"remember the first time you tried tai food and you found it like nothing else you've ever had before, but now you eat tai all the time. this music is a lot like that. You'll be bombarded with all kinds of new sounds and compositions. A cool new genre. GREAT STUFF!"
Award winning disc
Renee Verdon | LA, CA | 07/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"no wonder that they won the german record critics award, one of the best new music CD's that has appeared to date. Very eclectic, original and exciting. If you are anyone who is into new music then get this CD! It's a must have. It's new and hip!"
Prae-conspicâbilis...a sublime object
Grace Schmitt | Los Angeles, CA | 03/14/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have been affording this album the sort of close listen most familiar to obsessed Beatles fans in the 1960s and have struggled to discern how much AE is adding or stripping away from these pieces. Whatever adjustments are being made, this ensemble finds new meaning in the (not quite) everyday. For all the wonder of Daugherty's "Sing Sing, J. Edgar Hoover" and Adams' "Roadrunner," it is MacMillan's "...as others see us..." that makes this album essential. As in their recent Los Angeles concert, AE writhes against their instruments, eking sensuality out of each note. Here, a spare and delightful Debussy is the gutsy choice; it is a wonderful conclusion to a wonderful album."
Inspired, maddening, wonderful album
Jonathan | NYC | 03/06/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After witnessing the jaw dropping performance of Martin Kuuskmann, clad in a shimmery Elvis outfit, playing his heart out during his solo on "Dead Elvis" at a recent New York city concert, I am thrilled to hear him again on this album. Taken as a whole, Absolute Mix looks to be the band's effort to introduce its fans to an even less traditional side of itself than they displayed with their Adams/Schoenberg album. While they do offer inspired Debussy, they seem to dare people to be offended by this album. Not that this should come as any surprise, Jarvi and his band of virtuoso classical thugs seem to thrive on knocking the stuffing out of convention. The band blithely ignores any notion of traditional boundaries, thumbing its nose at those who think Daugherty has no place on an album with Debussy."