''Crying Over Pros for No Reason'' is the debut studio album by American
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
producer
Edward Ma under the alias of edIT. It was released on April 12, 2004, through
Planet Mu
Planet Mu is an English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance music, the ...
.
Background
Ma had been a producer for acts such as
Sole and
Busdriver under the alias Conartist. He was influenced by his roommate at the time, who had bought and played records from electronic artists such as
Squarepusher,
Boards of Canada
Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of the brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Signing first to Skam Records, Skam followed by Warp (record label), Warp Records in the 1990s, they received recognition following th ...
and
Aphex Twin
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...
, and who had introduced him to Planet Mu through other records that he had bought.
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* Plural for Demo (computer programming ...
of the album were sent to various labels, including to Planet Mu, which Ma chose to release it with.
Ma made the album in the
digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
, with all of its production done by hand without access to
VST plugins. The title of the album, ''Crying Over Pros for No Reason'', plays off of the word "
hoes"—in an interview with
UKF Music, Ma stated, "Back in those days the radio wouldn’t let you say hoes. So artists changed it to pros. It was a cool little riff on it – crying over girls for no reason."
Reception
Upon release, ''Crying Over Pros for No Reason'' received little to no attention other than from specialised magazines and blogs. Retrospective reviews of the album have been positive; Laurent Fintoni, in a feature for ''
Fact
A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...
'', called the album "groundbreaking, and important," noting how the album was ahead of its time and praising it for its accessibility through its roots in
hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
and describing it as "a blueprint for things to come". Rob Theakston of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
acknowledged the album's similarities to artists such as
Prefuse 73
Guillermo Scott Herren is an American producer who has been based in Atlanta, Barcelona, and New York City. Herren releases music under the aliases Prefuse 73, Delarosa & Asora, Ahmad Szabo, and Piano Overlord, and is also part of the groups S ...
and
Telefon Tel Aviv, but called it "a strong debut". Former ''
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic (abbreviated as Sputnik) is a music website that publishes music reviews and news entries. The site hosts both professional and amateur content, covering metal, punk, indie, rock, hip-hop, pop and other styles. Its reviews are us ...
'' staff reviewer StrangerofSorts gave the album a 4.5 out of 5, comparing its production to that of
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996.
He uses l ...
's and calling it "incredibly soulful".
A deluxe edition of ''Crying Over Pros for No Reason'' was released through
The Glitch Mob's Glass Air Records imprint in December 2014. Talking about the possibility of a follow-up album, Ma stated, "I always felt that if I couldn't top it, or couldn't say anything more about it, then I wouldn't say anything...The amount of people who've hit me up about it over the years made me realise how cult the record was and how special it was to some people. If I couldn't hit a home run harder than that, then I wouldn't do it."
Track listing
Notes
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
2004 albums
EdIT albums
Planet Mu albums