It's Thinking - Hyperion

Prime/Frame Of Mind: 1994/2018

Whoa, did I just fly through a whole bunch of “I” albums? And who is this Hyperion? No, no, It's Thinking is the name of the group – yes, I know it looks weird, to say nothing of naming the EP something that would make more sense as an alias. Then again, Lord Discogs lists at least thirty-six (36) Hyperions within its tomes, whereas there's only one (1) It's Thinkings. Right, I doubt there were a pile of Hyperions already floating about when this was released, thirty years removed and all – plenty of time for dozens more to crop up. What would one (1) more matter? So props to this Dutch team for thinking this far outside the box in coming up with a grammatically confounding handle when applied to a typical English sentence reviewing it.

This is another Gerd project, and up to the point of me covering his collaborations with Speedy J, the only one I was even remotely familiar with. Not that I was aware of it in that time, and truthfully, there still may be some other alias of his that never realized was him floating about my music collection. Fairly sure I covered all those bases though, so It's Thinking remains it.

As for the particular track I've heard from him, Dirk-Jan Hanegraaff and Mark Ripmeester, it was Afterglow as heard on that Excursions In Ambience compilation that included such luminaries like FSOL, HIA, PWoG, Banco, The Orb (sorta') and a few others. Man, and to think It's Thinking was about the most obscure thing on that CD, perhaps only rivalled by John Selway's Psychedelic Research Lab, and now I have an EP from them. Yay artist discography Bandcamp uploads, and all the legal hurdles they cleared to do so.

Since Afterglow is the only track I have, I naturally picked up the other single in the It's Thinking catalogue, follow-up EP Hyperion. Gotta' explore d'em deep cuts, yo'. The track is a pleasant floaty affair in the vintage Detroit techno vain, though utilizing a standard breakbeat for its backbone. I also love how none of the synth leads are quite aligned to quantized perfection, giving it that real live jam vibe. Imperfections reminding you there's human souls behind the machines. Onto the other tracks, then!

Frame Of Mind is basically Jam & Spoon's Stella, though stripped down to Detroit functionality and less outright Balearic. Love Without Sound gets closer to the seaside resort feels with subtle vocals and effects invoking sunrise in Ibiza. Plus, it's just downright groovy with its rolling rhythms and cascading synths. Funky Finger goes about as deep as you'd expect of a B2 cut on a record with so many shimmering leads, but even it gets in a few bright synth stabs for its back-half.

A charming little gem of a retro EP, Hyperion is. I'd expect nothing less from Gerd's extended discography by this point. Shame it took me thirty years to 'discover' more of it.

Rapoon - Fallen Gods

Staalplaat/Abstrakce Records: 1994/2021

Jumping all around Rapoon's catalogue has yielded plenty of interesting items now, but man, I just can't help but keep returning to Vernal Crossing the most. Something so primal, so instinctual ...so, dare I say, erotic. I keep wondering is there anything else like it in Mr. Storey's storied career, when the answer is so bluntly obvious, I'm astounded it took me this long to realize it. Or maybe I was subconsciously biding my time for a digital remaster to emerge. Sure, let's go with that, a seductive, subliminal message lurking within Vernal Crossing Revisited suggesting I bide my time before returning to this era of the Rapoon tale.

While there's plenty to be said about most of the early Rapoon records, I feel like Fallen Gods gets a little overlooked. It doesn't have that 'new concept' freshness the debut Dream Circle does (an album that's seen a triple-LP reissue!), which follow-ups Raising Earthly Spirits and especially Vernal Crossing maintained. If anything, because Fallen Gods came out the same year as Vernal Crossing, it couldn't help but get bypassed, the post-ecstatic glow of the former record still permeating upon the public consciousness. Whoa, reign in the hyperbole there! It's a cool album, f'sure, but only a highly niche audience would be aware of it back when, much less today.

Still, I'm a little surprised Fallen Gods didn't get at least a little more attention outside the abstract ambient sphere – say, the tribal techno sect? Obviously it sounds little like what you'd hear out of the PWoG camps, but compared to the pure, loopy nature of his previous works, Rapoon has added something more of a propellant rhythmic pulse to all the sampled drums and primal sounds.

Opener certainly seems to build upon the Vernal Crossing formula, but feels more minimalist and dubby. Meanwhile, second track Iron Path is almost mechanical, its rhythms rather jerky and coerced into its loop – and still, all performed rather spaciously, as though letting the drums be the dictating force. Rapoon had always used rhythmic loops before, but seldom such that they were the dominate feature, preferring to focus on the general atmosphere of his compositions. And as if to put an exclamation mark on this different direction, the titular cut features drum work that is almost thunderous, as though the sky spirits themselves are descending upon the populace below.

If Fallen Gods was primarily of this tone, I could see it having more attention over the years, but it kinda' waffles after. There's pure ambient drone pieces (Breathing Gold), tracks that sound like left-overs from the Vernal Crossing sessions (Sacrement, Valley), and a dalliance into what I assume is a Bulbul tarang solo: one mostly unmanipulated, followed by a more 'traditional' Rapoon loop session. All neat stuff, absolutely, but doesn't leave the album with a dominate aesthetic compared to his other works. Which may explain why Fallen Gods didn't get the 'revisited' remix treatment either. Nothing left to further explore here.

God's Groove - Elements Of Nature

Logic Records: 1994

How on Mother Earth does this album exist with hardly a soul knowing about it? Like, I understand why it would get lost in the shuffle three decades ago. The music on here just doesn't tidily fit into any conventional genre of the era, liberally cribbing from its surrounding scenes, existing outside of time, sounding retro and contemporary. Okay, maybe not ultra-modern or anything, but boy does it ever predict a certain segment of dance music in the years to come.

It's not like God's Groove went out of their way to create some ageless, timeless masterwork that was unfairly neglected, oh no. I sense this was one of those happy coincidences, Misters Gauder and Herz just stumbling into this quite by accident. They never parlayed this project into huge things, God's Groove dutifully appearing on the requisite eurodance and trance compilations for a few years in the '90s (though nothing on this side of the pond), the players then moving onto other, more lucrative things. It's like they immediately hit a creative dead-end because in a sense, they did. Where could they even go from this album? They sure couldn't double-down with more of the same, because they seemingly layed everything out on their opening hand. When you start this high, there's only down after.

Am I overselling Elements Of Nature? You're damn right I am! When you stumble upon something this unexpected, you can't help but feel giddy about it, relishing in all its attributes that, on paper, should utterly fail. There's cheese on here - good Lord is there ever cheese - but such succulent cheddar, leaving you craving for bite after bite. There's eurodance, there's German trance, there's epic house, there's pan-pipes, there's New Age bollocks, there's proto-goa, there's women belting choruses like they're Tori Amos. There's melodies ripped from vintage Jarre and segments ripped from Enigma interstitials. And holy cow, if that titular cut isn't a direct style-bite of Jam & Spoon: moody, trancey lead-in with tweaky acid, then the biggest PLUR-goo breakdown you'll ever hear in the before times of Dutch trance nonsense, followed by a big ol' race to the finish that'll have all the candy kids melting. Yet, somehow not a happy hardcore track? How can this project be this extra yet credible?

Again, it's that timeframe. Had Elements Of Nature come out in 2009 or 2004 or 1997, I'd totally buy that. As mentioned, it kinda' does foretell where the sillier aspects of vocal trance would end up. Yet here it is, right in the middle of trance and eurodance's classic era, fitting in neither scene all the while feeling like it should be part of the other. How could God's Groove be credited with influencing anything when nothing off here gets name-dropped after the fact?

I've no idea if Elements Of Nature will find a new audience, its 1994-ness obvious and bare. If you've even a small inclining for that year of trance music though, this is definitely worth a listen.

Masterboy - Different Dreams

Polytel: 1994

Can't have a credible eurodance collection without at least one Masterboy album in it. And if there's any worth having, it's definitely this one. It's got their most recognizable hits, it came out during that scene's best year, the original line-up with Trixi Delgado is still intact, and... um... it's got the most comments on Lord Discogs? Heh, that's funny, in that the follow-up album, Generation Of Love, has none. Even their generic house debut, The Masterboy Family, has at least one review.

Let me backtrack. Was Masterboy that big a deal back in the day? For sure I remember seeing that iconic logo – how could you not miss such a vicious grin among all the Dance Mix collections? Yet what were their big singles? Everybody Needs Somebody, I Got To Give It Up and Generation Of Love seem like the obvious contenders, but they were just marginally successful on most charts, only once cracking the Top 10 in their native Germany (with Feel The Heat Of The Night).

Eurodance was massively spoiled for options when Masterboy was active, and some acts had to fall by the wayside when talk of the most noteworthy names carried on. I feel like the group Tommy Schleh and Enrico Zabler built turned into one such act, as the utter lack of Shuffle Dance videos featuring their tunes attests to. But hey, it's three decades later (!!), surely enough time to dust off some of their music to see if its gained overlooked gem status.

And the titular second track (first's an intro) bodes well: strong punchy riffs in that vintage buzzy, sawwave synth style, propulsive rhythms that get you hyped doing aerobic exercises, Trixi belting out an earwormy chorus and... Tommy just adequately doing the rap. Whoof, I know eurodance was never known for its brilliant lyrical wordplay, but even this stuff is some of the most basic material you'll ever hear. Gander: “If you wanna be in the galaxy; If you wanna take a trip inside a starship; If you wanna be President; If you wanna be from heaven sent; If you wanna be the guide of all; If you wanna be ten feet tall;” Okay, yeah, believe in your dreams and all that, but Mr. Schleh delivers such lines with all the enthusiasm of reading copy for a life insurance commercial, like he's afraid of tripping over every syllable.

It's far from a deal breaker, mind you, as all the other elements in play are peak-era eurodance, production as solid as anything you'll hear from '94. Those choruses from Trixi in Is This The Love and Do You Wanna Dance are just to die for, in that they'll get your heart rate soaring! I get the need for rap verses – it's was the successful formula everyone had to copy. When they don't even have a ragga gimmick going for them though, it's little surprise Masterboy isn't remembered quite so readily as other acts of the day.

Various - Trust In Trance 2

Outmosphere Records: 1994

I can't believe this happened again. Once, sure, a weird fluke of chance, but twice now? Not that I'm complaining, per se, as this is by far a more interesting item to review than what I initially set out to get. It's just bizarre that, once again, an order for an In Trance We Trust CD has yielded me something completely different. Right, not as egregious a mispick as ending up with Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise 5 - this at least has the words 'trust' and 'trance' in the title. But yes, getting Astral Projection's debut album is a far better grab than another In Trance We Trust mix – guess that collection will have to wait a little longer for completion.

Okay, this technically isn't an Astral Projection album, but it may as well be. Though the famed Israeli group made their proper debut with The Astral Files, they'd spent a few years prior honing their craft under a number of aliases, including Mantra, Aban Don and SFX. Hitching up with the label Phonokol, Misters Avi Nissim, Lior Perlmutter, and Yan-Iv Haviv were given the green light in compiling the first Trust In Trance collection, launching the sub-label Outmosphere Records. That one had a couple other contributors, but by the time they put together the quick follow-up, it was strictly an Astral Projection joint, even if they were operating under various guises. Hey, if The Black Dog could get away with it on Bytes, why not good ol' A.P.?

What makes all this a bit confusing is Astral Projection did release an album called Trust In Trance ...two years after Trust In Trance 2 came out. Confounding things further is them renaming Outmosphere Records into Trust In Trance Records. To say nothing of an Indian re-issue on Vale Music simply calling it Trust In Trance, which was later re-issued as Karma Trance 2 (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Good God and Vishnu almighty, does this nine-tracker of proto goa trance ever have a weird history.

Oh yeah, the music! Mahadeva is on here, often considered among the earliest tracks shaping the genre's defining characteristics many future artists would emulate. Sure, Eat Static, Total Eclipse, and Juno Reactor were doing their own things by this point, but Astral Projection really put a stamp on tweaking acid and vintage synths in such a fashion you just couldn't help but conjure flailing about on the beaches of Goa. Still, there's no denying Trust In Trance 2 is some early-ass trance music, a hefty portion not quite yet transitioned from mainland Europe's idea of what the genre should entail. Some are blistering fast, while others, particularly the SFX cuts, have little 'goa' influences in them at all. I can see that being a turn-off for those weaned on the psy scene's latter years of radical, freeform, trip-your-face-off music. For those preferring their psy on the simpler side though, Trust In Trance 2 does hold up pretty good three decades on.

Spicelab - Spice Is A Fulltime Occupation

Harthouse/Solieb Digital: 1994/2014

The writing was on the wall. Hard acid techno that marked much of Oliver Lieb's early Spicelab work was quickly coming off dated, new sounds and genre cross-pollination emerging within the halls of Harthouse. You could either start dabbling in the more experimental side of techno, or hop on the trance bandwagon gaining momentum about Frankfurt. Well, Lieb already had established an alias for that, called L.S.G., so the experimental side it would be. Like, he'd been pushing that as Spicelab already, at least as far as you could while blistering out the 303 action at 160bpm. Some tracks though, like Quicksand, showed he could do more with the project than sci-fi pulp bosh. Eh, that's just not what the label wants from him? Okay, fine, let's take Spicelab into proper trance territory too.

Thus we have Spice Is A Fulltime Occupation, the in-between EP released during this transition. You can definitely hear stray elements of older Spicelab still lurking, but it's clear ol' Oliver was evolving his sound into the progressive house DJ friendly material as heard in his L.S.G. material (to say nothing about singles from A Day On Our Planet). Changing tides and all that.

Retaining the pulp vibe is opener Pigs In Spice, a nod to the Muppet skit, no doubt. Eh, you say it's actually Pyrospice that's the opener? That can't be right, this Bandcamp remaster I got clearly shows Pigs In Spice as track one, Pyrospice the third. Ah, the original vinyl had them switched around, that's it. Well, I'm gonna' go with how they're sequenced for the re-issue – I assume it's the order Mr. Lieb prefers it.

And right Pigs In Spice should the be opener, Lieb stretching his experimental side much in the same manner as the Quicksand EP. While not so chill as that track went, this one isn't in much hurry to lay the beats out either, letting Oliver's usual array of sci-fi synths, space opera choirs, and bleepy electronics play out. Brisk hi-hats and cymbal crashes seems to impart a sense of urgency in the track, but the soft pitter-patter of the beat never lets Pigs In Spice ratchet up into higher gear. Besides, that's for the titular centre-piece.

Yeah, if you thought Amorph was dope but just a little too boshy for a trance cut, Spice Is A Fulltime Occupation refines everything into peak classic trance perfection. The beats are fast, but not stupidly so. The acid is subtle, serving as the rhythmic propellant the little TB-303 machine always intended it to be. And the synths. My God, the synths! Epic and grand in all the best ways sci-fi pulp ever envisioned.

Pyrospice can only be something of a comedown following that. Well, in vibes, if not in tempo, getting right back to the hyper-fast techno of older Spicelab. Yeah, it's basically more of the hard acid bosh, though a bit more intuitive compared to some of Lieb's other hard acid bosh. It got a synth breakdown, yo'!

Public Energy - Slumber / Velocity

Probe Records: 1994/2021

Not just the name of a Speedy J album, Jochem Paap used the 'Public Energy' alias as a means of releasing additional singles on Probe Records, the Plus 8 spin-off featuring techno of a harder bent. This was just something many producers used to do, wanting their stylistically different tracks separate from their main projects. Come to think of it, it still happens, though mostly in niche ways – in contemporary over-saturated scenes, if you have an alias that catches on, you gotta' ride that as much as you can, no matter how much you think your lo-fi acid ambient-core track clashes with your lolli-trap hyper-hands cut.

Still, there was a fair bit of distance between the more traditional takes on Detroit techno Jochem was doing as Speedy J (just ignore Pull Over ...please?) and the boshier stuff offered as Public Energy. It wasn't a lengthy divergence, mind, releasing just one record before he got sucked into that whole Artificial Intelligence business with Warp Records, steering his career path into 'serious' music making for a good portion of the '90s. Yet while in the midst of his Ginger and G Spot era, Mr. Paap saw fit to release another Public Energy record with Probe Records. The allure for making something for the true underground heads, flailing away at 4am in a sweaty warehouse, was just too much to resist, I guess. But hey, at least he eventually said nuts to all the 'proper' ways of doing techno, going for the jugular on the regular.

And even here, Jochem goes about doing bosh in a slightly smarter way than what his fellow Dutchmen would. Side A Slumber still features those over-driven gabber beats, but teased and held back, echoing and percolating among themselves for a long lead-in, punchy acid soon joining the intense rhythmic action. Then... what's this? Light, sinewy synth pads? Is... is Slumber turning into a trance track? No, not really, but in being coupled with these beats, it does impart a hypnotic feel.

B-side cut Velocity is a bit more traditional for full-throttle techno, and might even be credibly considered hard trance of the era. It's certainly got a bit of an Oliver Lieb vibe going for it, and features all the requisite synth breakdowns and acid climaxes you'd expect of the genre. If you've ever felt forlorn that Speedy J didn't embrace more trance back when, Velocity will certainly be a treat for your ears.

The Bandcamp re-issue throws in a bonus track, P.A., which originally appeared on The Silcon Ghetto EP Vol. 1 from Daniel Bell's short-lived Accelerate label. Yes, even more short-lived than Probe Records. It, too, is also quite boshy, but in a total Detroit minimalist way, making it an effective tool for your DJing needs, but that's about it. You really wouldn't expect any less from sharing vinyl space with DB-X. Kind of clashes with the original single, but eh, isn't the whole point of digital re-issues rescuing wayward tracks on defunct labels?

Various - Psychotrance 2: Darren Emerson

Moonshine Music: 1994

Why have I put off returning to the Psychotrance series for so long? It certainly isn't because of dashed expectations. I've long known these early editions are almost entirely devoid of trance – I only listened to one to come to that conclusion. Could my techno sensibilities simply refuse the titles out of hand, a quirky artifact of '90s compilation marketing gimmicks? I don't see why not, but something else always twigged me. Lack of DJ familiarity, that's it. Or at least, somewhat. Like, I know who Mr. C is. I know who Slam is. I know who Darren Emerson is. Eric Powell though? Daz Saund? Utter blanks.

No, I must be honest with myself. The only reason I've skimped on early Psychotrance CDs is because I just haven't ever found them around on the cheap. Or rather, I haven't made the effort to find them on the cheap. I'm sure Lord Discogs' marketplace has plenty, but eh... Unless they happen to be in a seller's stash I'm already buying from, they just don't register high on my 'Want' list.

They should be though, if Darren Emerson's set is representative of just how bangin' these CDs can go. Yeah, there's precious little trance here. Even the most liberally minded genre enthusiasts couldn't argue that Josh Wink, The Advent, Dave Angel, or Acid Jesus (aka: early Alter Ego) were ever considered trance. This is a techno set through and through, with ample amounts of acid and Detroit futurism. I suppose the more shocking thing about Psychotrance 2 is that it comes from Darren Emerson, whom a great many only knew as part of Underworld at the time. He had a robust DJ career before that though, and carried on with gigs on the side while maintaining his role of Awesome Beatmaker with Karl and Rick. Psychotrance 2 was his first official mix CD, though I don't think much hullabaloo was made over it. Dude didn't even get his name on the front cover!

Anyhow, supposing someone picked this up because of that Underworld connection, I do wonder what their initial reactions would be. We're dropped in Detroit techno's domain quite early, by only second track Son Of Norma from Norma G (technically Dutch, but the Detroitism is undeniable). Following that is the brisk acid stomper Liquid Summer from Josh Wink, and the pace only quickens from there. Stefan Robbers' Validate (Funkybizmix) gets a little trancey (pst, it's that 'Norma G' fella' again), but then Nüw Idol's Zim brings us right back to some future-shock neo-urban broken-beat business (with a melodic assist from Acid Jesus' Move My Body). This, from the Underworld guy!

Did I mention this is also a live set? Okay, maybe that's not as impressive - a lot of mix CDs (without access to fancy studios) were recorded live back then. It just caught me off guard hearing a bunch of scratches in a supposed 'trance' set. Yeah, yeah, Psychotrance was never about trance. Damn Moonshine marketing.

Speedy J - Pepper / Beam Me Up!

Warp Records: 1994/2021

Time to get hep to the step, when J' drops that Hot Mix of Pep! ...per. Um, represent? Okay, that was lame, Dr. Evil lame, but you gotta' give me some kudos for admitting as such, right? Not every one of these intro paragraphs will be a winner, and when you're dealing with the same artist in multiple reviews in short order, the brain, she sometimes fails at the wit. Besides, what would this blog be without the occasional bout of lame-itude?

Pepper was one of the trancey tunes off of Speedy J's debut album Ginger, possibly the tranciest track he ever made. With soaring strings, spaced-out voice pads, and a steady, chugging rhythm, it's small wonder it became a staple of the progressive house scene. It does leave a tantalizing bit of 'what if?' on his discography, if Jochem had decided to pursue this line of music making rather than exploring other facets of techno proper. Instead, it's more a reflection of the period from whence it was made, Europeans cross-pollinating techno and trance with nary a care or worry of what the Detroit Elite thought.

Still, he must have realized this tune was getting a lot of extra attention, giving it a little single love so the DJs didn't have to lug around all that Ginger wax just to play it. And just in case the original was a tad too 'deep' with all those spacey lead-ins and breakdowns, The Hot Mix ups the rhythmic energy with prog-house beats and twitchy, bouncy synth leads. Okay, so less trance than the album version, but I'm sure Sasha and Diggers appreciated this one's dancefloor utility.

That Pepper would get the single treatment isn't surprising, but of all the tracks to pair it up with, why did Beam Me Up! get the nod? The original's fine, I guess, a juanty little easy groover with twinkly synths and stuttery voices, but hardly a top choice for the clubs. This here Pegasus Mix on the single ups the house attributes, even edging close to the realm of garage with a rhythm that's almost shuffly. It's over before it even really begins though, running a svelte three-and-a-half minutes. Barely seems worth the effort having it on a record like this.

Jochem must have known this Pepper / Beam Me Up single was quite skint, so for the CD option, he included a near-sixteen minute excerpt of a live performance that includes the tracks Ginger, Pepper and Flashback (the other 'trancey' song off the album). And hot damn, is this ever a dope excerpt! If ever you needed proof positive Speedy J knew his way around a techno groove and a 303 acid twiddle, you got it right here. Only downside to Live '94 is it fades out just as you're really warmed up to it, wanting the set to go the full length of a CD. Hmm, Jochem should do that, down the line, and call it something simple yet silly, like !ive. Genius!

Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (Volume Two)

Stealth Sonic Recordings: 1994

Ah yes, the ol' 'why settle for one CD single when you can commission two and charge twice the price!' strategy. Heck, there's apparently a 3-LP vinyl option out there that consolidates everything into one package, though according to Lord Discogs, was only ever a promo?

That doesn't seem right. Why would Stealth Sonic Recordings commercially limit the amount of tracks? Oh right, that whole 'maximize sales' thing. So separate them into two 'volumes', the first one having the Big Names like FSOL, Deep Forest, and Jah Wobble, then if there's interest, here's the other remixes on a second volume. Only there was no second volume released on vinyl, strictly limited to CD. Guess Ollie J and 'Space' weren't enough of a selling point after all.

Still, if there's any complaint to be had about Liquid Cool (Volume One), it's that its offered remixes weren't exactly the most DJ friendly. Yeah, yeah, Sasha and Diggers made Ice Cold @ The Equator work in Northern Exposure, but that set was never intended to be a traditional club dancefloor set in the first place. No, I'm talking about versions where the intro and outros are easily layered and the rhythms are steady, to which Volume Two offers up. Without a vinyl option. How did that happened again?

I mentioned before that there's a remix of Liquid Cool that's even better than Deep Forest's famed rub, and here it be right on Volume Two, Deep Forest's other rub: Trans-Afrique Life Extension Express. Just jettison the downtime of Ice Cold, grab all the dope rhythmic bits and ear-wormy pieces, and rearrange them for maximum efficiency. If Ice Cold is the chakra-aligning, yoga meditating outing, then Trans-Afrique is the cross-fit ripped, sweating workout: no gristle, all muscle.

It still boggles my mind that Deep Forest was capable of such a dancefloor weapon. I wonder how much engineer Ollie J (he of many studio jobs with acts like Leftfield, Sasha, Rozalla, and, erm, The Prodigy's Baby's Got A Temper ...whoof) had a hand in its arrangement. For sure he has a Live Dubs go as well, but it's nowhere near as solid or interesting as Trans-Afrique.

The other remixes on Volume Two come care of Rhythm Of Space, a pairing of Jono Podmore and Steve Musham that has very little Discoggian presence (compared to their other works in the business at least). In case you felt Deep Forest's go was too 'poppy', their Colonization Remix takes Liquid Cool down the most proper progressive house path you could possible pursue in '94: fourteen minutes of relentless rhythms and almost nothing but, not even the chants. If that seems excessive, take a gander at their -320°F Biostatic Ambient Mix, here pared down to just one part, as the 'promo' vinyl version lasted a full twenty-five minutes. It's definitely interesting in that ol' school, noodly ambient dub sort of way, but even at the eleven minutes offered here, it does drag some. Can't imagine enduring the full session.

Apollo 440 - Liquid Cool (Volume One)

Stealth Sonic Recordings: 1994

Even in the free-wheelin, 'anything goes' Cambrianic explosion of electronic music diversification that was the first half of the '90s, Apollo 440 were all over the place. They did eventually settle on a big-beat rocktronica fusion as the decade wore on, but as is quite evident in their debut album Millennium Fever, it took them a while to hash things out. After a few early singles mostly following hardcore rave tropes, they seemed to hit upon a groove with the Rumble EP, hitching their wagon to the burgeoning progressive house scene. Hah, no, not really, such tunes sharing equal space with sub-par Psykosonik jams like Astral America and Don't Fear The Reaper. Yet it was their proggy stuff that went on to be some of the band's most endearing tunes. Thanks, Sasha and Digweed!

Lodged on the b-side of that Rumble EP was a ten-minute track called Liquid Cool. I don't know if it was intended for a follow-up single of it's own, but boy howdy did it ever get the deluxe treatment when pressed into service. Somehow, someway, Apollo 440 managed to rope in a group that, while popular, were not exactly known for their remixes, their main output primarily studio works. Yes, I am talking about that indomitable powerhouse duo of the ethnic-fusion sample-o-sphere, The Future Sound Of London! What, did you think I was talking about Enigma?

But yes, The f'n FSOL is on this remix package, who take the rocky, world-beaty original into their Earthbeat studio and give Liquid Cool the ISDN treatment. By which I mean they slow the pace down, throw in a few of their own custom/unique/identifiable samples, and add a heavier trip-hop beat. If you know your ISDN-era FSOL, you can hear this track without even playing it.

Also on hand in this remix package is bassist, OG world-beatist Jah Wobble (what, was Bill Laswell not available?). This was actually the start of a mini-comeback for the Wobble one, John Wardle's project having laid relatively low for over half a decade to this point. His go with Liquid Cool starts simply enough, mostly following the same structure as most remixes do with a little extra bass jamming along. Then two minutes in, Jah switches into the highest gear you could go in '94, frantic jungle rhythms and speedy bass playing galore. Again, if you familiar with his works (or Laswell's), you likely can already hear how this goes.

That leaves the Theme For Cryonic Suspension remix (essentially the album version) done by Apollo 440 themselves, a radio version of that (pass), and the one that everyone knows and loves, Deep Forest's Ice Cold @ The Equator Mix. Yeah, it's dope, possibly the best version of Liquid Cool for so many reasons that I won't be able to detail here. Almost out of word count, see. Besides, there's an even better version out there! Yes, even greater than the one you've heard on Northern Exposure. What could it possibly be?

Grid - Evolver

Deconstruction: 1994

What exactly is The Grid's legacy? For those in the UK who “where there” during their early '90s heyday, I see a fair amount of rosy-eyed comments and plaudits. Fair enough, the duo of David Ball and Richard Norris certainly finding a niche of their own within the British acid house scene, the single Floatation even contributing to a growing interest in Balearic-leaning 'ambient house'. On this side of the pond, however, we knew little of that, our first exposure of The Grid coming by way of their global chart-topping spaghetti-western singles Swamp Thing and Texas Cowboy. While I'm sure there were such tunes before, their massive success set off a nuclear bomb of novelty tracks of similar ilk: Cotton Eye Joe, Pipe Dreamz, Harmonica Man... Canadian DJ Chris Sheppard was especially enamoured with the stuff, even going so far as to tap Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac for his own country ho-down dance tune. It seemed like we were inundated with the stuff.

Long story short, Teenage Sykonee didn't give The Grid any serious consideration because of those two singles, and the cover art of the album from whence they came didn't do it any favours either. Never mind some of my peers proclaimed that Evolver was “good, actually”, my first impressions stood firm. Then John Digweed included Floatation on his Choices collection, which made me reassess my initial assumptions. Always those nagging reassurances that Evolver was “good, actually”. Well, okay then, should I spot it as part of a cheap deal, I'll take a dive.

And yes, this album is surprisingly good, actually. Maybe not mind-bending stuff, but for an LP that holds Swamp Thing and Texas Cowboy on it, better than you'd expect. The only other track that treads into their territory is Throb, where The Grid try to replicate the country novelty shtick with thrashy guitar licks. Frankly, I find Throb even worse than the other two. Wait, am I faint-praising Swamp Thing and Texas Cowboy? Okay, fine, I am. There are parts of those songs I kinda' enjoy, like the building techno groove between the hokey banjo and faux-harmonica hooks.

Anyhow, the rest. Is it just me, or does Evolver edge ever so close to goa trance? Like, obviously nowhere near what Eat Static and Juno Reactor were up to at the time, but opener Wake Up has spaced-out synths, cosmic ethnic chants, and squirrelly acid leads. Y'know, the sort of sounds associated with Megadog parties. Shapes Of Sleep gets on something a little more sci-fi in its sampling, while Higher Peaks could have been a System 7 tune, if Steve Hillage was on that guitar instead. Rise and Spin Cycle slow things down to more of a prog-house tempo, but are no less filled with the trippy, tribal overtones, while closer Golden Dawn is basically where world beat and psy-dub meet in the distant past. All this, on the same record as the freakin' banjo song? Just who are The Grid, anyway?

Pentatonik - Anthology

Deviant Records: 1994

I've gathered a fair amount of music from artists as featured on Waveform Records' One A.D., as one is want to do upon discovering a new musical passion. Until now, though, not Pentatonik. While some I accepted as being too hopelessly obscure to ever find (Templeroy, G.O.L.), Mr. Bowring's project didn't seem that rare. Lord Discogs informed me he did have an album out, a double-LP at that! Titled Anthology. With each record side having titles of their own. Including one called Movements. With four parts. Oh dear, is this some pretentious, high-art bollocks, like a William Orbit outing? Not really, no, though I wasn't far off in assuming the 'orbit' influences being involved. Just a bit longer in the name.

Yeah, one can't help but make an Orbital comparison with these tunes. The punchy synth riffs, backing chord stabs, sweeping string swells, and various breakbeats of differing tempos... all sounds you'd associate with the Otford duo. Pentatonik's debut honestly feels like the missing link between Orbital's first two albums, perhaps a Hartnoll brother side-project. Only trouble is Anthology came out in 1994, by which point Orbital were already on to Snivilisation. What might have come off cutting edge but a couple years earlier was already sounding dusty, which wouldn't be a problem if the music wasn't so on-the-nose in this comparison.

As I've said though, it matters not what year from whence yonder audibles emit to our contemporary clime's (or something), does it sound any good today? If you can get past the Orbital tone (a mighty task, I cannot deny), it kinda-sorta does, but there's some unfortunate bloat too.

The four-part Movements segment that opens CD1 probably has the most going for it, the first and fourth hitting on some mint, vintage rave vibes. Part 2 goes for the sweeping morning-after feels, while Part 3 treads closer to the domain of Artificial Intelligence experimentation. Unfortunately, save the blissy breaks of About That, the Reworks second half sounds way-dated and under-produced. And frankly, so does Awakenings, the four-track opening of CD2. I suppose Pentatonik Melody is so impossibly twee, you can't help but find it charming, even if that riff wouldn't sound out of place in a happy hardcore jangle.

Fortunately, the Additions portion of Anthology closes things out with the sort of tunes I was hoping to hear from Pentatonik. Green is a groovy little number with nice synth stabs and burbly acid. Real is proper IDM with a skittery, tribal rhythm and pulsating electronics. Detox sounds like a beefier, busier version of Devotion as it appeared on One A.D. And throw in a live version of Movements – Part 4? Sure, may as well.

So, two CDs with only one's worth of memorable music. I've no idea why it was released like this, as Pentatonik certainly wasn't a name that commanded such standing. Did Deviant Records just insist they launch their label with a double-LP? Maybe they thought they had the next Orbital on their hands.

Intergalactic Federation - 1/2

Fax +49-69/450464/Fantasy Enhancing: 1994/2020

A reissue of the Intergalactic Federation albums from Fax+? Sure, may as well. I'm honestly a little surprised it didn't happen sooner, as I'm sure the endlessly active David Moufang (Move D) has retained some rights to their distribution. Maybe he had to clear things up with former Deep Space Network pal Jonas Grossmann, though seeing as how Higher Intelligent Agency has had his collaboration with them available for some time, that doesn't track. Were they waiting on Dr. Atmo to re-emerge from cryo-stasis? He'd been absent for many years, but it's been over a half-decade since he properly returned to the world of ambient techno. Did the players involved just assume that *gasp* there wasn't enough interest in I.F. for a re-issue?

I mean, I can sort of see that being the case, I.F. rather obscure even by Fax+ side-project standards. True, it came out during what many consider the label's golden years, and the first album commands hefty triple-digit sums of money on the open market these days. That can be said for a lot of Fax+ items though, and despite the pedigree on hand, most folks are quicker to name-drop other projects from Move D and Dr. Atmo than this one. Matters aren't helped that it was such a short-lived pairing, the Deep Space Network and good Doc' moving onto other ventures shortly after. For all intents, I.F. should go the way of other unheralded Fax+ releases like Electro Harmonix, Wechselspannung, and Softcore.

Interest did persist though, especially for those coming to the Fax+ party way late in the game. No sense in letting I.F. languish in collector's purgatory, so here's Fantasy Enhancing giving us both albums in a spiffy DVD package! Man, I hope this bodes well for that rumoured Dr. Atmo box-set.

What's funny to me is when I finally laid my ears upon these I.F. recordings, my first thoughts were, “Oh hey, it's ambient dub! Neat! Sure didn't expect that from a Fax+ release.” I don't know why I shouldn't have. Maybe I've just long associated the label with the trancey, spaced-out, experimental side of ambient techno, that I simply couldn't fathom anything else. Just goes to show how deep the Fax+ well goes.

The first I.F. album certainly opens as such, a very chill, minimalist outing of bloopy electronics and meditative rhythms. Things pick up for Ten Waves, but only marginally so, while Kisy Loa (the closest thing to a 'single' off here) starts treading closer to ambient techno's proper domain. Plus, it's funny hearing that gabber kick so slow, muffled and distant. CD1 closer Caravan goes groovier, psychedelic, man, sending the listener to the cosmos on the back of space camels. Or something.

By comparison, the group's second session is a relatively straight-forward, if subdued, trip into tribal dub-funk. These tracks wouldn't sound out of place on one of Beyond's compilations, though would need some paring down to fit, but who ever heard of a Fax+ jam session being concise?

The Higher Intelligence Agency - Reform

Beyond/Headphone: 1994/2014

Another of those almost mythical EPs I suspected of existing, but could never confirm until the burgeoning days of Lord Discogs. Pentatonik's remix was among the first rubs of a HIA track I ever came across in my early ambient dub explorations, while two more remixes were discovered through the old AudioGalaxy app. Imagine my surprise when I found out there was a whole single dedicated to 'reforming' tracks from the Agency, with such names like Autechre, A Positive Life, and The Irresistible Force attached to the project. Okay, that last one I guessed immediately, since even in the dodgy days of mislabeled MP3s, there was no mistaking Mixmaster Morris' distinct sound with his go on Speedlearn.

Though knowing of Reform's existance was half the battle (huh?), I still didn't see much need in nabbing myself a copy. I technically already had three of the four tracks, and despite the CD not being that expensive on the used market, those international shipping fees sure are, especially for what I was getting. So I let it slide, content in having what I had, and oh what's this? HIA has a Bandcamp, with remastered versions of all his old material? Sure, why not. Be worth finally hearing that APL remix, I wager.

I wish I could say it was worth the wait. Music from Stefan Pierlejewski is skint enough as it is, and Ketamine Entity was one of the quirkier, fun tracks from Bobby Bird. I was quite anxious in what the downbeat acid-ambient producer would cook up, but the results are rather tame and ultra-mellow. The sweeping space synths, subtle acid burbles, softly chugging rhythms and languid pace are nice enough in a stripped, dubby fashion. I just know what APL is fully capable of, and for whatever reason, if feels like Stefan was holding back.

Well, that was that. Time to revisit the tunes I did already hear, starting with Autechre's rub on Conoid Tone, titled Speech3. Fun fact: this was the first time I heard anything from the IDM darlings, and my conclusion was... “huh, like a harsher HIA”. Yeah, this being early-years Autechre, don't go expecting something circuit breaking. Just a moody, crisp little reformation of acid bleep-dub. As for TIF's go with Speedlearn, it's Mixmaster Morris. There's swirly sounds, buoyant tones, trippy sound manipulations, and ooh, watch as the fractals twist and contort when the LSD trip hits!

As nifty as these rubs are though, Pentatonik's Alpha 1999 reformation of Delta remains king. I mean, right from the drop, that bassline! Then, a funky rhythm that has you strutting in the sun within a genre that has no damn business being so struttable. And that synth lead, so perfectly complementing the original's singing bleepy goodness! Is more of Pentatonik's music like this? I've only heard a few tunes, and they aren't like this, but the dude debuted with a double album (Anthology), so surely there's some like this. Maybe it's about time I look into that...

Sandoz - Intensely Radioactive

Touch: 1994

I really should have gotten this sooner. I adore Digital Lifeforms. I enjoy Chant To Jah. Why has it taken me this long to scope out all the Sandoz albums between? Are they ultra-rare or something? No more rare than anything else from Touch, which can be rather rare indeed. Not this one though, at least such that it hasn't reached ludicrous prices on the Discogs market yet. So why the long delay?

Uncertainty, mostly. The stylistic gap between those two Sandoz albums was wide, and Richard H. Kirk is a man of many muses, so who knew just how many different avenues he explored in the interim. Still, this Intensely Radioactive was released shortly after Digital Lifeforms, plus it retained The Designer's Republic artwork of whatever that body-horror abomination is. Odds were good we'd still be on that Afro-techno industrial dub tip.

Indeed, opener Beneath The City Streets practically picking up right where White Darkness left off. Eerie tones echoing of rusting monstrosities, mechanical beats cruising along a primitive rhythm, dubbed-out basslines reverberating off the deepest chambers, chants from the lands of Mali, and those distinct bleepy sounds that are a Sandoz staple (probably other Kirkian works too). In fact, it all sounds evolved from Digital Lifeforms, Richard far more confident in what this project is capable of. And while I still prefer the simplistic elegance of his earlier works, Beneath The City Streets does paint a richer canvas with similar elements.

Follow-up Inner Rhythms carries on, with another eerie opening that sounds right out of vintage Biosphere. The pace soon quickens though, and we're in for another tribal-techno work-out, all that wonderful industrial sonic grit dirtying the drums up in classic Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia fashion. Goodness though, does this track ever go on. The opener was over nine minutes, and this one hits the eleven minute mark, a little over-indulgent given the limited sounds on display. In fact, much of Intensely Radioactive feels longer than it needs to be, most tracks hovering around the nine-minute mark. There are occasions where my attention drifts, which didn't happen once on Digital Lifeforms. Quibbles, quibbles, always a quibble.

So Exoskeleton and Atro City Reaction get down to some Afro-boogie, Revolution and the titular cut are almost ridiculously brisk, and closer Luminous takes us out on the same vibe as opener Beneath The City Streets. Only, there's more of a benign feel now, as though we're finally acclimatized to this future-shock landscape, remnants of our humanity still lurking in the shadows, waiting to re-emerge after all has turned to rust.

Okay, I may be overstating things again, but what can I say? Sandoz' music ofttimes does weird things to my mindspace, transporting into a unique sonic realm few others manage. I'll never claim it's for everyone, but for the adventurous, there's little quite like what's heard on Intensely Radioactive. Including subsequent Sandoz albums, Mr. Kirk apparently going more jazzy. I, um, may skip on those for a while.

Casual - Fear Itself

Jive: 1994

You'd think every dope album from the Golden Age Of Hip-Hop would shine bright upon some wall of fame for all to see, but to this day, some records still get passed. True, my perspective is quite skewed from rap consumption habits that are, at best, lackadaisical. And yet I come across CDs that leave me stupefied over their lack of discourse, even among those who consider themselves 'true, proper, underground hip-hop heads'.

I can never claim to be one, but I'd like to think myself somewhat favouring sounds off the commercial path (chart-topping classics notwithstanding). Still, it took me a stupid amount of time to check out anything from Casual. I like Hieroglyphics, and all their associative output with Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Souls Of Mischief. Why so long, then, in scoping out solo material from a member with just as much presence within the group as all these other MCs? In all honesty, I simply didn't know he had solo material of any significance. Maybe a mixtape or item released through the Hiero Imperium, but for whatever reason, it never clicked for me that he was a separate artist from Souls and Del.

Release albums he has though, quite a few of them, even making his debut on Jive back when that label pretended to give a damn about the Hieroglyphics crew. Fear Itself came off the heels of '93 To Infinity and No Need For Alarm, and features all the soul 'n' funk samples and trunk rattling beats you can expect of this era of Hiero. You'd think this would make Casual's premier a shoe-in for legendary status along those two, but I've seldom seen in name-dropped. Was it a commercial flop? Well, no more than the others, but sales never stopped records from becoming 'backpacker classics'. Was it simply lost in the shuffle of all things G-funk out on the West Coast back then? Perhaps a little, but No Need For Alarm dropped the same day as Doggystyle (!!), and folks in the know will always point to Del's album as essential.

The only thing I can think of is that Casual doesn't come off as flamboyant as his Hiero brethren here. Absolutely he holds his own for the duration of the album, and his sinewy, husky flow is easily identifiable. For all his sharp battle-raps though, I can't deny there's just a little something missing from Fear Itself.

Menace, that's it. Hieroglyphics were never 'thug' rappers, but Souls didn't mince words about getting up in your grill. And when Del sounded pissed, you believed he'd “chop your muther-fuckin' head off”. I don't get that same sense with Casual, coming off fun lovin' and, at heaviest, rough n' tumble. Like, Smilin' Mark Henry, rather than Hall Of Pain Mark Henry. He'd definitely get there, subsequent years in the de-e-e-eep underground battle-rapping sharpening his edge. This first outing remains solid though, a worthy companion piece to the early Hiero saga. Can't knock them vintage Domino beats.

Various - Recycle Or Die (Electronic Mind Music)

Planet Earth Recordings: 1994

You couldn't be a techno-trance label of the early '90s without an offshoot of ambient-leaning downtime music. Warp Records had Artificial Intelligence. R & S Records had Apollo. Suck Me Plasma had Aural X-Perience. Even Fax+ had Seasons Greetings (wait, what?). Naturally, Eye-Q Music got in on that action, Recycle Or Die the print's contribution to the overstuffed spaced-out chill-out market. This would not be some mere ambient or pseudo New Age outlet though, oh no! Recycle Or Die would be a continuum of the German avante-garde, carrying on the legacies of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and so forth. Just, y'know, with artists from their own Eye-Q roster and all.

Which artists you ask? Oh, the usual suspects: Ralf 'Soul Of Eye-Q' Hildenbeutel; Oliver F'n Lieb, stalwart Stevie B-Zet, plus Dominc Woosey and Baked Beans. Definitely a strong opening salvo with that roster, but the sub-label's fortunes kinda' sizzled out after. Some more Baked Beans, a little more Ralf (with Gottfried Tollmann), obscurities in Solitaire and #9 Dream, plus... oh hey, MIR. I recall seeing MIR's Welcome Spacebrothers in shops way back when; that human figure on the cover at least.

Anyhow, despite the Recycle Or Die story being short-lived, you cannot deny its first act was one of the strongest for a trance-techno label jumping on the chill-room bandwagon. This particular compilation, released in America for a little cross-continental promotion, rounds up their contributions to the Recycle Or Die launch.

And you couldn't ask for a more perfect pair of opening tracks than two pieces from Mr. Hildenbeutel's debut album Looking Beyond. Follow Me is all meditative woodwinds, soothing pad work, and subtle bleepy electronics, properly steering things just out of the range of New Age into something space-aged (the Techno Age!), while Coming Back... Okay, this one dips its toes into world beat, so not really all up on that German avante-garde the Recycle Or Die manifesto claimed. Still a nice tune, just would fit more snugly rubbing shoulders with Enigma and Deep Forest, is all. Heck, at least those tracks are still immaculately produced for what they are, whereas #9 Dream's Summer Offering really does sound like the sort of thing found on New Age tapes in crystal shops. Is there anything on Recycle Or Die that hints at the techno-trance of its parent label?

You bet your chakra there is! Dominc Woosey's sixteen minute long Stray Dawn, First Light is straight from the big book of Berlin School synth minimalism, subtle arps and breathing synths slowly building to... Look, it's not about the destination with such music, just the journey, yo'. Meanwhile, Oliver Lieb's Spice Diving sounds like the Liebermeister having his own kick at Berlin School weirdness, but filled with all the sci-fi synth sounds anyone familiar with his Spicelab work will recognize (plus pitter-patter conga drumming). And finally, Be-Zet's Closed Eye View does the 'trance as ambient' thing quite common in Harthouse and Fax+ circles. Probably what folks diving into Recycle Or Die raw expected.

Alien Community - Alien Community 2

Fax +49-69/450464: 1994

Looky-looky what I got! An honest to God, original print, ultra old-school, limited-run copy of a Fax+ CD! Not a rip, not a reissue, but an O.G. version with the classic cover-art. And with the Earth photo too, not triangular logo. Such releases were part of the 'PW' series, or 'Peter's Worldlabel', where all of his famed, globe-trotting collaborations took place. Not surprisingly, these are highly sought items, releases from the likes of Fires Of Ork, 2350 Broadway, and From Within fetching stupid amounts of money on the collector's market. Sometimes though, you get lucky on the Discogs Marketplace, and I scored myself a source that had all manner of classic Fax+ items up for offer. True, many of them were re-issues on Ambient World, but beggars can't be choosers, and I nabbed me some albums I never thought I'd land without dropping upwards of triple digits for.

One such release I always had my eye on was Namlook's pairing with Jonah Sharp as Alien Community. Their featured track in the Coldcut mix CD Tone Tales From Tomorrow Too made it among my earliest internet explorations (d'at title alone! ...not to mention the sci-fi electro), but discovering it was part of this ca-raaayy-zee catalogue of rare ambient techno, I resigned myself to wistful glances here and there. I mean, the project hadn't even been tapped for reissue with Ambient World. I guess the Spacetime Continuum tie-in just wasn't enough for consistent interest.

Even now, Alien Community doesn't rank terribly high on the list of Fax+ essentials. Well, the first album does, as there is some mighty tasty ambient electro going on there, but not their second (and last) outing under the alias. Why, one can find this for the same price of a regular CD on the used market. Strangely, the same goes for Pete and Jonah's other collaborative project, Wechselspannung, which I haven't really listened to. Its artwork is mighty familiar tho'...

Anyhow, as with many Fax+ releases of this era, Alien Community 2 features a singular sixty-minute composition titled A Long And Perilous Voyage, broken up into twelve parts around five minutes in length for handy CD skipping. Because not everyone is down for those super-noodly, feeling-out, abstract ambient segments these jam sessions often entailed. Seriously, it's like when guitarists spend time tuning their instruments, but instead with twiddly knobs on gear racks.

Also a common feature with these LP-length outings was how they were structured, with rising escalation of the various sounds in use, a mid-section of downtime with various sonic doodlings, each player doing their thing, then a bigger peak-out with everything coming to the fore. It's effective ambient techno jamming, especially if you enjoy Namlook's distinct synth pads and transistor tweeps with Sharp's spaced-out acid tweaks and electro rhythms. Still, it's just following upon the same ideas as the first album, and I can understand why some may feel it the lesser of the two Alien Community releases.

Single Gun Theory - Flow, River Of My Soul

Nettwerk: 1994

(a Patreon Request from Omskbird)

There was a small window in the development of my musical tastes where this album would have been brilliant to me. It was right around the point when the sounds of Enya, Enigma and Deep Forest were failing me, but I hadn't yet caught onto whatever 'underground' ethno-pop beats options existed. When I was exploring compilations like Pure Moods and Escapes for new artists to check out. When I came into contact with another Nettwerk album released the same year as this that I thought among the most amazing things I ever heard, Delerium's Semantic Spaces. It was a small window of time, is what I'm saying.

Interestingly, Delerium was also my introduction to Single Gun Theory. Or rather, to Jacqui Hunt of Single Gun Theory, as featured in the lead single to the album Karma, Euphoria (Firefly). And yes, again, that was the lead single, not Silence featuring another Nettwerk artist on vocals (you know who). I didn't know much about Single Gun Theory, only what the Karma-hype blurbs told me, of them being Australian, a staple on Nettwerk since the label's earliest days, and having some musical ties to the Dead Can Dance wave of '80s ethereal synth-pop. I'll take the PR's word for it.

In any event, I'm not surprised the Delerium boys wanted to work with Jacqui Hunt, because boy does she ever carry the musical load in this group. Granted, part of that is thanks to the layers of ethereal effects on her voice. Whenever she's singing about fractured relationships or global issues or metaphysical existence though, you stand up and take notice, more than willing to be swept away in the thick layers of treated vocals. Which is good, as the backing music is only passable at best.

Pete and Kath do everything they can to make these tunes sound rich and dynamic, but the production chops just aren't there. It's clear their global travels heavily inspired them, with all manner of ethnic chants and exotic instruments finding their way into their tunes. And I do give props for them bringing in actual musicians for the showcases of tabla, tambura, cello, and such.

Unfortunately, they don't do much to distinguish their sampling as integral parts of the songs they craft, many of them presented with a big, flashing sign shouting “I'm a sample!” between moments of Jacqui's singing. Geez, it's even noticeable in their rhythms, not even trying to hide how obvious some of their breaks sampling is. It's fine using well-worn beats and all, but do something interesting with them to make them your own, otherwise I'm gonna' think of better examples of their use elsewhere. I could give them a pass on their previous albums, but by 1994, such production was coming off rather dated fast.

Ironically, the best example of the sort of music Single Gun Theory was trying to make here comes care of Delerium's Euphoria (Firefly). Remarkable what a couple years and better producers can accomplish, eh?