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As Is , 7/10
Square Root Of Negative One , 4/10
Decentertainment , 6/10
Lunchbox: Anyways (2005), 5/10
DJ Olive: Bodega (2003), 5/10
DJ Olive: Buoy (2004), 6.5/10
DJ Olive: Sleep (2006), 6.5/10
DJ Olive: Triage (2008), 6/10
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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

We are three Brooklyn disc-jockeys who grew up within the "illbient" scene of New York dance clubs: Ignacio Platas (Once 11), Gregor Asch (DJ Olive), Rich Panciera (Lloop). DJ Olive was the one who invented the term. The three virtually invented in 1992 the legendary Lalalandia multimedia parties in Williamsburg.

We's debut album, As Is (Asphodel, 1997), was a revelation and remains a milestone of dance music thanks to an attitude that borrows from Squarepusher's austere compositions and adds an almost psychedelic approach to improvisation. Whether it is drum'n'bass (Magnesium Flares, 3/10 Of The Population) or dub (Believe Porpoise, Ease In) or trip-hop (Dyed Camel Skins, Lillie) or even jazz (In Time) that the trio demolishes, the resulting harmonies are always luxuriant and acrobatic. The pieces with no percussion (Flutesque, Shape Wipe) and the requiem Tombs And Tombs Only highlight the classical skills of the composers.

Unfortunately, the subsequent Square Root Of Negative One (Asphodel, 1998) is a confused hodgepodge of jungle cliches, as if a bunch of amateurs tried to imitate We. 12 Diablos and El Mosquito will probably help pay the mortgage, but sound like a betrayal of the avantgarde ambitions of As Is

Decentertainment (Liquid Sky, 2000), on the other hand, marks a fantastic return to form, with a wild post-modern experiment on dance styles. The addition of world-music (Afrique, Rain In Spain, Micro Al Hammed) simply enhances a palette that was already overflowing with genius. Even the simplest jungle tracks (Out For Now, Granular Timor Time, Pull) eskew the trivial and gross predictability of Square Root.

Text Of Light (Starlight Furniture, 2004) is a collaboration among guitarists Alan Licht Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, turntablists Christian Marclay and DJ Olive, drummer William Hooker and saxophonist Ulrich Krieger.

Lunchbox is the trio of DJ Olive on turntable and laptop, Martin Baumgartner on laptop and Bruno Amstad on vocals. Anyways (Agriculture, 2005) deconstructs dub, jazz and hip-hop, but fails to reconstruct them into self-sustaining structures, with the notable exceptions of Brown Bag and Peanut Butter And Jelly.

Bodega (Agriculture, 2003) was the solo debut of DJ Olive, mostly inspired by old-fashioned funk music although delivered with the high-tech tools of the 200s. His second album, Buoy (Room40, 2004), is a single track of soothing keyboard drones, field recordings and digital glitches. About half-way an organic pulsation appears, almost a bossanova. After about 40 minutes an industrial bass undulation merges with a sinister galactic drone. The last ten minutes opt for a slow fade-out that leaves only the faintest of glitches and found noises. DJ Olive's progression towards the abstract peaked with his third album, Sleep (Room40, 2006), that contains only one 48-minute piece, another titanic endeavor of abstract soundsculpting, musique concrete, glitch art and ambient droning, just a bit more relaxed and static than the previous one. The third part of the "sleeping pills" trilogy, the one-hour long Triage (2008), debuted as an art installation at the 2008 Whitney Biennial.

djTRIO was a turntablist trio formed by Christian Marclay, Toshio Kajiwara and DJ Olive and documented on 21 September 2002 (Cuneiform, 2012).

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