This debut from Donato Wharton is the lost soundtrack to the works ofAsimov, where each track tells of a different character in a newsituation, like the various stages and chapters of "I, Robot." Storieslike these must be trapped in Wharton's head, but my imagination ranwild to create chapters of my own. I found the record to be more of alove tale, where computers and devices feel, for the first time, realemotions, and try to move through life with this new knowledge, only tofind how crippling these newfound and deeply wondered about feelingsare. The facts — that Wharton comes from Cardiff through Stuttgart andspends his time composing music for theater works — all have voices inhis brand of electronic music. All these experiences are present andaccounted for when the sounds plays through the speakers. It's theemotions and feelings that are created that make this truly unique, andon TrabantenWharton uses classic sounds to compose songs that raise genuine imagesand memories. "Built to Fail" starts this vision off right: the trackis all awkward rhythms formed by the splicing of tracks to create astumbling effect. There's hope, like the whole thing will get on itsfeet and walk like it manages to at the end, but ultimately it willfall apart again. It has to, because any effort of this kind willultimately due to the weight and pressure of it all. "Silvester" beepsand clicks like a pining love, like a machine falls in love with thevoice that travels on its wires. "Is That While Yr Still on Earth" iseavesdropping on multiple lines: the first hint that these dreams canturn dark, destroying what creates or feels them equally. And so thestory progresses, track after track, as the wires try to own andpossess more that they can call their own, only to find out in the endthat they can't really own anything. Depressing, sure, but it's still amarvel. Just when I think this whole digital revolution is a crock andthat the whole thing should just implode upon itself, I hear a CD likethis one. The real crock is this: the promise of technology producingall these frank and amazing artists purely by the mass availability ofsampling and recording technologies for anyone to use on their Mac orPC. There still must be artistry of some sort, some originality orunique voice that demands this technology to truly be heard, andWharton definitely has that in spades.Read More
