This album was a revelation for me: something new opening my world to a complete new sort of music. While there was an Ambient explosion in the early 1990's (which I did not experience myself) the end of the millennium saw the IDM or experimental electronic music explosion. A major driver to this "revolution" was the increased capabilities of computers as musical instruments and the abundance of software samplers. These allowed the dissection and reassembly of any sound resulting into totally new pieces of music. One of the pioneers of this genre is surely Richard Devine. His soundscapes are extensively crafted forming complex structures and amazing results. A majority of the tracks of Lipswitch are beat-less and require active listening. My favourite tracks on this record are Kepter and Route, Increment.
Today, ten years later things have shifted again and a new generation of laptop artists appeared but this release still sounds very fresh to me. Nowadays, with no official release in five years Richard Devine focuses on his own sound design company and film music and some new tracks can be found at soundcloud.
