Various - Galaxies: An Excursion Through Technospace

Havoc: 1993

I came across this while perusing Lord Discogs' tomes for Human Mesh Dance material, and almost instantly, a wave of weird nostalgia hit me. Of a bygone era when garish CGI cover art and track lists filled with utter unknowns were common place. When techno was still finding its way in a post-rave world, unsure whether to go harder, trancier, or minimal. Where such a CD would cost you $30 at the local record shop (because 'imported'), a total gamble when that was, like, half your monthly allowance, dude, for something you really didn't know would be good or not.

Initially I was gonna' pass on this from the Discogs seller, not willing to pony up that kind of cash for a single disc anymore. Then I thought, wait, I totally would have back in the day, when such money was worth more than it is now. Screw it, let's take that Excursion Through Technospace!

And yeah, this was worth it, at least where my interests are concerned. I'm always down for unearthing obscure electronic music capturing the early '90s freedom on non-genre conformity, and this collection has techno-trance acid-rave to spare. Absolutely some of this will sound dated and simple, but you can't help but fall sway to its retro charms as well.

Specifically, Galaxies was meant to be a label showcase for Havoc Music, one of Human Mesh Dance's earliest prints. Taylor Deupree, the man behind HMD, would go onto more success with 12K, but we all start somewhere, and the sound of techno-rave was the fresh hotness in New York City back then. Along with Taylor, this roster included early works from Dietrich Schoenemann (those who know, know) and Jason Szostek (partner in crime with John Selway behind the Serotinin print). Plus an assortment of way-underground names like Virus Crack Team, Hydraulic Clownhead, Lunik, and City Of God, because a good compilation can't be carried by just a handful of dudes. Okay, it can, but better having a little variety in there.

Yes, there's surprising variety here. It may not seem so at first, the initial clutch of tracks doing hard acid techno and ravey breakbeat. Then things get way deeper on Lovechild (Rise), downright trancey with Video Hallucination, deep trancey on Circuit, then... deep house on Human Mesh Dance's own Heaven (Recovered)? Huh, wasn't expecting that. Nor hearing the sort of synth pads expected from a Pete Namlook work on Prototype 909's I Don't Want To Grow Up (the Havoc 'supergroup', if you will).

Something more tribal from Axon (Flux (The Tribal Mix)), something weirdly Balearic in a warehouse rave sort of way from E-Sop (Dream Is A Shadow Of Something Real), and back to chant-riffic jazzy breaks in closer Io from City Of God. Yeah, that FSoL influence could be felt even on the Eastern seaboard. Very well-rounded finish, all said, and quite a spell from the bangin' acid homage to E' Dietrich opened things up with.

Cypress Hill - Black Sunday

Columbia: 1993

So I started a Cypress Hill collection. I'm surprised I even got into them this late in the game, but when one decides to digest an entire discography, sometimes some albums stand out so much, you just gotta' have it for yourself, proper-like. And if there's ever one album from this posse that you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Cypress Hill fan, it's easily this one. Is it their best album though? Oh, wait, I already said it was when I did my survey. Review's over, then!

Seriously though, it's surprising just how successful this album turned out, and not just because it's the one with Insane In The Brain on it. Okay, it's almost entirely because of that, but I mean how well the rest of album holds up despite its presentation. Like, if you didn't know better, you'd think this was something other than a hip-hop record just off of cover art alone. No street hoods menacingly glaring at a camera, no pictures of urban squalor, no bikini babes or bling paraded about. Just a stark cemetery with a dead tree and a pile of bones, a picture straight out of Gothic horror. What's gangsta' about being Goth? Sure, B-Real was part of the Bloods (they vampires, right?) before getting into music, but he never made it focus of his lyrics.

Yet some tracks paint quite the picture of rain-soaked streets with frightening things creeping in the shadows. Cock The Hammer especially captures this essence, an almost savage piece of imagery with thunder storms and distantly echoing alarms backing B-Real and Sen Dog going on about a stealthy hunt (some additional dancehall rapping don't hurt either in selling the 'concrete jungle' vibe). Quite a few tracks are of similar nature, living life on the edge trying to survive in an inhospitable environment. What's remarkable is half the time, such topics are seemingly played lightly. When The Shit Goes Down, What Go Around Come Around, Kid, and Hand On The Glock are comparatively bouncy and almost happy-go-lucky given the subject matter. I guess it couldn't be helped when your biggest hit is almost a novelty track, so some light-heart vibes would seep elsewhere. Or maybe it's just all that weed they be smokin' in the studio.

Yeah, they talk about the ol' mary jay on here, though not as much as some seem to remember, only two tracks really dedicated to it (Legalize It is just an interlude). Considering I Wanna Get High kicks the album off though, complete with a sample from Black Sabbath's The Wizard, it's easy to hear how that's the impression everyone comes away with. Excessive liner notes about hemp uses doesn't hurt either.

What's funny is, given marijuana's general acceptance in modern times, these tracks hold up better than the straight-up gangsta' posturing cuts. Ironic, considering rap music about drug use was once thought of as the more controversial topic than cliché-ridden gang bangin' lyrics.

Onyx - BacDaFucUp

JMJ: 1993

Even at the height of gangsta rap's cultural dominance, I never took it that seriously as a threat to society or whatever. Granted, I lived quite far away from South Central L.A., the back alleys of New York City, or wherever tales of 'hood life was happening. Even if a lot of it was total reality and not hyper sensationalized for commercial purposes, there always was a veneer of fantasy about it. Perhaps it was the movie CB4 making fun of the scene. Or maybe it was because, for all the threatening posturing these posses presented, many of them still had novelty crossover hits on the radio. Like, I felt more 'reactionary' to Ice-T's Body Count metal band than anything off his O.G. Original Gangster album (the record that got me gettin' gangsta' rap, for the record).

Onyx was different though. Something about this group felt, for lack of a better term, real and authentic. Not so much street hoodlums angry at the society that made them, but a gang lashing out at anything and anyone in general. A brash, punk attitude sneering through violent lyrics with raspy voices grown hoarse from all the shouting they do. Whereas other rap groups said they would beat your ass if you invaded their turf or dissed their clique, at least they were for 'logical' reasons. Onyx sounded like they'd beat your ass just because they could, no reason or rhyme needed to initiate combat mode.

Of course, for any rap group to stand out from their peers, they'd have to come out fierce and hard, standard brags and boasts just not cutting it. It's a testament to Onyx's fiery approach that they not only succeeded in that regard, but continued to thrive off that energy ever after. Even Wu-Tang Clan, whom were commonly referred to in tandem with Onyx as one of NYC's most vicious hip-hop debuts in '93, mellowed out over the years. Not so with Fedro Starr, Sonny Seeza and Sticky Fingaz (Big DS only appeared on this record). You picked up an Onyx album, you knew you were in for some head-bangin', slam dancin' action.

So a strong concept, rappers hungry to prove themselves, and tutelage from Jam Master Jay in bringing their mosh pit boom-bap into fruition. Perfect for the hardcore underground heads, but wouldn't you know it, they went and had a crossover hit too! How did that happen? Well, Slam is undeniably a proper headbanger, the sort of tune that'll get even wedding reception grandmothers be-boppin' with the bridesmaids. It's somehow not as menacing as anything else that appears on BacDaFucUp, yet just as effective in hyping the pits into apocalyptic anarchy.

Ah, right, the rest of the album. Lots of call-and-response raps, some mackin' on the ladies brags, and much shouting. Just... so much shouting. It's almost too much, tiring you out after a while. Then again, isn't the whole point of slam dancing in a mosh pit as much an endurance test?

M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy - Another Night

Hansa: 1993

It really is insane how many memorable hits '90s eurodance cranked out. This is a group that, behind the scenes, should never have had a hope. First emerging in a post-Technotronic hip-house world, M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy only saw marginal success, probably because they road Technotronic's jock so damn hard. Plus, their name had to be a put-on, yet another in a long lineage of German dance acts featuring lip-syncing. I guess this was still an era where white Europeans named Olaf just weren't seen as worthy rappers, so here's a black dude named M.C. Sar to sell that cover of Pump Up The Jam.

Fortunately, Freshline (the production team behind The Real McCoy that included long-time DJ Quickmix and Jürgen Wind) dropped that gimmick, letting Olaf Jeglitza take front-man status for their next single, Another Night. Also, instead of mimicking American rap, O-Jay adopted a low-throated sexy come-on cadence, which should never have worked with any credibility, yet stood out as something unique in a rapidly over-crowding eurodance scene. Still couldn't shake that lip-syncing itch, however, relying on studio singer Karin Kasar for the lady-led hook while having Patricia Petersen be the face. Gotta' keep that project name firmly ironic, I guess, especially since they retained 'M.C. Sar' for a spell.

Still, can't fault the resulting single. Made at that tasty cross-road between hip-house of old and euro house of not quite as old, it's got everything you want and need of the genre. A solid rhythm, simple keyboard stabs, pianos, buzzy synths, a rap, an insidiously hooky earworm, all mixed together for pop music perfection. I'm surprised The Weeknd hasn't ripped this off yet.

I had a rip of the Club Mix for ages, and never saw much need grabbing a proper single. I did wonder though, whether some gem of a remix lurked undiscovered. This was released when some crossover with German trance wasn't uncommon for eurodance hits. Maybe I should take a gander at this?

Well, the Dance Mix may have your Maxx tiggers flaring, what with the lack of Olaf and the use of panflute riffs. Which makes sense since this team did help produce Maxx, another act that had lip-syncers. Heck, apparently Olaf wrote the lyrics for Get-A-Way! As for the Inferno Mix, I guess this is somewhat close to the realms of trance, what with its minimalist, bleepy lead. Then it tries to go all Rollo with a big orchestral build, but sorry, those strings just don't have enough weight behind them, not to mention a weak-ass siren. Ah well, the remixes on these euro singles are always a crap-shoot. Maybe they'll get more love in one of those charming shuffle-dance compilations.

As for whether I'll get any more Real McCoy, I dunno'. Run Away is another fine tune, but I can't say I was a huge fan of the rest I heard. All too quick to start sounding like everyone else, frankly. Or was everyone else copying them?

Pet Shop Boys - Very

Parlaphone: 1993

All statistics point towards this being the Pet Shop Boys album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Pet Shop Boys fan. It certainly charted better than any other record in their catalogue, and is critically lauded as the duo's proper coming out party, where the somewhat coy, side-glancing nods to gay culture were finally put front and centre. More so, when Muzik Magazine was ranking their choices for the Top 50 dance albums, this was the PSB album they chose. Now, some of that may have been immediacy bias, the house and ravey remixes definitely a step up compared to the duo's '80s output, but regardless, if I can't trust Muzik Magazine's opinion on something, who can I trust?

Still, ask a regular layman to namedrop a song off here, chances are you'll get met with a blank. Folks know West End Girls, Always On My Mind, and (probably) It's A Sin, if for no other reason than their never-ending retro radio airplay. Nothing of the sort emerged from Very. Its singles did reasonably fine, with Go West - the big anthem that's so audacious, it features what sounds like the sailors from Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time video singing the chorus – doing the most damage. That darn radio play again factors in though, or rather the lack of it in the ensuing years in this case. '90s Pet Shop Boys just doesn't have the lasting cultural cache as '80s Pet Shop Boys does.

Anyhow, some may recall I started this PSB journey with the intent of very slowly going through their discography in chronological order, but have clearly skipped Behaviour. Yeah, well, that one's rep' hasn't sparked my interest quite like Very's, plus I saw this CD among a Discogs seller. I've been itching to hear this proper-like for a while, as those earworms heard on Disco 2 surely sound just as good in their original context. So nuts to orderly convention, let's get to the good shit.

The only criticism I can levy upon Very is the production doesn't quite hold up, its early '90s-ness clear and apparent. Not that that's ever been a real problem for PSB before, but there was always a sense they were riding the trends in their early work. Here, they haven't quite caught up to where synth-pop and dance music had progressed in such rapid time, which was just how things went that decade regardless. Hot today, outdated tomorrow. If anything, it's remarkable they were still able to hold their own when so many of their contemporaries had been left in the dust.

Beyond that though, this is very much Pet Shop Boys being as joyful and jubilant as they ever been. Even when topics fall into bittersweet break-ups ('natch), there's just a sense of freedom and release in it all. Very may not have their most iconic songs, but it feels like a proper cap on their first decade of music making.

Parental Advisory - Ghetto Street Funk

MCA Records: 1993

The notion that Atlanta hip-hop didn't break out until OutKast and Goodie Mob dropped their debut albums is so ingrained in public discourse, folks don't realize that's not quite accurate. True, Southernplayisticadillacmuzik and Soul Food put the Georgian city on the map, even rescuing The South from general assumptions it was nothing but dirty bass music. There was an act that beat them to it though, dropping an album before those two LPs, also produced by Organized Noize, all part of the same Dungeon Family conglomerate. Yet I never see any namedrops for Parental Advisory (P.A.).

It's not like they were completely unknown, having some minor chart success at the turn of the century when southern hip-hop started its national ascent. For all intents, Mello, Big Reece, and K.P. should be on the tongues of far more people than 'those in the know'. Was the shadow cast by OutKast and Goodie Mob just too large to emerge from? Perhaps, but there may be another reason for P.A.'s Ghetto Street Funk going so overlooked when talking up seminal Atlanta rap albums: it doesn't really sound like a southern record.

Which is understandable, the 808-heavy, dirty south style the dominate sound around, and still frowned upon by the Very Important markets on the East and West coasts. If you wanted to come in with something more respectable in the early '90s, you had to sound like those regions, and that's what Ghetto Street Funk does, Organized Noize coming in hard with the jazz sample-heavy, combative Eastcoast boom, almost any trace of their Georgian origin absent. As for the rappers, Big Reece sounds like a heavier, baritone Chuck D, while Mello comes off like an aggressive Slick Rick, and both bring plenty of energy to the beats, keeping you at least engaged with their flows, if not their lyrical content. (I don't think K.P. does much, if any rapping on this album, mostly sticking to DJ scratching and such – it was still an important component to early '90s hip-hop!)

Topic-wise, P.A. mostly stick to the usual gangsta rap tropes, going on about how hard they are, how hard the street life is, how hard they'll hit back at any other crews that try to step up (or something). It's hard denying a lot of this can come of cliche, and may have back when no one knew much of anything about Atlanta hip-hop. Like, I had no idea of their origin, just knowing them from their one single on the CB4 soundtrack. That it would take OutKast's more laid-back vibe (and Organized Noize stripping the aggro back for that duo) to truly establish a distinct southern style cannot be overstated.

Thus Ghetto Street Funk remains an underground gem, stuck at a crossroad of changing trends. I can't say it deserved more recognition for what it does, but it does it as well as any early gangsta rap album out of the east. Worth a listen, if you fancy the stuff.

Model 500 - Classics (2022 Update)

R & S Records: 1993

(Click here to read my original EMC review.)

Model 500 is Juan Atkins, a very important person in the world of techno. Often credited with being one of the Godfathers of the genre, his fame diminished as new upstarts took the techno mantle for themselves during the 90s. His career floundered for a while, which led to depression and over-eating. Determined to reclaim prestige for his name and his waistline, Atkins developed a bold new diet, which focused on the consumption of high amounts of protein to stave of hunger cravings. Wait, I’m getting serious deja-vu here...

Wow. I mean... Wow! It's finally come to this. I've literally looped this blog, finally reviewing every single item of mine from pre-re-launch. All that I have left to cover is that which I've gotten within the past year, and whatever I continue to get in the future. It's... still a fair amount, believe you me.

Does this mean I'll be doing updated reviews for everything from 2012 on? Haha, oh Lord, of course not! While I admit there's some shakey writing from those first few months, there likely isn't much else I can add to them. Granted, some reviews may have been under-written due to my self-imposed limited word count, but I'm mostly satisfied with the points I got across. Exhaustively detailing every nuance and production trick was never the point of this exercise, no matter how much fun it might have been to psycho-analyze a FSOL record or three.

That said, I will say one amend I'd like to make over my original Model 500 Classics review, in that I was unfairly harsh to complaints of overt '80s in it. How was I to know we were on the verge of a celebration of retro-future '80s sounds in the coming decade, more so than even the early '00s revival? Yeah, something like Chase (Smooth Mix) and Electric Entourage still can't shake the tinny production, but the rest? Perfectly fine early techno, by g'ar.

Okay, that's sorted. Where was I? Oh yes... wow! Like really, wow! It took nearly a full decade to get to this point, and I definitely didn't make it easier on myself in constantly getting new music. It honestly boggles my mind to think how much I gathered since October of 2012. By my hazy recollection, I had somewhere over 600 items in my music collection at that point, while Lord Discogs tells me I'm currently sitting at about 2,000. I basically tripled it in half the time! Then I see some of those 8,000 CD collections on Discogs and wonder, “HOW!??” Then again, those collectors aren't attempting something so daft as reviewing such large collections either. Undoubtedly less picky about their splurges, I wager.

I really don't have anything else to say here. It is rather fortuitous that such a milestone was reached at this point though, as I'm making a couple changes here going forward. To find out what, stay tuned for the monthly ACE TRACKS recap! Ooh, suspense.

Various - CB4 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

MCA: 1993

CB4 is a cutting satire of the early '90s gangsta rap scene, specifically the rise of N.W.A., peeling back the macho facade that was often presented to Johnny-Q Public. As a hopelessly white teenager from the suburbs of Vancouver, however, I had no clue of what the Chris Rock movie was revealing. I thought it was just a funny comedy about rap music, of which I had barely begun digging into beyond whatever pop radio deemed appropriate. The 'hardest' I'd gotten for myself included some tracks off Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster, and I came ever so close to nabbing Naughty By Nature's latest, had 2 Unlimited not intervened at the eleventh minute.

Truthfully, the only reason I got this soundtrack was from a little goading by peers while browsing a music shop. Yeah, we were fans of the movie, especially all the funny, dirty language as heard in such classics like Straight Outta Locash and Sweat Of My Balls. No way that I'd get this tape though, not with a musical taste that mostly consisted of music from the likes of “Weird” Al, Wayne's World, and whatever that “techno shit” was. Well, joke's on them, as not only did I buy that CB4 tape right then and there, but even pulled a 'prank' on our science teacher in getting him to listen to it too! Haha, oh, such rebellious youth, we was.

Enough anecdotes about buying my first rap album. What's even on this thing, and does it hold up nearly three decades on now? As a collection of hip-hop from the latter years of the Golden Era, it certainly does, but also kinda' ...doesn't? If we're being totally honest, there isn't anything on here considered an essential classic. And although some bonafide legends of rap in Public Enemy, KRS-One, and MC Ren show up, they were kinda' on the downswing of their careers at this point. Meanwhile, shining the spotlight on up-and-comers like Fu-Schnickens and Parental Advisory may have seemed beneficial at the time, but sputtered into nothing after. Still, keep an ear on that Blackstreet group, if they can shake the dated New Jack production from Teddy Riley for someone fresher.

Despite those criticism, there's still dope jams on here. Public Enemy may have seen better days, but Livin' In A Zoo (plus a Very Important sermon from Chuck D prior) kicks all kinds of ass. MC Ren's Mayday On The Frontline brings the proper gangsta menace to the show, while the Fu's Sneaking Up On Ya offers the lighter side of fancy world-play. Elsewhere, the Beastie Boys make a cameo in the DJ Hurricane led Stick 'Em Up, a tune about robbing people, and rather strange considering they were trying to shake off their younger, bratty attitudes. And for the “WTF?” records, here's P.M. Dawn's Nocturnal Is In The House, the spiritual group's own foray into hardcore. It's... not bad? The fact it also appears on a compilation that includes KRS-One makes it even more ironic.

The Future Sound Of London - Cascade

Virgin/Astralwerks: 1993/1996

I do wonder, just how much of a shock this EP was when it dropped. The lads behind Stakker Humanoid and Papua New Guinea going full sample-heavy world beat? Why we never! Yeah, yeah, calling Cascade that is almost blasphemous in some quarters, but let's be real here: 1993 was peak world beat. You already had two juggernauts of that sound making bank across the globe (Enigma and Deep Forest), with many quarters of dance music raiding all manner of sample libraries and fusing them with club rhythms. FSOL, who's omnipresent hit single was no less guilty in doing such, had to feel some pressure to move beyond the association. They had greater artistic aspirations than what rave culture was offering, so time to head back to the lab and start concocting something more evolved from their Earthbeat era (big advance money after signing with the mighty Virgin helped).

Which all seems academic from our lofty vantage point three decades on (holy COW!), but not so much in those short few years of the early '90s. Far as '93 folks knew, FSOL were crafting proper follow-ups to the warehouse techno stompers as heard on Accelerator, not conceptual art music. Oh, that Tales Of Ephidrina thing? Well, they used a different alias for it, Amorphous Androgynous, so clearly it's an album satisfying their expressionist outlet, not a sign of things to come with their most profitable pseudonym. Besides, Tales still had somewhat of a techno pulse, here and there. Nothing to suspect, oh no.

So Cascade drops, the glistening digital rendering of a neuron drawing you in. Glancing at the back cover, you notice something strange for a lead single: it's all in parts, as if one long musical piece. What, were there no remixes commissioned? Not at all, son, marking the start of FSOL handling their singles as nothing less than mini-albums in their own right, demands of clubbing culture be damned.

Still, listening through this EP, and comparing it to where they'd go with future singles, it's apparent Garry and Brian were still in a feeling-out process with this idea. Part 1 is the version most know of (if nothing else than for getting featured in the first Northern Exposure), while Part 2 is mostly the same, just in a slightly extended and dubbier version – so, the Extended Remix. Part 3 goes weirder, sounding like an extended take of sound effects and alien landforms. Why yes, they were already getting the Tangerine Dream comparisons, why do you ask?

Part 4 is where the idea of 'different paths' really takes hold, a harsher, grittier IDM tone prevalent as the base melodic elements contort around gnarly electro basslines. Part 5, meanwhile, edges closer back to the domain of regular techno, surprisingly almost vintage Detroit in execution. Jettisoning most of the 'world beaty' elements (woodwinds, ethnic drumming, etc.), there's still sonic weirdness going on along with sci-fi synths, and man, gotta' love the ol' tikkity-tik-tik drum programming there too.

Shades Of Orion - Shades Of Orion

Fax +49-69/450464/Ambient World: 1993/2000

So many albums, so many collaborations, so many projects. How does one sift through them all, much less give any sort of definitive top ranking? Ask many, and Pete Namlook's pairing with Tetsu Inoue is often the answer. It emerged among all the classic collaborations of Fax+'s formative years, yielded four working aliases, none of which became a 'forever series' like Dark Side Of The Moog. That leaves Tetsu somewhere in the middle of the pack, with nothing too daunting to consume, nor easily forgotten as a one-off. Then, there's the project names, simple street addresses of the locations the two would jam out their long-form ambient excursions, wholly unique items within the Fax+ discography. And a fair bit pricey now too.

Okay, the name Shades Of Orion isn't quite like 2350 Broadway or 62 Eulengasse, though honestly, before I realized the latter was the Fax+ street address, I thought it just as alien sounding as anything to do with Orion. And what exactly is a shade of Orion? Some celestial event? A bit of obscure Greek mythology? A mistranslation of Rutger Hauer's famous speech from Bladerunner?

Anyhow, thanks to a good ol' Ambient World re-issue, I finally snagged myself a hard copy to hear some of this legendary Tetsu & Pete music making proper-like. Still, I needed to temper my expectations, these early Namlook works occasionally a little naff with excessive experimentation or rote techno rhythms, the artists figuring out what may make them fluently vibe off each other.

Biotrip starts us in promising territory, a simple, gentle Tetsu melody emerging with spacey sounds and effects from Namlook joining in. Things build nicely until everything retreats for a groovy little beat with an acid bassline burbling along. We get a lengthy stretch of this rhythm as various synth leads continue our cosmic journey, lasting a good twenty minutes in all. But Biotrip still isn't done, oh no, with an additional five minutes returning us to the gentle ambience of the track's intro. And just in case you weren't feeling fully immersed into this trip to Rigel, the titular follow-up goes pure space ambient, those Namlookian synths guiding you along as Inoue's subtle bleepy effects fill in the sonic gaps.

Good stuff thus far, but this being old-school Fax+, Pete and Tetsu gotta' get in at least one techno-trance cut with Did You Ever Retire A Human. If you've ever heard any Namlook trance, you've heard this, though I'm sure some appreciate the calmer pace compared to the harder stuff from the same era. Still, it's a banger among the general tranquility Shades Of Orion has offered, especially when followed upon by Liquid Shade, an almost meditative twenty-minute slice of Inoue ambience. This is the sort of music that'll put you to sleep, but in a good way, a gentle caress of your brain matter into peaceful respite. Now imagine them extending this to an hour! Yeah, methinks this Pete & Tetsu pairing lives up to the hype.

Captain Hollywood Project - Only With You

Pulse-8 Records: 1993

Though not as impactful as Haddaway's What Is Love, I'd rank Captain Hollywood Project's More & More just as influential on developing my eurodance tastes. Beyond that major hit, however, the musical conglomerate fronted by Tony Dawson-Harrison failed to have much presence in Canadaland, such that it was years before I heard anything else from him. By the time I did stumble upon CHP's debut album, I was well beyond my honeymoon years with the genre, wooed by the allure of goa and German trance instead. Love Is Not Sex sounded hopelessly dated and tired to those ears, and I utterly rejected it as anything worthy of future consideration. Not sure why I had such a knee-jerk reaction to it – was I just too over-familiar with Nosie Katzmann's songwriting?

Whatever the case, those are musings for a future review should I reconcile my impression of Love Is Not Sex. Instead, let's focus on the second single from that album, one that I do remember quite liking at the time. In many ways, it's More & More: Mark II, what with the simple, punchy synth lead, gentle backing pads, rugged eurodance rhythms, and sultry female chorus. Something about this one just hits better though, as though those elements have been further distilled and refined to peak perfection. Why, even the chorus is better, making more sense as lovelorn lyrics than the vague notions of More & More.

Then there's Mr. Captain himself. He was never a fancy lyricist (how many euro rappers were?), but he easily made that up through pure suave, with one of the most gravelly voices from that era. And for whatever reason, he sounds quite fired up here, dropping in with “You. Should. Just. Chiilll.” that sends shivers down my spine. In a totally ironic, cheese-adoring sort of way, of course, ha-rumph ha-rumph. Anyhow, his message is basically “yo', stop fucking up our planet so much”, which doesn't match the chorus in the slightest, but hey, I totally buy his “pleadin'” when he laments that “our Earth is bleedin'”. Poignant content even three decades on, darn it all.

If y'all haven't all turned away in contempt at getting my cheddar on, how about some 'serious' remixes then? The Faze II Mix was apparently done by a guy called Paul Newman, whom you may know as Tall Paul. It's certainly trancier than the usual fare I've heard from The Tall One, though not as trancey as the Trance Mix at the end of this single. Sort of that middle-ground where anthem house and trance could meet back in the day. Speaking of anthem house, Rollo's here with two remixes as well! They're... not as interesting, the Piracy Mix sounding like it wants to be a Jersey club option, the Relentless Mix adding some acid and anthems to the fray. And where's Captain Hollywood in all these remixes? It's weird hearing him just in the Trance Mix, where you'd lest expect him.

Hearts Of Space - Hearts Of Space

Fax +49-69/450464/Ambient World: 1993/2008

Even among the numerous Namlook collaborations, his pairing with Pascal F.E.O.S. goes way back. To the start of Fax+. To a time before Fax+ ever existed! True, it was only a couple of one-off tunes released for ZYX Music, but they're there, listed within Lord Discogs' tomes. Not that the Resistance D. member was the only such techno dude Pete was working with in those pre-Fax+ days. There was also Christian Thier (Deltraxx, Sequential), Uwe Schmidt (Jet Chamber, Subsequence), and Maik Maurice (4Voice), all lending talents to records on Harthouse, Pod Communication, and Trigger (?). Not to mention Mr. Kuhlman's time in a jazz-rock band called Romantic Warrior throughout the '80s.

The Fax+ years is where most figure Namlook's star truly started shining though, and Hearts Of Space truly was among the first 'big' collaborations that got folks looking in. And 4Voice, I guess. Look, when you get to work with both members of Resistance D., the folks of Techno Town are gonna' notice. Hearts Of Space though, that got my attention for two reasons. One, the clear nod of recognition towards seminal '80s ambient and New Age label of the same name. Two, the track Drawn appearing on the personally influential VHS tape 3Lux3. Such space ambient, very CGI, so wow.

Drawn is a pure Namlookian slice of ambience though, hardly indicative of the Hearts Of Space stylee. This being a techno-trance outing from early '90s Frankfurt, you bet your bottom Deutsche mark the BPMs are blistering fast, the synth pads are outer-orbit, and the acid loops are never-ending. A track like All About Sensuality may be downright shocking to those not familiar with these earliest Fax+ offerings, proto-gabber beats and Cosmic Love claps aplenty. Why wasn't the whole album just Sensualitys and Drawns?

That's because those were ambient B-sides to Drawn To The Thrill and All About Sensuality. While I don't doubt Namlook was quite fond of this style of music, it's clear they weren't the initial selling points, figuring the techno A-sides would get his fledgling label attention in clubland. Still, it's funny that while a vintage trancer like With A Medium Into Trance can't help but sound dated nearly three decades on, the simple synthy beauty of Drawn remains timeless.

If it seems like I'm not getting too deep into Hearts Of Space, it's because there isn't that much to detail. Like many early Fax+ albums, it was more a consolidation of singles, and if you aren't into the Frankfurt style of early trance, this probably won't change your mind. The ambient pieces are nice, though you can find them on many other collections of Namlook ambient. I'm not even sure if Pascal F.E.O.S. fans would deem this essential, his later techno explorations far removed from this era. Still, Hearts Of Space remains a nifty time capsule of a label finding its footing, hinting at the sort of collaborative star-power that would soon propel it into one of the '90s most intriguing ambient techno prints.

Haddaway - Haddaway

Arista: 1993

A reconciliation? After a fashion. I ragged on Haddaway's debut album before, though it was based on hazy recollections of it, only a few stand-out tracks surviving into my lasting music collection. As the years wore on, a part of me started wondering, was it really so bad? What Is Love?, Life (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love), and Rock My Heart remain solid jams, so surely there's a couple forgotten gems I was too stubborn to appreciate at the time. Like, that Mission Control Mix of Life that closed the album out, that was a dope tune. Maybe not a sterling example of anthemic prog-house, but definitely something that wouldn't sound out of place rubbing shoulders with a Rollo track (not to mention an “'Any crew?' 'Negative'” sliding nicely in with the rest of the radio chatter).

So into a bulk bundle of eurodance Haddaway went, and yeah, there's a few tunes on here I'd forgotten about that I don't mind hearing again. Shout is the closest thing on par with the aforementioned club hits, with our leading man belting out the title with just as much enthusiasm as the other titles. Only thing holding this peppy tune back is the questionable bassline, a tad over-aggressive for the What Is Love? guy. Sing About Love is a surprising bit of variety, Haddaway getting his rap on over a darn smooth beat and chill pad leads. And, um... ah... hmm.

I really don't want to call the remaining seven tracks 'filler', because they are well produced for eurodance of the time. Some housier jams (Yeah, Come Back), some down-time ballads (I Miss You, Mama's House, Tell Me Where It Hurts) and a cover or two (Stir It Up) are fine for padding an album out, but do little in elevating Haddaway's profile. He's a competent singer, but compared to how much personality he exhibits in the big hits, the rest lack in memorable moments.

That in of itself isn't a complete deal-breaker though, if the tracks are paced out well, but the North American version of Haddaway's self-title doesn't do him any favours. Two lead singles at the jump, then little of note until track eight. Not even the Rapino Brothers Mix of What Is Love? mid-album (aka: the version suitable for New York City clubs) is enough to maintain interest. Plus, even with the rest of the uptempo tunes where Haddaway shines all bundled in the back-half, they are broken up by ballads. The European version (titled The Album, and featured on Spotify) paced things out far better.

Why did Arista arrange the songs like this? Did the label think Americans couldn't handle so much eurodance all at once? Sillies, folks are getting this album because of one of the genre's all-time biggest hits. Give 'em more right at the jump! No wonder I had such wack memories of Haddaway's debut, a big ol' stretch of nothing smack in the middle. Still, t'was nice reconnecting with a couple forgotten tunes.

Maxx - Get-A-Way

Blow Up/Quality Music: 1993/1994

I never bothered with Maxx's debut breakout single because the copies I always saw in my neck of the woods didn't look appealing. Music-wise, I mean. There's no way that cover art is getting by without at least a casual glance, if not outright gawkery. Just, damn! Eurodance was never shy about its sex-appeal, but even this use of curves and shadows was pushing things ever so close into risque. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah.

So Get-A-Way was everywhere, a true classic in a year when eurodance was spoiled for hits. This naturally led to a slew of remixes, but the roll-out was rather weak. Even as a teenager with limited income, I knew getting only three tracks wasn't that good of a deal – all those 2 Unlimited singles I got had at least five. Now, that No More single, that's got some beef to it, and how can I resist remixes with names like “Terrordome” and “Paradise Garage” on them? A sight better than Twilight Mix or 2 A.M. Club Mix.

Get Get-A-Way I did though, as it was an option in a CD single bundle I happened across. Figured I may as well give it a shot, as these old eurodance EPs oftentimes contain some buried, trance-leaning treasure. Sadly, that's not what I get here, the 2 A.M. Club Mix essentially the same as the famed Airplay Mix, but with certain key features missing. None of the buzzy basslines, none of the bleepy leads (instead replaced with panflute toots), and none of that silly 'hardcore' orchestral sting in the song's bridge. Instead, everything flows smoother along pads, with piano lines in the bridges. What's funny is for the longest time, I thought this was the original version, at it was the one featured in my first exposure to it, on Dance Mix 94 (the club-dance compilation series in Canada). Ain't no way things like 'correct track titles' were a thing, and was shocked to hear the original had more similarities to No One than I thought possible.

Still, I cannot deny being a little disappointed in discovering this was it all along. That adorable 'shuffle dance' YouTube video with 2 A.M. Club Mix in the title led me to believe it was a little more bang-on. I'm not even sure if that is an official remix, as I can't find anything that sounds like it.

It does include elements of the Naked Eye Mix, specifically the bouncier synth lead that meets half-way between the original's bleeps and the 2 A.M.'s flutes. In fact, 'bouncier' is the best way to describe this mix – speed it up a bunch, and it could be happy hardcore. As for the Piano Remix, the same piano fills as found in the 2 A.M. rub get full shine, but isn't much different.

Really, the only Get-A-Way remix you should scope out is the (once) UK-exclusive Red Jerry Remix, because c'mon! The co-founder of Hooj Choons, remixing Maxx!

Various - Dance Pool, Vol. 1

Sony Music Direct: 1993

I've touched upon Dance Pool in the past. In the way, way, way past. It was a pair of Canadian tie-in compilations called Euro Dance Pool, so if you need to know the history of Sony's dance music offshoot, you can scope those reviews out. Eh, they're buried too deep in the long-ago? Well, I'm not gonna' do another recap here. I mean, it's mostly self-explanatory what Dance Pool was, who it's biggest acts were, their impact on the German mainstream clubbing scene. Just think of all the top eurodance names from Germany in the early '90s, and Dance Pool likely distributed half of them.

So when Canadaland was seeing some positive gains with the music, Sony was right there to capitalize on it, premiering their own Dance Pool offshoot here, Dance Pool. Straight forward enough, but this Vol. 1 is an odd one. Oh, it's got some hits of the day, no question, just not the hits you'd expect from a clubbing label with German origins. I can only assume Sony didn't have full faith North Americans would be as interested in those sounds, so reached out among all its national subsidiaries to fill this compilation out.

Thus you get The Shamen's LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Beatmaster Mix) and Sunscreem's Love U More (Album Version). Yes, that version, with that lyric. While those were big hits at the time, they were UK acts, whom folks based out of Toronto and Montreal may not have been as familiar with. To say nothing of names like Bizarre Inc and Rozalla. Actually, I take that back, I'm sure everyone was familiar with Everybody's FREEEEEEEEEEeeeeetoefeelgood by that point. But nay, the only German representation we get here is B.G. The Prince Of Rap, with This Beat Is Hot for the zillionth time. Oh fine, it's the 'hard 'n' heavy' mix, which just sounds like C+C Music Factory.

Forget all that. Dance Pool, Vol. 1 is interesting for how 'of a time' it comes off, catching that weird inflection point where new jack swing was on the outs, but dancehall reggae was on the ins. Thus, you get Shabba Ranks' Ting-A-Ling and Mad Cobra's Flex with Joe Public's Liva And Learn and Cover Girls' Wishing On A Star. And in the middle of it all is Kris Kross' Jump, the rarer Supercat Mix at that, which adds dancehall raps among the bars Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac be spittin'.

And no joke, the tune still bumps to this day. Yeah, it was nauseatingly overplayed when this CD came out, but I dare any DJ to drop this now, and watch the crowd pop off like it was new. Possibly one of the greatest beats Dupri ever produced.

Anything else? C&C Music Factory do show up, as their original producing name Clivillés & Cole, for a ravey cover of Pride (In The Name Of Love). Eesh, and the tune was doing so well, before injecting a gospel version of Bono.

Raison D'être - Prospectus I (Redux)

Cold Meat Industry/Old Europa Cafe: 1993/2013

Here I am again with Peter Andersson, scoping out his main alias, raison d'être. I won't deny my first couple forays into his body of work were incidental, drawn in by cover art rather than recognition from 'dark ambient producers you MUST hear before you die cold and alone!' lists. This one though, I learned was a Very Important one in the raison d'être canon, being his first wide-release and all. For sure he had a couple tape albums in prior years, but with Prospectus I, Peter made his leap to a major label (well, major within dark ambient circles), getting a spiffy CD roll-out in the process. When Cold Meat Industry folded, the album got a redux double-LP re-issue on Old Europa Cafe, and even more recently, got the vinyl treatment with Cyclic Law. Gosh, Within The Depths Of Silence And Phormations didn't get that, so Prospectus I must be Very Important indeed, genre defining even.

I honestly don't know about that, but then dark ambient was still in its infant stage way back in 1993, finally emerging out of its original industrial influences into something truly its own. Indeed, those aforementioned early tapes as raison d'être were filled with all sorts of sound experiments and clanking noises more befitting of the power electronics scene. With Prospectus I, however, such sonic sadism is generally reduced and shuffled to the background, a heavier emphasis on such daft concepts like melodies and harmonies. In dark ambient? Why I never!

Okay, you could find such things in this music in the past, generally whenever it drew influences from the goth and ethereal scene rather than the industrial one. I guess you could say raison d'être is doing the same here, if you consider cathedral music within the same lane. Chants, church bells, choirs, all the things that have you throwing yourself into a religious frenzy. However, a lot of it sounds quite under-produced, especially some of the choices in kettledrums and choir samples, not much better than what you'd hear out of Super Nintendo. Again, I'm willing to overlook it based on the era in which it was made, but Prospectus I really does show its age, and no amount of remastered vinyl production can hide that.

The second CD in this Redux version includes a bunch of material from assorted compilations, plus the Lost Fragments demos album that was released nearly a decade after Prospectus I. I honestly find some of this stuff more interesting than the album-proper material, though more on an academic level than any sort of real enjoyment. There's only so much tinny, ominous church vibes I can take before it grows repetitive to my ears (d'at Decay I, tho'!).

Well bully for me, because the Bandcamp purchase I made for this release included even more tracks, basically a third CD's worth of unreleased early versions and alternates! Oh boy, I can't wait to hear more variations of Carnificaina, Dissection, Synopsis, and In Extremis! Prospectus I, for eternity!

Sunscreem - O₃

Columbia: 1993

(a Patreon request from Philoi)

Sunscreem pretty much marked the end of the first 'rave band' era of UK acid house. Y'know, when all those musicians would form groups making loved-up clubbing tunes you could as easily hear on Top Of The Pops as at the illegal barn party. Sunscreem wasn't a rock band per se, but they had all the accoutrements of a rock band: guitar, bass guitar, drums, singer, and keyboardist. Just a lot more emphasis on the keyboard guy, laying out those synth leads and piano licks and backing pads.

After Sunscreem though, successful 'rave bands' all but vanished. You might get a guitarist with the keyboard guy, but seldom the full ensemble. Meanwhile, most who tried carrying on past 1993 generally crumbled with their follow-ups, Sunscreem no less a victim, though that has as much to do with label bungling as it does with sounding dated in a few short years.

Said label bungling must be the reason we never see a reissue or remaster of this record. O₃ has five singles to its name, nearly all of them charting in some way. Several somehow hit the top spot on US dance charts, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Madonna, the Jackson siblings, and Whitney Houston. You'd think such prestige would place Sunscreem among the greatest rave-dance-house acts of all time, but no, all folks remember of them now is as a flash-in-the-pan success, plus a respectful nod from Sasha & Diggers. Even their biggest hits aren't brought out for regular trend-whoring remixes, as though Sony is indignant at keeping the master tapes all to themselves.

O₃ could use a remaster though, some parts of it definitely showing its age, mostly on the rhythmic end. Whenever I hear ol' skool breakbeats as heard on tracks like Portal, Perfect Motion, and Chasing Dreams, I can't help but compare to what Liam Howlett was doing and think, hm, yeah, these need more beef. They aren't important though, merely transitional tunes for the big songs with Lucia Holm bellowing her lungs out. Okay, Your Hands gets a pass for its proggy Balearic charms.

But yes, the highlights of O₃ are tunes like Pressure, Love U More (controversial rape lyric notwithstanding), Idaho, Walk On, and Broken English. Man, especially Idaho and Broken English, Sunscreem building and building those songs to eruptive peaks despite rather humdrum starts. Heck, the whole album plays out like that, with Release Me serving as a triumphant reprise of the earlier Pressure, encouraging that full play-through. Shame they tacked on one more piano anthem track after, diluting such a strong conclusion.

A classic album, then? Eh, not quite, if I'm honest. Despite showing plenty of personality in their singles, the surrounding tracks are treading well-worn anthem house tropes, such that you couldn't pick them out of a pile without Ms. Holm there. Given more time and evolution, Sunscreem could have grown into a real player in the 'electronica' era, but sadly, such was not the case.

Dreamfish - Dreamfish

Fax +49-69/450464/Avatar Records: 1993/2001

So I got one of the O.G. collaboration albums from the Fax+ discography! Okay, not the O.G. version, as that one goes for stupid amounts of money now on the Discogs Market. Ah, then it must be the Rising High Records one, since this features the classic psychedelic fish artwork used. Nope. Gosh, one of the two Ambient World re-issues then? Not those either, fam'.

No, this comes care of Avatar Records, an Israeli psy trance outfit known for many Asia 2001 and Goa Gil releases. I've absolutely no idea how they nabbed the rights to this record – I didn't spot any other Fax+ or Rising High items – but hey, brand new, hard copy version of Dreamfish, now in my hands. That's a score no matter the circumstances.

Still, it wasn't an instant purchase, part of me wondering if I even needed this album. I already have two of the four tracks off here - School Of Fish and Fishology - and if general discourse is to be believed, those are the highlights. For sure I buy that of School Of Fish, its long dreamy soundscapes of shimmery acid and flowing synth washes a perfect melding of minds between the likes of Mixmaster Morris and Pete Namlook. Meanwhile, Fishology's weirdo environment is definitely on a more playful tip, with soft, jazzy rhythms accompanied by bouncy bleep-techno goofiness, all the while a groovy bassline and froggy electronics ride things out. I know this piece has its detractors, that it's not 'serious music' from the Fax+ camps, but for a label known for getting a tad too po-faced on occasion, it's nice to hear some lighthearted fun out of there too.

That just leaves Hymn and Under Water. The latter is the album's closer, and at fifteen minutes sounds mostly like a Mixmaster Morris joint, with his vintage ultra-dubby, tripped-out manipulations of orchestral strings and such into hypnotic dronescapes. Pure headspace stuff, quite indulgent, but also suitable for proper chill-room environments, such as they still existed in the early '90s when this was made. As for Hymn... hmm, is this ever the odd man out.

At nearly twenty-eight minutes in length, you probably think this a super-noodly Fax+ session, but with a bunch of Mixmaster Morris weirdness thrown in. Not so, going more for that ancient trance songcraft of simple, hypnotic synth leads and spacey pad work, though remaining beatless throughout, and just keeps going on and on, long after many natural end-points pass on by. Stylistically, it isn't much removed from what Namlook and Morris were doing before establishing their critically-hailed directions, thus less distinctive compared to the other pieces on Dreamfish. It doesn't even mesh with the overall tone of the album, as though Hymn was a separate jam before they went into this session with a clearer theme in mind. It's fine for what it is, but yeah, I'll still take School Of Fish and Fishology over it any day. Combined, they're shorter too.

Astral Engineering - Chronoglide

Worm Interface: 1994/2012

I don't normally follow Bandcamp suggestions. Not that I doubt they'll lead me somewhere interesting, but as my Discogs digging already takes up most of my exploratory attention, there couldn't possibly be any avenues not already covered there that Bandcamp offers. Well, not entirely, the deepest depths of that streaming service a mysterious domain of The Unsigned. At least there's some official capacity with Bandcamp, where folks expect their efforts could earn them a few bones, unlike the constant demo reel of Soundcloud productions. Lacking the time to explore that realm, however, I simply pass on whatever unfamiliar names crop up in Bandcamp's algorithms.

Except this one, for some reason. I can't recall which release it was tied to, but the cover art got my retro-senses tingling, so gave it a click. Lo', my senses proved accurate, for I'd stumbled upon a gem of an artifact in ancient ambient techno and dub. Astral Engineering emerged from the post Artificial Intelligence / Beyond Records era of British downtempo techno, finding a short-lived home on Worm Interface. Folks of the here and now may not recognize the label, but the London shop it based its operations out of – Ambient Soho – will certainly bring a flood of memories back to those vibing on the chill side of electronic music. Sadly, the label remained one of those hopelessly obscure prints that didn't generate much in the way of future Very Important talent (save a Tom Jenkinson), but has its dedicated fans floating about the perimeter of scene interests.

So Chronoglide. It's something that could possibly have made its way into the early Fax+ catalogue, though less on that pure, noodly spaced-out trip Pete Namlook and his associates often dabbled in. It's got the ultra-dorky sci-fi fetishism the IDM wonks were all about (Wave Part, Beyond The X-Ecliptic). It's got naturalistic sounding tracks that remind me of Delerium during their more experimental phase (Neural Net). It's got rather subdued, meditative pieces for those proper chill-room experiences (Ring, 2010). It's got some proper ol' school trance (Brainstrobe) paired with proper ol' school ambient dub (Bios ...such bass).

And finally, it has a low, dubby synth lead in NGC 4512 that I cannot but help feel Underworld jacked for their first post-Emerson single Luetin. A coincidence, I'm sure, but man, if Underworld had ever gone ambient dub instead of prog-house, this is probably what it'd sound like. Also, what a strange namedrop, NGC 4512. Far as I know, it isn't a terribly remarkable galaxy, merely a smear of light in the Draco constellation. Why Simon Rees would feel inspired by it, I haven't a clue.

Ah, right, I should get into who Astral Engineering is, and all that. Sadly, Lord Discogs says he didn't do much else after this, though re-emerged this past decade to, along with this Chronoglide re-release, put out some unreleased material, plus a new album just this past year. Only a quarter-century in the making!

Various - Beyond The Machines

Infonet: 1993

Looking at this CD sure brings back memories. Oh, not for any particular sentimental attachment to the compilation itself. In fact, I only recently came across this, during my last and final splurge on Bandulu material. Nay, what triggers the ol' nostalgia endorphins with Beyond The Machines is remembering how enamoured I'd get with such mysterious items like this.

The cover art some strange blend of manga and pulp comics. The track list consisting of such bizarre, unconventional names like Syzygy, Sulphuric, and Thunderground. Even the title hinted at music taking things to a totally different level of electronics, beyond whatever the original Detroit future-fetishists had in mind (to say nothing of the bouncy, poppy euro-dance that was the limit of my knowledge back when). Given the opportunity, Beyond The Machines could have been one of the seminal releases in Teenage Sykonee's developing interests and tastes, opening a whole unforeseen world of sonic possibilities. More realistically though, it'd probably get stacked along such compilations like Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too and The Sound Of Zero And One, techno collections just a tad too off the beaten path for me to 'get' as a dewy-eyed teenager.

Many years older now, and with a vast database of neigh-limitless knowledge at my fingertips, Beyond The Machines is a mysterious item no more. I know who Bandulu is. I know who Syzygy is (and truthfully, one of the main reasons I sprung for this along with the additional Bandulu material). I even know what Infonet is, and that this compilation was a showcase for the label's budding artists. Erm, not many of them stuck around longer than this CD, while one of them had already been making a name for himself in Detroit before (Eddie Fowlkes, who's I Wanna Know is definitely on that 'Detroit guys wanting to make Chicago deep house' tip). Subterfuge's Liquid Poetry reminds me of those way-early attempts at trance you'd hear out of non-Frankfurt regions of the deustchland, while Rev 1's Chochillics and Sulphuric's Better Come Together offer up the acid business.

Really though, Beyond The Machines is mostly about Bandulu and their various side-projects (Thunderground, Koh-Tao). Even the Syzygy track, Meditation, is rather Bandulu-ish, with its loopy nature and all, though quite trancey and mellow compared to the proper techno workouts the Bandulu-proper cuts offer. The opener Thunderground cut, Illegal Rush, inches closer to the domain of trance as well, while the track Amaranth could almost be a New Beat tune, what with its sampling of the synth arp from My Mine's Hypnotic Tango. Not so sure about those tinny trumpets though. As for the Koh-Tao cut, bluesy country-twang in dub is the last thing I'd have expected to hear, but here we are.

The dated quality of these tracks unfortunately does overwhelm much of Beyond The Machines, which leaves the CD more a curioso or completist item of interest. Bandulu did have a unique sound, but it's better highlighted on their albums than here.