usic in general has really gone downhill since Thomas Edison. Before wax cylinders and vinyl, and magnetic tape, music was a form of expression, or a means to relate a story, not some manufactured product for mass consumption. Granted, some artists still manage to pull off the whole "art" thing, Will Hart included. Circulatory System's Inside Views is a perfect example of this. Limited edition, CD-R release, each copy with quasi-unique artwork - available only from cloudrecordings.com... this is the real shit, people. Like Cherokee chants or Irish pub songs, this is the genuine article. Granted, Cloud certainly doesn't have a huge hype/marketing machine running for its regular releases (I still had to special-order the s/t Circulatory System CD, after all), but these handmade, limited releases really strive for the same, old-OLD-school vibe that existed up until the 20th century.


Now of course it's hard to compare Pet Sounds to old slave spirituals, since recording technology and manufacturing technology go hand in hand, but we can certainly tell the difference between glossy manufactured poproduct and true, genuine ART. There's a huge discrepancy between a major-label-money-fueled-Neptunes-produced summer anthem and a gritty 4-track-and-pro-tools sound collage.


If you're reading this site, odds are you favor the latter. (Then again, I have heard the N.E.R.D. album, and I must admit - those guys know what's up. But if I analyze this fact too much my whole theory collapses, so I'll leave that argument for another day...I digress). Well, friends, you'll find a lot of the latter here, on this brand-new, home-made, Circulatory System release. Basically a remix of the self-titled debut, it far exceeds any expectations that simple word implies. All the melodic hooks, all the glorious sonic tidbits are here, just arranged differently (This album is, after all, comprised solely of tracks from that aforementioned album). The surprise is that this album is BETTER than the source from which it draws.


If Circulatory System was a cherry-red '66 corvette, Inside Views is that car's engine transplanted onto a chassis of two by fours. All the power is there, and it functions in the same way, but you can see/hear every minute detail of its operation. Considering the insane number of tracks and sounds that went into the construction of Circulatory System, this is quite a feat. Where the self titled album was a dense block of strings, keyboards, guitars, chanting, clarinets, vibes, et cetera et cetera, Inside Views is that dense block in exploded view, so every bit and piece can be grabbed, fondled, perused, until the listener is completely satisfied. Want more of the chanting? It's here in full, the layers and layers of noisewash are stripped away, and you can hear it in all its glory.


Want more of that clarinet? How about three minutes of deconstructed cut-n-paste of the same sample?


The fact is, Circulatory System was brilliant on one level, but the layer cake pop approach only goes so far. Inside Views, true to its title, offers a completely different perspective on the same set of songs/themes, and one that any forward-thinking music fan will enjoy.