The Digital Information Ensemble is a loose collective of musicians based around a core membership consisting of Matt Stein (who has worked as an engineer and producer with the likes of Bill Laswell, Deee-Lite, Grace Jones and the Jungle Brothers), James "Jamaki" Knight, Charles Callelo, Jack Desantis and turntablist Chris Defendorf. The group's debut album covers an impressive amount of terrain, from the hilariously homoerotic acid-house sendup that opens the program to the abstract aural doodling that ends it. Club beats predominate; this is mostly four-on-the-floor dance music, though with a definite sense of humor and a certain cultural sophistication not often found in that genre. The samples are frequently very funny, as on "Allow the Sound" and "Medicine." "Uh Oh" delivers garbled vocal samples and a bassoon obligato over a funky breakbeat; "D.I.E. Groove" layers drum parts to create a hybrid funk/house sound. Clever, cute and fun. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
Medicine
Matt Stein
The Digital Information Ensemble
(5:56)
D.I.E. Groove
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(5:00)
Thoughts to Live By
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(6:32)
Dreams
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(6:27)
Allow the Sound
Matt Stein
The Digital Information Ensemble
(4:51)
Whitither
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(7:09)
Classix
Matt Stein
The Digital Information Ensemble
(4:44)
Uh Oh
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(6:29)
Ambarp
The Digital Information Ensemble
The Digital Information Ensemble
(3:14)
Credits
Nancy Brennan (Design), Matt Stein (Producer), Matt Stein (Mixing), Charles Calello (Keyboards), Chris Gorman (Photography), Charles Calello (Engineer), Matt Stein (Programming), Charles Calello (Synthesizer), James Knight (Percussion), Matt Stein (Guitar (Synthesizer)), Matt Stein (Engineer), James Knight (Sampling), James Knight (?), Jack Desantis (Engineer), Jack Desantis (Bass), The Digital Information Ensemble (Band), Charles Calello (Vocal Arrangement), Matt Stein (Sampling), Chris Defendorf (Group Member), Matt Stein (Guitar), The Digital Information Ensemble (Mixing), James Knight (Engineer), Phil Fuller (Design), Jack Desantis (Synthesizer Bass), Howie Weinberg (Mastering)
