After years of successful singles and DJ stints, as well as an ambient excursion titled
Left Above the Clouds,
Josh Wink delivered his first full-fledged album,
Herehear, in the summer of 1998.
Wink took the opportunity to showcase his diversity, and that's part of the problem --
Herehear wants to be everything to everybody. There's techno, ambient, industrial, house, indie rock, spoken word, jungle, acid -- it's a veritable textbook of '90s dancefloor styles. Head-spinning, yes, but a little too overwhelming and unfocused to be consumed all in one sitting. That said, it's an album with some stunning individual moments, whether it's the acid groove "Back in Tha' Day" or
Trent Reznor's guest appearence on "Black Bomb." In fact, "Black Bomb"illustrates the main flaw of
Herehear -- taken individually, it's pretty impressive (as are most of the tracks here), but when they're thrown together, they don't make too much sense. Still, there's no denying that
Wink is a master of production and can create blinding tracks -- he just needs to find a way to tie it all together. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine