Sixteen tracks that don't weigh heavily. One of the last glimmers of Plaid, remember them. The Plaid.