Ambiance With an Attitude
Tim Rideout is a multi-talented artist and independent music producer from Montreal. Despite him being a close personal friend of mine, Ambient Pastiche has become one of my favourite CD on its own merit.
His work on Ambient Pastiche brings to mind such great electronic artists as Orbital or The Orb with its great rhythms and unique sampling. But this is more than just another electronica CD. With the help of his top-notch group of musicians, "The Ride," Tim uses “real” acoustic instruments to complement his use of samples and synths. This creative choice may serve to reinforce his famous catchphrase from The Ride: EPK Video: “Hi, I’m Tim Rideout and I am not a DJ.”
Tim’s great sense of humour is also very present on the track “Bob Ca$h Flow (The mad urologist)”, a remix of a friend’s prank call about a guy looking for a drummer to go touring in Nunavut (“We get paid in beer and Inuit women.”) and the hilarious bonus track skit “The Return of the Reverend”, which expands on the continuing saga of “The Reverend” a fictional scam artist featured on his first CD.
Easy Listenin’
To get an idea of what this album has to offer, check-out these free MP3 from Tim’s site.
The Ride
Tim’s first album, The Ride, is very different from Ambient Pastiche and will appeal more to those who appreciate classic pop music as exemplified by bands like Hall and Oates. It is still very well made and quirky, as his Space Freekin track can attest.