Other People Place

With a trend that has been multiplying like a litter of bunnies, IDM (or clicks and cuts, or laptop rock, whatever you want to call it) has its exciting acts and its not so exciting acts. As with many of these acts today, the Other People Place seem either lost or uninspired. For the majority of Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café the same drumbeat is used repeatedly, making it hard to decipher whether the musician is trying to blend the songs with smooth continuity or just purposefully make the music boring. There are no tracks that stand out from the rest, which makes it a rather relaxing and continuous listen, or good background music. However, this is not Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, as the experimentation is insignificant and it sounds quite dated. Some moments are reminiscent of early Warp acts, such as Nightmares On Wax's early works or LFO's more minimal tracks, but TOPP obviously lacks originality, considering these pioneers released their records a decade ago. For Warp enthusiasts like Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café is worth adding to a complete collection. However, if you're interested in investing in some challenging or exciting IDM, this is not the record.