Q (10/00, p.119) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Groove-led tracks pulse seductively while electronic texture are deftly interwoven....this will delight those with the acquired...abstract...taste..."
Alternative Press (10/00, p.96) - 3 out of 5 - "...Blends improv, songcraft and electronic sound. An out-jazz sensibility holds forth and coheres the tracks..."
CMJ (8/7/00, p.32) - "...Augments [their] Aphex Twin/electric Miles/ Tortoise fusion....revolving more around the groove..."
Down Beat (10/00, p.60) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The sextet cleverly wrings kaleidoscopic proportions out of simple structures....an attractive new spin on electronic music..."
JazzTimes (12/00, p.103) - "...The happy medium between their moody acoustic interplay and the duo's electronic spirit..."
Rovi
This third album by Chicago (please don't call them post-rock) experimentalists Isotope 217 fulfills and expands upon the promise of its predecessors. Though plagued with the "Tortoise offshoot" tag from the start, Isotope really establishes its own sound here. The debut album featured slightly tentative--but still forward-looking--BITCHES BREW-isms, the second a bit more electronic flavor.
WHO STOLE THE I WALKMAN, however, is a fully realized, sui generis concoction of free jazz, avant garde weirdness, moody electronics, and completely non-retro jazz-rock flourishes. An effective balance between composition and improvisation, lyrical melody and free-wheeling freakout is achieved. If anything, the influence of trumpeter Rob Mazurek's avant-jazz Chicago Underground group plays more of a role here than Tortoise, but admirers of either outfit should be drawn to this recording.
Rovi