Goasia - From Other Spaces

Suntrip Records: 2007

I don't know what's more remarkable: that it's been a whole month since I last covered a Suntrip CD, or that it's been a whole year since I last covered Goasia. Maybe the former, though September was a bit of a sluggish week for yours truly and this blog. Y'all know how this ADHD thing works. Ooh, new pet-project idea, such sparkly creative possibilities, let's explore that for a few weeks! Never mind a decade-plus long concurrent project getting waylaid in the process, that'll always be there. Forever... and ever...

So the fact I last covered this Serbian psy duo nearly a year ago is perhaps more interesting. Such an innocent time, just starting on this insanely comprehensive dive into Suntrip Records. I didn't think too much of their Amphibians On Spacedock album, going on about how I found it “corny”, as least lovingly so. Which hey, at least gives me spare word count in the here and now to go into more details about their history.

Actually, there isn't much else that's not the usual stock background story you hear from most psy trance acts, but at least they were among Suntrip's earliest signings. In fact, this From Other Spaces was the label's ninth release overall, so capturing them at that sweet spot of reviving goa trance for the full-on generation, but not quite having settled into the predictable formulas that defined neo-goa in the coming decade. Retro without sounding too much so, not so overwhelmed by modern production standards such that everything gets mushed and bricked. Goa that sounds clean and crisp ...but is it also 'corny'?

Absolutely not! Well, unless you find any and all psy corny, in which case, what are you even doing reading this far? Regardless of personal preference, From Other Spaces is fairly even-keel with its goa. All the sounds you associate with the genre's heyday are present and arranged at efficient levels. Tracks last as long as they need to without feeling like they're just aimlessly wandering between peaks, with little melodic and trippy tangents keeping things fresh as they play out. It's hard faulting any of it, and I'm sure when this came out in ye' olde year of 2007, it was another breath of fresh trance air after so many years of full-on dominance. Nearly forty (!!) albums deep into Suntrip's catalogue now, however...

Okay, it's still pretty good – I definitely enjoyed it more than Amphibians On Spacedock. It's an easier recommendation for those who are interested in diving into this micro-scene of neo-goa than some other items I've heard, though I can't say it'll be an immediate winner for those just getting their feet wet either. An album for those who need just a little more convincing, then.

As for Goasia, that's a wrap on my end where their discography is concerned. They released other albums and EPs elsewhere, but nothing else for Suntrip. *whew* Another artist ticked off the list. Only took a year to get there.

Various - Fabric 34: Ellen Allien

Fabric: 2007

Yeah, yeah, I know. How has it taken me this long to cover anything from Ellen Allien, and finally only doing so by way of a discounted Fabric CD? She's an intriguing figure, no doubt, carving out her own niche and brand within a heavily male-dominated Berlin techno scene. I'm sure if I take a full, proper plunge into her discography – albums, mixes, art – I'll find plenty of golden nuggets to gorge myself on. Still, there's always that lingering caveat that keeps me hesitant: '00s' 'Berlin' 'techno'. You know the era I'm talking about.

I'm not saying Ellen was just as guilty in steering that scene into the dry, minimalist waffle that turned techno into such a pretentious chore to trudge through. If anything, she was an outlier to all that, going more brashy electro during minimal's rise. It was the omnipresent sound whether you liked it or not, however, and being heavily involved in that region's music scene, she too eventually fell sway to what you were 'supposed' to be doing with techno at any given time, personal preference be damned. At least, that's my impression of her career in the years surrounding this CD, and in a way, her Fabric set kinda' confirms my assumption.

Before I get into that, let me once again throw some shade on the 30s run of Fabric mixes. Yep, yet another CD in this era that's been reduced to bargain bin lows. I'm now missing only two out of this portion of the series: Steve Bug and Robert Hood. I almost want to get them just for completist sake, but nay, I'll wait to see them on the cheapy-cheaps. Bug I could see happening, but not Hood – that one's been hailed as being good, actually.

The first half of Fabric 34 is the sort of set I was hoping to hear: an eclectic ride through various forms of house and techno without ever sounding too much like a mixtape in the process. A little vintage Larry Heard acid, a little retro-future Detroit cool groove (Estroe's Driven), a little propah' Detroit dubby freshness (Don Williams' Orderly Kaos), and even a little neo-trancey melodic charm (Artificial Latvasmäki's It Is Now Either). Yes, all the kinds of techno I've no problem hearing from the mid-'00s. That second half though...

Yeah, I didn't care much for this stuff back when, and time hasn't been kind to it either. Roman Flügel has earned his stripes, but Mutter is every cliche of wanky, plinky-plonk minimal you can imagine. Even that's more interesting than the utterly uneventful Plastikman rub of Heartthrob's Baby Kate, a tune that really didn't need going more minimal. There's also seven minutes of Thom Yorke warbling over stripped down electro beats, in case the big, bold, artiste sign in this portion of the set wasn't clear enough. I know Ellen isn't the sort of lass to bang out anthems, but this portion of Fabric 34 is pure navel-gazing tedium.

Lucette Bourdin - Stories From The City

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2007/2021

Enough of these cosmic adventures, time to get back home, within the warm embrace of concrete towers, endless glow of street lights, and soothing sounds of sheering steel and burning rubber. What, you don't have all that in your city? Pft, then you haven't truly experience proper urban living. There's nothing like wandering one block, the subtle scent of cherry blossom trees wafting in the air, turning a corner, and receiving the odorous whiplash of street-dweller piss. Haha, just kidding. It's actually the mix of plastic and feces coming from a construction site porta-potty you'll come into contact with, at least in the Vancouver neighbourhoods I roam.

Anyhow, another month, another Lucette Bourdin album. This is one of her earlier albums, her second on Dark Duck Records. It also appears to be another one that uses the original artwork as found on the CD release of this, which leaves me wondering how many others I may have missed after all. Don't get me wrong, some are clearly unique between original and Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017). It just seems like I've been on a run where that's not the case anymore. Maybe it's just something unique to the 'S' titled albums? Guess we'll find out whenever I get to the few remaining offerings following this one.

Stories From The City is a simple enough concept, capturing moods and tones I'm sure Lucette felt inspired by when travelling abroad within larger metropolitan areas. Thing is, I didn't really get that sense while playing the album. It's the lack of field recordings. I'm so inundated with ambient artists including all manner of urban street sounds that I just naturally assume any composition drawing influence from such settings will have them in abundance, even if ever-so subtly playing them in the background. I'm seventeen CDs deep into her discography now, and if there's one thing I've noticed Ms. Bourdin seldom utilized, it's field recordings. It's just not her lane. Even when it would totally fit the theme of a particular piece, it's used sparingly (seriously, so few caws in Raven's Dream ...just, so few...)

So we have opener Night Sun, a suitably moody little drone piece that gradually ebbs into something more tranquil and charming, plus an additional effect of stuttering sounds in the background. It's a nice piece of evolving ambient, rather typical of Lucette's sound to this point, but does it impart a feeling of being in the city? Not particularly, no. Like, I could imagine some urban-scape visuals or art supporting the dronier pieces like High Noon or City Interlude, but just about any imagery could when it comes to ambient as artfully abstract as Ms. Bourdin's goes.

Don't take this to mean I'm coming away from Stories From The City disappointed or anything. Lucette had found her ambient groove by this point, and this is another pleasant outing of lovely moods and tones. As I said though, at seventeen CDs deep, that's just my base expectation from her now.

Lucette Bourdin - Rising Fog

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2007/2021

I keep wondering which album of Lucette's was her proper breakout – or at least, as much of a breakout as an ambient artist could hope to have in such an overstuffed scene. By my best guess, it's this one right here, for a few reasons. One, it was her first released on any sort of label, in this case Dark Duck Records. Nothing like a little extra promotion in getting one's name out there. Second, when Stephen Philips started remixing her albums after Lucette's passing, this was the first one he did. Maybe that's more just a coincidence of catalogue sequence though. Same I guess could be said for the first Retrospective that appeared back in 2014, that collection of Lucette pieces opening with Rising Fog's opener, Crack Of Dawn.

Not sure why that one was selected over the titular track from this album though, Rising Fog a clear highlight in Ms. Bourdin's early discography. Is it because of the length? Sixteen-plus minutes is a long one, though not that long compared to some of the behemoth pieces Lucette was crafting in previous, self-released albums. And if space is an issue for your CD, you could just edit it down a little, like some other tracks were for Retrospective.

Why would you want to though? Rising Fog is just about as perfect an example of the meditative, soothing nature of ambient music, simple drones that endlessly glide along, all the while you wait for a return to a moving harmonic portion that seemingly lifts your very soul, like the unveiling of a valley from a dark, damp, low-hanging cloud. Ambient music where you don't even notice the passing of time as it plays, and would be quite content in hearing it carry on for an hour. Yeah, some of her previous works could tap into that wellspring just as effectively, but if the piece Rising Fog was most folks' (re: ambient connoisseurs) introduction to her, it's small wonder her profile grew after.

There's other tracks on this album though, seven in total. The aforementioned Crack Of Dawn reminds me of that Ave Marie animation sequence at the end of Disney's Fantasia, like I'm wandering through a forest with overhanging trees shaped like a cathedral. Autumn Light too, and maybe a bit of Russian Snow as well, though even more angelic with its gentle pads, tickling your ears with their satin tones. Elsewhere, A Sunny Afternoon is surprisingly deep and dubby in its synth drone, when you'd think a title like that would offer something brighter.

The final two get into ambient music with a bit of a rhythmic pulse to them, so maybe not true blue ambient? Berlin-School, I guess, without the sonic weirdness that genres sometimes indulges in, though we're threading needles again here. Either way, they're nice cappers on Rising Fog, an album that, yes, I'd say is worth a 'break-out' status, if such an album can be designated as such for Lucette.

Solar Fields - EarthShine

Ultimae Records/Sidereal: 2007/2022

Maybe not as unexpected a re-issue as EarthBeat, but man, did Magnus ever hold out on this one. Not that I blame him, EarthShine something of a black sheep in the Solar Fields discography, to say nothing of the Ultimae Records catalogue. For you see, this album is a full-on trance album, inching precariously close to full-on psy at times. Definitely on that prog-psy continuum, released when the sound was gaining as close to critical plaudits as the psy scene could ever generate. Yet while it wasn't unprecedented that Solar Fields or Ultimae would up the tempo for a track or two, you'd never get a full album's worth of the stuff. Even spiritual follow-up, Random Friday, had its ambient intro and outro tracks, with slower-paced prog-psy lodged among the rest.

What I can't figure is the hesitancy over re-issuing EarthShine, as it was a very popular album. As I remember it, this was the record that clued trance fans outside the psy scene that something rather special was going on over at Ultimae. Throw in Asura's Life² being released around the same time, and you have an undeniable killer-combo of LPs that drew in numerous new fans. *cough*

And while Life² did get a 2015 digital remastering on Ultimae, EarthShine remained in the vault. Part of that undoubtedly had to do with Magnus working to retain the rights to all his music so he could re-issue them himself elsewhere (his own Droneform; plus Sidereal, a sub-label of doom metal print Avantgarde Music ...what is it with Ultimae alum ending up in orbit of metal labels?). It's been an ongoing process, everything from Reflective Frequencies to Random Friday seeing a re-issue of some sort. Even stuff like Extended and the Origins collections, not to mention a 3CD box-set of assorted non-album material, were all re-issued before EarthShine. Mr. Birgesson couldn't ignore it forever though, and so, nearly fifteen years since its release, and having finally gone through the rest of his back-catalogue, we finally get the EarthShine re-issue.

That all said, how does this 'black sheep' of the Solar Fields discography hold up? Pretty darn good, I'd say, but only if you really dig that trance vibe. Yeah, there's just no denying it, the tunes on here having the morning parties squarely in its sights. It's honestly almost shocking just how brisk tracks like the aggressive Adjustment, floaty February, and acid-leaning Cruise are, the sort of cuts peak-time J00F would have been rinsing out back when. Sure, you may come into EarthShine with some expectation of a full-tilt go of trance music, and the first clutch of tracks drop you into prog-psy's domain with ease – there's even a triplet breakdown in Black Arrow!

But then Brainbow launches you into a deep cosmic ride, while Spectral Nation goes for the big gurning feels (pure Solarstone vibes on that one), and is it any wonder why the 'Trance Nation' fell sway to this album? Absolutely not!

Lucette Bourdin - Colors, Shapes & Rhythm

Fantasy Enhancing: 2007/2021

Well, this was unexpected. Not that I wasn't expecting it at some point – Lucette does, after all, have a couple albums with the word 'drum' in their titles. I just assumed her catalogue primarily consisted of artsy ambient music. Most of her publicity stills have her working in her art studio, y'see, surrounded by paint and canvases; doesn't really impart an image of a lass getting down to the funky jams. Even here, an album called Colors, Shapes & Rhythms, I somehow never clued in that there would be actual rhythms in it. My brain saw 'colors' and 'shapes', and immediately concluded that's all there was to it. Brains is sometimes real stupids.

Going by the chronology of Ms. Bourdin's album output, Colors, Shapes & Rhythms was the first time she implemented beats of any kind. And, um, it kinda' shows. The opening track, Round And Green, is more of a Berlin School approach to the craft, a simple, soft electronic rhythm burbling in the background as Lucette does some synth jamming over top. At twelve minutes though, the piece kind of drags, and I can't say I'm fond of her choice of synths here, their delayed tones muddying the layers of timbre as she plays along. Maybe if she switched the rhythms up some.

And so she does in follow-up Rhythm Cube, though it's hardly revolutionary stuff. Frankly, it seems like Lucette acquired a library of drum loops without quite knowing how to utilize them to their full potential. This track lines up disconnected loops one after the other, with little in the way of logical bridging. A distant, dub techno pulse eventually gives way to a standard hip-hop shuffle, followed by a lazy jazz jam, finishing off with tribal drumming. Carrying through it all is a rather atonal synth drone that while isn't bad, doesn't really mesh with the differing rhythms.

Two tracks deep, and I was ready to write Colors, Shapes & Rhythms off as one of Lucette's weaker outings, an artist simply exploring new tools. Then third track Oval Opal Vocal comes in with some lovely angelic choir pads and a soft, dubby rhythms like a gentle heartbeat, and oh my. I think she's figured it out, by g'ar! Well, maybe not quite, Res Stars Over Pyramid and Lumpy Blue Lines still rather clunky in their use of drum loops and synth doodling, though I think it may be the intent in the latter, if the title's anything to go by. Still, Polygons Of The Future is pretty cool in an ambient techno sort of way, and closer Square Prints On Black Sand's minimalism maintains a nicely mysterious atmosphere, even if it too drags some at over fourteen minutes.

Can't really claim Colors, Shapes & Rhythms is essential Bourdin though. Lord Discogs says it never got an official release on a label, so as mentioned, likely just a freeform, exploratory outing from Lucette. There's bound to be a couple of those in a twenty-CD box-set.

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

Reprise Records: 2007

I do wonder, if this may be my last Neil Young review. Like, I'll get Archives Vol. 3 whenever that comes out (surely before the heat death of the universe), but far as mainline albums go, I've gotten just about all I've ever cared to get (and then some). What's even left? His wayward '80s material? More Crazy Horse jams from the '90s? That ultra middle-of-the-road music from the turn of the century? The almost insufferably preachy albums with Promise Of The Real? Maybe at some point, I'll take a nibble - Mirror Ball's gotta' be in some used shops - but I'm in no need either. If Chrome Dreams II truly is the last time I write about a mainline album from ol' Shakey, it's a suitable bowing.

For those just tuning into this electronic music blog's inexplicable, excessive coverage of Neil Young, Chrome Dreams was a '70s album that may have gone down as an all-time classic of rock and folk music. In typical Neil fashion though, it was scuttled for something more slapdash, persistent musings of 'what if?' lingering over his catalogue ever since. When the Young team started putting together the first Archives collection, I'm sure some quips came about maybe releasing that album as once intended.

Then Neil would chuckle to himself, saying, “How about I release a sequel instead, with songs I still haven't released from back in the day?” His team would look at him, concern crossing their face, fearing what mischievous ideas Neil was cooking: “Um, how far 'back in the day', exactly?” Mr. Young's eyes sparkled. “Remember that stuff I did with the Blue Notes...?”

And so, not only did Neil unearth the live-only Ordinary People from his big-band blues period, but recorded an eighteen-minute long session of it! The song ended up being his longest track committed to disc to that point (Arc doesn't count), and wouldn't be exceeded until the uber-jams of Psychedelic Pill. I think it's cool – hearing his wild guitar distortion with a triumphant brass section is quite invigorating – but I know I'm kinda' in a minority in actually liking the Blue Notes stuff. Yes, even among Rusties.

That's the only song like that on Chrome Dreams II though, and oddly placed at track three, leaving one exhausted for the rest of the album. The ramp-up was nice, a couple country folkies including Beautiful Bluebird. A couple more country folkies follow Ordinary People, then we're into some Crazy Horse styled rawk, even if it's only Ralph Molina on hand. Dirty Old Man sounds like a dumber, drunker version of Piece Of Crap, and at over fourteen minutes in length, No Hidden Path drags some – maybe needed the proper-Horse for that one.

Some more gentle tunes round out the rest, and you have yet another Vintage Neil Young mish-mash of clashing styles album, not seen since Freedom. If only Chrome Dreams II had its own Rockin' In The Free World, it'd be a classic.

Phynn - C U Smile (Original TC Review)

Black Hole Recordings: 2007

(2022 Update:
I know I seem to say this often about trance artists from the '00s, but seriously, what happened to Phynn? He seemed to do everything an up-and-comer of the Dutch eurotrance scene was supposed to do to have a lengthy career. Have a couple break-out singles playlisted by the Very Important trance DJs of the day, get his name out into other ventures such as DJing, get some snarky blog reviews written up leading to a debut album (okay, maybe not that one), and then... Profit, I guess?

Honestly, having listened to said debut and only album, Metamorphosis, I'm not surprised Phynn's future prospects sputtered. The first half, which includes C U Smile, is quite the blatant jump on Sander Van Doorn's brand of acid-fart bosh (the back-half is more traditional euro-trance fare, but only marginally better). Who knows if it was Mr. Jager's intent, or Black Hole Recordings forcing him to go in a new direction the scene was desperately hitching their wagon on, but regardless, it proved a musical dead-end for all involved as the new decade took hold. Phynn eventually left Black Hole, started his own short-lived digital print Lunary Records featuring music with a tougher, deeper techno edge, but all other social media and Discoggian info on him dries up by 2016.)

IN BRIEF: Marco V lite.

These past couple years have seen quite a few trance producers fleeing their past to embrace the chunkier nu-electro sound. Ferry Corsten, Marco V, Cosmic Gate, just to name a few. However, their transition isn’t terribly surprising, as these folks had done all they felt they needed to in that old sound. They’d prefer to move forward rather than stay in the past (even if moving forward doesn’t always translate to producing better). What does come as a surprise though, is seeing some of the names of the new generation of trance already doing the same.

Finne Jager - aka: Phynn - was early-on expected to be part of this fresh breed; his productions and DJ mixes seemed to indicate he’d be perfectly fine to carry on the Dutch trance mantle. Heck, just a year ago he was tapped to take on the long running In Trance We Trust series, a release filled to the rim with epic anthems. Surprisingly, his first single in nearly two years (not including two download-only tracks from last year, but then it's still up in the air whether those count as true singles [2022 Edit: oh, 2007 Sykonee, you silly git]) finds the young man instead leaving that sound behind and joining the ranks of producers making march-a-long tech. Is this a case of bandwagon jumping? Or perhaps Finne’s already bored with epic Dutch trance and is also looking to try something different. Fair play if the latter is so, but his offering isn’t much to get excited about.

C U Smile does everything we’ve come to expect from tracks like these, with very little innovation to distinguish from the pack. As mentioned, the rhythms are standard march-a-long in nature, causing the track to plod for large chunks at a time. The main hook is very simple, but does benefit from playing in a slightly different time signature, thus helping turn your head somewhat. Beyond that, this is a bland, forgettable techno; his club version is the better offering by a significant margin. There’s more energy and doesn’t completely rely on the main hook to sell it, with additional hooks doing a nice job between the peaks. Mind, it’s still an overly simple track, but at least doesn’t plod like the original does.

DJ Preach brings chunkier rhythms with his remix, letting his techno influences overtake the track with workable results. Aside from the additional sounds though, there isn’t much difference between his and Phynn’s club mix. Well, aside from an extended breakdown where Preach stretches the riff out somewhat, but it’s nothing more than a novel trick that adds little.

Ultimately, considering how much potential he showed in the past, C U Smile is something of a disappointment from Phynn. The track is functional but functional is very, very common in the world of dance music, and Mr. Jager hasn’t produced anything here that demands to be snatched up. It’ll work in your sets but you could find any number of tracks that do the same.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Humanoid - Your Body Robotic

fsoldigital.com: 2007

The Future Sound Of London have been in the music game for a very, very long time, seen more things than you people would ever believe. Somewhere early on, they saw something that must have unnerved them in ways we couldn't possibly fathom, to such a degree that Garry and Brian never discuss it, never mention it, never even consider it. I am, of course, talking about the Singles Remix.

Oh, they have no problem doing such a dastardly deed themselves, often crafting whole new albums around album singles (a 'translation', if you will), but to licence their music out for other artists to tamper with? They've seen the horrors afflicted upon the world of such endeavours, and save a couple classy anniversary rubs from trusted associates, our intrepid duo has been super-stingy with their back-catalogue indeed. After taking in this double-LP twenty-year anniversary package of Stakker Humanoid, I don't blame them one bit.

Granted, this isn't strictly a FSOL tune, the breakout acid anthem produced by Mr. Dougans from before he properly hooked up with his future partner. He's kept the alias around for his own solo techno work, so I assume he gets some say in how Humanoid music is handled abroad. I've a feeling ol' Jumpin' & Pumpin' hold more rights to the tune though, as I can't imagine some of these newer remixes offered would come with Brian's blessing.

First, let's get into what's dope about Your Body Robotic. The original Stakker Humanoid remains a classic slice of electro-acid, and no matter how those famed vocal samples from the game Berserk get used, I'll never tire of them. As this collection spans the entire Humanoid lifespan, we get many remixes and live jams from over the years, including a couple Graham Massey rubs (808 State fame). I'm quite fond of the Plump DJs go with the tune (WipEout Fusion has that effect), it's neat seeing Legiac show up for rub that's definitely got its FSOL nods going for it, plus it's nice hearing a few more King Roc productions. And whenever a remix goes proper deep into the electro or acid techno hole, we're all the more blessed by it.

Unfortunately, that only happens about half the time with this two-discer. Not that I wasn't expecting a little trendwhoring from a 2007 release, I just wish it wasn't so banal about it. The whole thing kicks off with a Feadz 2007 Mix, and sounds about what Ed Banger posse were doing. Not three tracks later, the Punx Soundcheck Mix goes all super-farty electro house, and Pirate Robot Midget Mix gets back to Ed Banger noise. Arranging these among the older remixes and nifty electro acid techno rubs makes for a rather disjointed listening experience. By the time the lame electro house of Will Propz hit, I gave up any hope the trendy stuff satisfying, but hey, since it was only 2007, at least there weren't any dubstep remi- *Sub-Osc Mix plays* - any brostep remixes.

Ensiferum - Victory Songs

Spinefarm Records: 2007/2009

The original line-up for Ensiferum looked unbeatable, a promising row of melodic death metallers who'd proven themselves in the field of battle. Then lead singer/screamer Jari Mäenpää left/was relieved when he wanted to work on his Wintersun project, but no worries, just hire another vocalist for replacement. Happens all the time in the world of metal, right? Probably, except Jari's departure seemed to kick-off a mass exodus of band members, original guitarist Markus Toivonen and keyboardist Meiju Enho the only ones left from the Iron sessions. Ah, whoops? I'm not sure what caused such a radical personnel change, but Mr. Toivonen had enough confidence in his band's prospects that it wouldn't be hindered by fresh musicians in the studio.

So new band members came in, Petri Lindroos now the lead wailer. Sami Hinkka picked up the bass-axe, and joined in on the backing vocals with Markus. Janne Pariviainen handled the blast-beats, and the new Ensiferum tested the waters with the Dragonheads EP. If Sputnikmusik is anything to go by (and I see no reason why it shouldn't be a reputable source of metal music opinions), that record didn't do much to convince fans of the old Ensiferum that the new Ensiferum was up to snuff. Well gosh, what hope would the expectant album have then?

But lo', whatever kinks they had to work out must have been solved, as Victory Songs (pronounced 'VI-cTOR-Ree') surprised everyone by being pretty darn good. Certainly different compared to their self-titled debut, but not substantially so such that fans of their heavy folk thrash couldn't still vibe to it. The production is tighter and cleaner, which may turn off some who prefer their death metal rough around the edges, but man, it sure is nice hearing all the instruments in sync with each other, nothing being drowned out. As a 'harsh vocalist', Petri does well, and I can actually understand most of what he's going on about, though that may be in thanks to the better mixdown when stacked against Ensiferum. Still, I find Jari had more presence, more variety in inflection. Yes, even for a form of singing that's generally raspy and guttural. I'm as surprised as you that, even in my extremely limited exposure to it, I've managed to pick out such nuance.

As for the songs, it's more 'melodic speed' (or whatever) as before, with tales of adventure, deeds of war, musings on heroism, and all that fun stuff. Riffage is fast and intense when needed, scaled back for breathers, with traditionalist musicians brought in where appropriate (gotta' get in those bagpipes in the titular finale). Why, there's even a 'clean singing' ballad in Wanderer which still chugs well enough. Strangely, lead single Ahti, with its sea shanty theme (kinda'), didn't do it for me. You'd think that'd be right up my alley but I dunno', that just doesn't feel like Ensiferum's wheel-house. Look at me, acting like some arbiter of proper sound in a Viking metal band.

Atomine Elektrine - Nebulous (Expanded Edition)

Essence Music/Old Europa Cafe: 2007/2016

I came into contact with raison d'être because I saw a reissue of one of his albums with an aged picture of a boat on the cover. I dug a little deeper into his other works because I liked what I heard and wanted to hear more. Exploring through the Old Europa Cafe Bandcamp pointed me to an assortment of other items that caught my eye by an Atomine Elektrine. 'Cool,' thinks I, 'a chance to branch out into another untapped vein of dark ambient producers.' Turns out, nope, that's not the case at all, as this is a side project of Peter Andersson, whom I've already name-dropped in this paragraph as raison d'être. You'd think I'd pay more attention to these sorts of things, especially if I write about them in older reviews.

Best I can tell, Atomine Elektrine was Peter's outlet for music that skewed closer to the realms of techno. I don't know so much about his first album under the guise, Elemental Severance, the scant clips I've heard coming off like so many Enigma clones of the time. Still, kinda' interesting that it appeared on the fledgling Cold Meat Industry. He self-released a couple more items before the end of the century, then seemingly put the project into mothballs.

Nearly a decade later though, he dusted Atomine Elektrine off for a new album on Essence Music, the very record I'm talking about here! He's kept it active ever since, releasing a new record every few years, all the while coupling some of his older works with expanded editions filled with unreleased material. Man, I know some artists cultivate quite the dedicated followings, but are there really that many die-hard raison d'être fans who'd indulge in double-disc collections of side-projects? Yes, yes there is. I'm assuming they're also the sort who have every noise Merzbow's released.

Anyhow, Nebulous. Atomine Elektrine has often taken to the cosmic grande for inspiration, and this album's no exception. Track titles include such items like Transforming Space, The Eye Of The Nebula, Deep Sky Twilight, and, on this expanded edition, Plasma Core Of The Quasar. The music, such as it is, mostly amounts to experimental drone pieces with hazy melody drifting among the interstellar medium. Some of it, such as where the dronescapes are richly layered into something more dubby, is quite nice as it plays, though doesn't really stick much to the memory membranes after. It all rather reminds me of Biosphere at his more minimalist, though even colder in a space station laboratory sort of way. I want to like this more, but coupled with the second CD of live recordings, it all feels like too much to take in all at once.

Speaking of, CD2 of this reissue does have some nice little ambient numbers on offer, a surprise considering the dark ambient Mr. Andersson typically peddles in. If you like your bleepy, Forbidden Planet soundscapes, there's some cool stuff here. Bet the visuals were dope too.

Part-Sub-Merged - Four Forests

fsoldigital.com: 2007

Going direct to The Future Sound Of London's website to buy their music is good and all, but what's better are the few items from other artists along with the endless side-projects and alternate aliases. Daniel Pemberton, Neotropic, Ross Baker, and so on. What better way to discover someone new, especially if they come with a FSOL seal of approval! Who to choose, though, who to choose? As is so often the case, I went with my gut instinct, wherein my gut tells me to pick out an item with cover art that somehow resonates with me (often blue). Ah, this here wintry scene of barren trees partially obscured by a frost-encrusted glen fog. Reminds me of so many ambient dronescape releases I've dabbled in. 'Part-Sub-Merged'? Never heard of 'em before, so must be proper obscure. Sounds like a worthy candidate for a blind purchase, I reckon.

The project is obscure, yes, but not the producer behind it, for Part-Sub-Merged is none other than Brian Dougans. You may know him for his early seminal acid house work as Humanoid, or being one-half of psych-rockers Amorphous Androgynous (among other, incidental things). Not that I realized it when I bought it, the digital download offering little in the way of details. It's like, they expected the only folks who'd be interested in this would have already known that FSOL made a DVD movie, and this was the musical tie-in. I didn't though. I just saw an intriguing bit of cover-art in their digital shop, and went in cold-blind. Did make me curious of what this Four Forests film looked like.

Good luck finding that. The DVD was only available through the glitch.tv website, a rather archaic domain of custom FSOL gear and whatnot. A few selected vids can be found on YouTube though, which gives a decent idea of what you're in for. Drives out to the country, wanderings about the forests, a bunch of trippy effects and layered images, all doing that abstract art thing FSOL have been known for since their earliest days. It's interesting enough if the group's visual aesthetic isn't a turnoff, in a Boards Of Canada sort of way.

And speaking of retro music making, the score for this little film is pure '70s weirdness and experimentation, with a touch of the modern production quality thrown in. I'm sure you could squeeze contemporary genre tags into some of these pieces - Slight Movement as trip-hop, Cark as... dub, I guess? Melody isn't high on Brain's mind with this though, most of these tracks short pieces of musique concrete effects most definitely better suited for visual accompaniment. Occasionally something resembling a trippy tune emerges – the creepy bleep of Second Glance, the twee mini-Moog melody of First Breath, the outright psychedelic ambience of Held - but these aren't the norm.

Nothing about Four Forests is normal though. For sure check it out if you're insatiably curious, but this remains one of FSOL's most obscure items, deservedly so.

Attoya - Based On True Events (Original TC Review)

Trishula Records: 2007

(2020 Update:
Yet another one of those old reviews where I spend a huge chunk of the rambling pre-amble detailing a whole sub-genre of electronic music for the readers, just in case they weren't all that up to speed about the exponentially increasing micro-genres emerging within the psy trance scene. What 2007 Sykonee wasn't aware of is this was just the tip of a fractal iceberg, genre splintering occurring at almost the quantum level - this new nano-genre can both exist and not exist! Not that most would care, but for a scene indulging in reality warping psychedelics, the divisions are razor sharp, crystal clear, and down to the sonic yoctometre.

Attoya would release another album half a decade after this one (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Taking a quick skim through, they apparently took the positive words I had for their debut and explored them further. Whee, I loves me some wobbly, rubbery basslines in dark psy. Not sure where I could find a copy of that CD now though, save the second-hand market. Ooh, there's a decent price on Discogs now. No! Must... resist...!)

IN BRIEF: Results vary.

One of the funnier things about electronic music is how scenes often adopt pet names for their music, names that are seldom referred to anywhere else. Sometimes it’s nothing more than making use of a redundant adjective to describe a variation of a sound, and other times it can be a mind-boggling maze of slang terms (grime in its transition from UK garage, for instance). So, it’s hardly surprising a scene as old and esoteric as the psy trance scene is just as guilty of this too. However, it is surprising there are only two isolated terms to spring up from it: morning and forest.

Without getting too bogged down in technicalities, morning trance refers mostly to the melodic stuff, typically played, um, in the morning of all-night parties. Forest trance, on the other hand, tends to be the darker side of psy, played at night in, er, forests. For the purpose of this review, let’s focus on the latter.

Forest trance can be incredibly hit or miss. The apparent aim is to create an atmosphere where the creatures of the night are welcome to the party, like some kind of gathering in the middle of Fangorn; creepy tones, mischievous sounds, and foreboding moods are often utilized. However, while psy has a tendency to forego conventional song writing in favor of warped soundscapes, it seems producers in this field are all too eager to go overboard when they tap into the dark side; why care about immediate appeal when you can totally trip out your audience with those twisted noises, eh? All fine and dandy to a degree, but the end results are often tracks that end up a rambling, incoherent mess. Even when lost in a tribal frenzy, the need for a point to it all is still welcome.

And now, after some 300 words of introduction for our non-psy readers, we finally get to the Burshstein brother’s debut album, Based On True Events. Going by the name Attoya and hailing from Israel, the duo seem to fully embrace what this style of psy sets out to accomplish. If the cover is anything to go by, they wholeheartedly dig the forest trance mystic.

Sure enough, eerie sounds, disconcerting effects, and twisting synths creates the feeling that everything ain’t quite right in the woods tonight. Unfortunately, it’s rather aimless in the process, with Attoya producing tangents and moods for no reason other than they needed something to support the driving rhythms. Every so often, you get a lead that perhaps hints at a possible intriguing plot, but it soon dissolves into psy’s typical squiggly wibble; The System Of Multiple Language is a great example of this as the opening notes are delightfully paranoid, but are never touched upon again. About the only thing that keeps these tracks from descending into nonsensical noise are the basslines; they’ll leap off the rails of the standard dark-psy drone, creating unpredictable urgency in the process, but even then it isn’t done enough to maintain steady interest.

And then we move onto the second half of this album.

Heh, okay, I apologize for slightly leading you on there, but Based On True Events really does seem like an album of two halves. While there are moments to be had in the early going, that is all they are: moments. Even when the tracks are a bit more structured - as in Our Tasty Part for the best example - the end result is rather lacking, feeling like mere appetizers. That all changes after the mid-way mark.

Green Crop Matured is an apt title, as Attoya seem to have firmly grown into their sound from this track on. Yes, there are still some rambling moments, but not to the degree as before, and they are supplemented by musical ideas that build upon each other instead of compete for trip-out time. In fact, this tune is rather brilliant in execution, layering the intensity on in ever-increasing increments while maintaining a sense of flow from idea to idea.

After something a little more subdued, Attoya finish the album out with a couple brisk psy offerings, and quite strongly in the process. While nothing revolutionary, they are solid tracks, especially so when the basslines seems to freewheel with abandon at this late stage.

All being said, Based On True Events is a tentative recommendation. Despite a couple choice cuts to be had, a great deal of Attoya’s debut falls upon bog-standard psy execution, making this a pick-up that'll interest fans of the forest sound but very few others.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Various - Balance Issue N. 12: Lee Burridge

EQ Recordings: 2007

Lee Burridge's adamant he's not prog-house DJ, that he only got roped into that demarcation due to his associations with Sasha's inner circle. Even when he was tapped for the Global Underground offshoot Nubreed series, he went out of his way to include tunes outside the traditional prog-house scope (Deep house! Tech-house! Breakbeats!) And as his career progressed (har, har), he gained a reputation as that 'progressive DJ' you'd go to see if you wanted to hear a varied, eclectic set of tunes, especially on the techno side of things. Cool beans, yo', and now he's tasked with a Balance 3CD set, where previous jocks had worked outside the borders of traditional mix CDs, showcasing eclectic tastes, leftfield genres-

It's minimal. All the way through. *sigh* It is 2007, I guess, the nadir of this trend with prog circles.

I'd be fine with just one disc of the stuff - play it, conclude it's rubbish, never play it again. To dedicate all three to the sound though, with nary a bone thrown to any other genre in existence...

Supposedly Lee wanted this set to represent what you'd hear at a night out him performing, but with dance music as useless to dance to as this, I'd just as soon hang outside with the smokers all night. Maybe wander off for a street kebab before returning to hear if things have gotten better. Nope, still monotonous *thup-thup*.

This isn't even the oft' derided plinky-plonk minimal, but the much worse 'blippy-blomp' strain that 'prog' DJs typically rinsed out. No momentum in the rhythms, tracks perfunctorily played one after the other, utterly devoid of hooks, and all too inwardly fascinated by random sounds and effects. It's the sort of wibble-wankery that psy-trance gets mocked for, but at least psy has some energy to it, what with a rolling bassline cranked to 140bpm and all. No surprise one of 'mnml's biggest acts came from the prog-psy camps.

Mind, there are differences in each CD. Disc one (Orange) is the slower and moodier of the three, and at least has some atmosphere to it thanks to sporadic pads. It also kinda' builds like a traditional prog-house set (breakdowns!), though we're talking the height of a street curb here. CD2 (Red) is the most tedious of the lot, somehow getting slower as it moves along, with no track feeding off the last. CD3 (Green) at first had me thinking Lee was gonna' step things up a notch, some actual beef in the beats of opener Dubbel Problematik from Tomas Andersson. We're still a couple years before the Berghain sound came to dominate though, so it's right back into blippty-bloopy minimal. Still, the tracks in Green do maintain a fun, skippity rhythm.

If nothing else, Balance 012 provides a suitable snapshot of a clubbing scene completely devoted to the bandwagon it'd jumped upon. For a time, this was the sound many were certain would carry them into the future. None of them would ever play this way again.

Various - Backspin: A Six Degrees Ten Year Anniversary Project (Original TC Review)

Six Degrees: 2007

(2019 Update:
I wonder if 2007 Sykonee would have been so critical of gatekeeping if he'd known that electronic music would blow up to the degree it did half a decade later? My larger point in the pre-amble ramble was pop music needn't be so shunned by the techno underground, but considering the sort of obnoxious bilge that did break through into America - not to mention the usual slop constantly hitting it high in European charts - my wish for a little more acceptance of popular sounds shouldn't have been taken upon a monkey's paw. And was kind of a moot point anyway where this compilation was concerned. Yeah, the original artists being covered here were generally chart toppers, but the selected songs for covering were hardly their biggest hits. Heck, some of them may not have charted at all.

Also, I'd love to see this concept revisited. Would be interesting to see what the current generation of wordly musicians consider their influences of the past three decades.)


IN BRIEF: The old is new again.

Before I start, I feel I should warn you the following review contains musical philosophizing. If you haven’t the time to indulge in my pseudo-intellectual rambling, then here’s the bottom line regarding this release: it’s good. Really good. Check it out. You won’t regret it!

Alright then? Let’s get into it.

Electronic music, for the most part, is typically regarded as non-mainstream. Aside from brief bursts of trendy pop dance hitting the airwaves, most of it is only enjoyed by a select few (in America, anyway). As a result, a sense of pretentiousness has been bred in its fans. The pursuit of underground purity permeates many scenes, even those who could very easily have crossed over had some events been different. This has led to an outright dismissal of anything with a hint of pop. The assumption is if it’s catchy, it must have been manufactured for a wider audience, thus no longer credible within the realms of the indie. What a load of bull.

Granted, a great deal of pop music is manufactured, with the sole intention of placing in the charts as high on street date as possible. But believing every song that does is ridiculous. Fact is plenty of musicians can hit upon a good song the general public enjoys and, with just the right amount of promotion, become a hit. In this age of Everything-Available-All-The-Time, a single spreading through the internet can secure success far better and credibly than thousands of PR dollars pumped into the industry.

Alas, the gut reaction of scensters to ignore good songs that become popular persists. So here’s an intriguing question: what if these popular songs hadn’t made it, and had initially been performed by obscure indie names like Ojos de Brujo or The Real Tuesday Weld? Would such folk enjoy them in that context then?

Okay, okay. This isn’t really the premise behind Six Degrees Records' new compilation. In actual fact, Backspin is a ten year anniversary project for the eclectic label. However, rather than rounding up a bunch of their biggest hits, Six Degrees instead got members of their roster to do covers of their influential songs. But in doing so, it does raise that question, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe not. Perhaps I was the only one to even think of it. It was something that crossed my mind when I saw songs on here originally written by names like Abba and The Beach Boys. Credible names to a degree, sure, but frankly often dismissed by the underground.

Anyhoo, that’s all beside the point. What matters here is whether these cover versions are worth your attention. In a word, yes.

In more than a word, the mark of a good cover is to take a familiar song and make it your own while still honoring what made the original an enduring tune to begin with. And here Backspin certainly succeeds.

Many of the producers here stick to the original arrangements for the most part, but often throwing their own sound into the mix. So Bob Marely’s Get Up Stand Up turns into a fun bit of latin music courtesy of Ojos de Brujo, Herbie Hancock’s Rockit gets organically jazz-housed up by dZihan & Kamien, and MIDIval PunditZ crank the orchestral arrangements up on Led Zeppelin’s Four Sticks.

Elsewhere though, songs are given completely different re-imaginings. For instance, who’d have ever thought the ABBA italo-ballad The Day Before You Came could have been interpreted as a kind of smokey lounge tune sung by a guy probably wearing a beret? The Real Tuesday Weld did.

Of course, there are plenty of other examples I could dwell on, but part of the fun in this compilation is discovering what surprises these musicians throw at you. Here’s a few tidbits that caught my interest:

- Shrift’s take on God Only Knows really turns this tune into a weepy. The original was so bouncy that I had never even considered the lyrics could be this depressing.

- Toby Marks (Banco de Gaia) seems to still be having fun with his vocoder.

- Spirits In The Material World has notoriously been known to be a difficult song to cover, as the arrangements are deceptively complicated. Good on Karsh Kale to have a go.

- Los Mocosos’ cumbia go at The Bed’s Too Big Without You is a hoot!

So a wrap up then? Backspin is a lot of fun, period. While the wide range of musical types may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the fact they wrap familiar pop in these unique styles should keep even the least adventurous intrigued. Seek it out and get reacquainted with old standbys.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007 All rights reserved

Hexstatic - When Robots Go Bad!

Ninja Tune: 2007

When stacked against commercial success, Hexstatic might be one of Ninja Tune's most successful, though almost entirely due to their breakout single. Which was a collaboration with Coldcut. Of course, I'm talking about Timber, and whether it was Hexstatic or Coldcut that actually had more to do with the single, it remains one of the label's most famous hits, one that would be difficult to follow upon. Not that Coldcut had much need to, their legacy in dance music's history firmly entrenched. Hexstatic though, they may have had some pressure in creating another chart topper, lest they be thought of just a flash in the pan wonder. Would explain the bandwagon jumping on When Robots Go Bad!

Or maybe I'm thinking too much into this. Hexstatic did spend their initial album efforts doing quirky cut-up electro and traditional Ninja-hop (including a supremely cheekily titled track called Ninja Tune - it has chop-socky samples). When listening to this LP though, with half the tunes such blatant cross-over attempts compared to their past discography, I can't help but make such assumptions. Like, I know 'electro' was big and all in the mid-'00s, but they didn't have to go this far and obvious with it, did they? Surely Coldcut's failed 'pop' singles from Sound Mirrors should have clued them in this wasn't a lane Ninja Tune could easily adapt to?

The best way I can describe When Robots Go Bad! is it's an album I would have absolutely loathed in the year it came out, and probably have written a scathing, snarky, embarrassing review for TranceCritic on it. I was so done with trashy club fodder trying to pass itself as cool and hip that I'd basically deny whatever good tunes might come paired with it. It wasn't a very good stance to have on music, but eh, we're all rather immature in our opinions when we've yet to reach thirty, amirite?

I can't say tracks like Red Laser Beam, Freak Me, Prom Night Party, and Move On have aged well because you couldn't imagine them being made at any other time; the Ed Banger aesthetic was almost as prevalent as 'minimal' was. To say nothing of Bust, so desperately trying to be Boys Noize it hurts.

Fortunately, they're the most egregious examples of Hexstatic 'going bad', the rest of the album moving between classier stabs at mainstream electro (Tokyo Traffic), and right-proper electro jams. Man, if only the whole CD had been like the smashing Newton's Cradle, or smooth-cruisin' Newwaves and TLC (that one's almost atmospheric jungle). Meanwhile, tunes like Roll Over and A Different Place provide enough soul-sista' finesse for the requisite vocal needs, if Hexstatic were so insistent on having them.

So an album with some good, some bad, some middling, and a rather odd entry into the Ninja Tune catalogue. Can't say the Ninja faithful would have been pleased with it, but I imagine they were more interested in new Amon Tobin or Cinematic Orchestra that year anyway.

Various - A Taste Of Kandi Summer 2007

Hed Kandi: 2007

It's generally agreed upon Hed Kandi's decline occurred when Ministry Of Sound bought the brand in 2006. That doesn't mean it happened all at once, I'm sure a few decent selections coming out before that decade came to a close. Ah, this looks promising enough, a tidy, single-disc sampler mix highlighting peppy, summery house jams, and but a scant couple years after the Ministry buy-in. Surely this will prove it wasn't all rubbish immediately after.

And you know you're in good hands when a set opens up with Miguel Migs. He's one of those producers where you know what you're gonna' get, so if you've already gotten his stuff, there's no rush to get more so long as you're sated on what you got. That don't mean he's a welcome addition to any collection of house music though. Migs sets the tone for a large chunk of the opening: soulful disco house that brings to mind glitzy clubs serving glitzy people drinking glitzy drinks. Nothing revolutionary, but it doesn't need to be, music knowing exactly what its purpose is. No one's getting a Hed Kandi mix for intuitive underground sounds; sometimes you just need a quick fix of vanilla sundae with rainbow sprinkles.

A run of big disco anthems ups the tempo some, featuring tunes from the likes of Frank Ti-Aya, Justin Michael, Asbo, with guest vocalists ranging from Katherine Ellis, Jocelyn Brown, and Yardi Don, plus remixes from Soul Avengerz, Born To Funk, Deep Groovers, and House Brothers. Uh, sorry, but I'm drawing blanks on these names. Punters and DJs well entrenched in the Hed Kandi brand are probably familiar with them, but many of these appear like factory productions, churning out fodder for the DJ pools to be rinsed out for a season, then tossed off in favour for another round a few months later. So it always goes in clubland, I guess. The tunes are all fine for the time they're playing, but they don't really stand out from the disco house glut either.

Then Eddie Thoneick throws down a remix towards the final stretch, and you can always tell it's an Eddie Thoneick remix because few did big, punchy electro-house anthems like that chap did in the mid-'00s. Following that is a... cover? Of Big Fun? The artist credit goes to D.O.N.S., with a remix done by Beaver & Jones, but aside from giving the classic Detroit anthem some (then) current production punch, isn't much different from the original. Oh well, at least Steve Mac's rub on Bryon Stingily's Get Up (Everybody) is a fun disco anthem to end things on.

But then the mix has to keep going and let The Creeps from Freaks literally fart all over everything. Ugh, that was already a lame-ass flatulent tune jock-riding the Satisfaction craze when it was new, and it sounds utterly shite among so much upbeat disco action. Forget the last track's tribal-drum action, The Creeps ruined everything with its odoriferous stank rubbing on the CD.

Sixtoo - Jackals And Vipers In Envy Of Man

Ninja Tune: 2007

It must be difficult holding out on chasing trends. The music rags rave on about what's 'cutting edge' and 'fresh hotness', your peers can't help but dabble in new tricks and toys, and all the while a burgeoning audience emerges from corners long thought untappable. Sure, you have your loyal, dependable, old-school followers, but surely the temptation lurks to explore a little, just a little. A peak around the corner, a glance over the hill, a click of a link from a somewhat trusted source. It didn't look like Robert Squire was in any rush to do so though. Even as his brand of scratch-heavy trip-hop continuously lost ground to the incoming wave of grime and dubstep, his Sixtoo project kept the faith for much of the '00s. Yeah, he found a couple toys to tinker with (sample pad!), but it never compromised his style.

After eking out a career in Eastern Canada, Sixtoo got picked up by Ninja Tune, and it looked like things were flying breezy for Mr. Squire. After the release of this particular album though, his studio suffered a break-in, with everything involving his Sixtoo project pilfered. Not just the material for a new album, but all his years of back-ups, archives, samples, and the works. Everything! Sensing it a sign to move on in his music career, Rob shuttered the Sixtoo alias, switched cities to the West coast of Canada, and started making deep acid house as Prison Garde. Because they all turn to house eventually (sometimes techno too).

Before that though, he released Jackals And Vipers In Envy Of Man, which looks to be the final Sixtoo record. Unless he starts feeling nostalgic for his hip-hop roots, which could happen, maybe, possibly. Hard to start from scratch like he'd have to though. Makes better sense starting a whole different project, maybe with some 'support from Sixtoo', if you catch my drift. Why am I rambling like this? Damn Raptors victories, distracting my thoughts so easily.

Like many of his previous works (Boxcutter Emporium, Duration Project), Jackals And Vipers is essentially an extended music session exploring similar sounds and samples, giving each 'part' a live turntable vibe. Except this isn't all live turntables, but mixing and matching drum breaks and samples with some effects fun thrown in. Take those sessions, refine them in post-production, and voila, thirteen tracks of various non-rapping hip-hop business. Some parts last less than a minute, but most reaching the three-to-five minute range.

And there's not much else to say about Jackals And Vipers, if I'm honest. As mentioned, Sixtoo brings an unfussy, uncomplicated style to the music, riding rhythms as he feels them out, never gunking things up with superfluous effects and nonsense glitchiness. I wouldn't have minded some rappity-raps over a few of these, but they're fine without vocals too. It's a vintage Ninja Tune sound, which again was kinda' surprising to hear in the year 2007, what with The Bug's London Zoo just around the corner.

Spielerei & Mantacoup - Cold War

Silentes: 2007

Amplexus was dead, but that didn't mean someone could gather the ashes and relaunch another Italian ambient label in its stead. There's always room for more Italian ambient labels, especially ones you've barely heard of. I'm not sure who used the Phoenix Materia on Amplexus, giving rise to Silentes, but in short order Michael Mantra, Rod Modell, and Seele found comfortable homes there. It's a label that's quietly kept a small number of annual releases these past fifteen years, doing little to attract attention to itself but always drawing in a few well-regarded countrymen for an album or three.

The duo of Spielerei & Mantacoup falls into that category (though they're Dutch rather than Italian). They haven't released much, mind you, this Cold War and earlier Wichman And Other Pieces their lone collaborative works, and practically nothing since (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Each have put out solo works on dataObscura, while Spielerei has an additional item out on Databloem. And right he should, since Spielerei's real name is Dennis Knopper, owner of Databloem. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that dataObscura was an offspring of Databloem too? I don't think I have. Good to have that tidbit of info logged somewhere in the pounds of words contained on this blog. Point being, considering he has such a highly regarded label to his name, it's surprising he and Mr. Vermeent (Mantacoup) went with a different label for a second album together. Was it a request from Silentes? A favour owed to Michael Mantra? Figuring a 'cold war' theme fit better with a label that resides closer to the former iron curtain?

Now that I've got all that rambling out of the way, here comes the part where I must confess Cold War hasn't made much of an impression on me. For sure I'm hearing a lot of things I like, but it feels like I'm spending too much time wanting to like it more than just the basic appreciation I have for ambient techno glitch. There's a concept here, lurking, urging to get out and expose itself, but can't quite break through. Maybe I've been too spoiled by dark ambient exploring similar themes – that scene always knows how to construct a narrative out of their albums. I struggle in hearing where Spielerei and Mantacoup's muses are going here though.

Where It All Ends opens Cold War with a suitably melancholy mood, while the frantic, glitchy percussion of follow-up Cuba Crisis hints at the technological monstrosity that the battle of super-powers created. Pigs Bay has urgent burbling electronics, Meanwhile In Moscow goes minimalist and sonically paranoid, but the album's momentum kinda' dies after that, with far too much dithering experimentation interspersed with soundtracky ambient pads. As I said, all stuff I like hearing in general, just lacking the strong songcraft structure I've come to expect of such music. Oh well, final track After The Shockwave is a nice lead-out of micro-hop and synth-glitch – nicely sells the reckless futility of cold wars.

Bogdan Raczynski - Alright! (Original TC Review)

Rephlex: 2007

(2019 Update:
I don't normally include the track list in these old TranceCritic reposts, much less any review beyond some personal burned discs, since it's usually redundant, unimportant information, and takes up ugly space. However, much of the opening paragraph is dependent upon you knowing what the track list looks like, so in this rare case, it's here to see. Funny thing is, despite this album now being over a decade old (!!), I'm still not sure if the track title confusion has cleared up. The Discoggian entry has them all listed as 'Part's, but scope out the Bandcamp option, and they appear as below. I think I added 'Part' to the titles when I uploaded this album to my computer, just so the Last.fm scrobbling data didn't get all wonky too. And since the album's not on Spotify - y'know, where Bogdan can make a couple fractions of a penny via streaming - there's no way to know for sure, is there?

Sadly, this was Mr. Racyznski's last album. He's kept active in other ventures (does he still mod? I feel like he's the kind of guy that'd still mod), and recently released a four-track collection of DJ mixes on his Bandcamp. It just feels wrong that he never followed up this giddy LP. Surely he's got more ideas in his brainpan for the braindancers. Like, a decade's a long period to not release anything official, and far as I know, Rephlex's doors are always open for the quirkier chaps in this scene.)


Track List:
1. Alright! (4:59)
2. Alright! (4:51)
3. Alright! (4:31)
4. Alright! (4:32)
5. Alright! (4:05)
6. Alright! (5:32)
7. Alright! (5:58)
8. Alright! (7:38)

IN BRIEF: Um... alright?

No, your eyes don’t deceive you. That really is the track list to this album. Or is it? There is absolutely nothing to hint at what the titles are, or even if the tunes contained on here do have titles. Sure, Mr. Raczynski has mentioned they should be Alright!, but given his prankster past, how trustworthy can such claims be? For all we know, they could all be called ‘Untitled’, or even ‘...’. Perhaps we the consumers have been granted the good grace to come up with our own names, although I’d imagine that would make finding these on your handy P2P programs ever more difficult. What I do know for certain is they are not titled after record labels, so ignore that fake track list floating around with names like Rough Trade and Forced Exposure: it's completely the bunk. For the sake of sanity, I’ll be referring to them by their track numbers in this review (#2, #4, #7, etc.).

Alright? Good. After reading that, you should have a better idea of what kind of a producer Bogdan Raczynski is (if you didn’t know already, anyway). Taking influence from ‘braindance’ icons of the 90s like Squarepusher and µ-Ziq, his music can be a bit, um, challenging. At the same time though, he treats his craft with the recklessness giddiness of a child, taking delight in throwing curveballs at the self-serious attitudes the IDM crowds are known for. Whether making threats to produce psychedelic trance if fans didn’t legally obtain his music or using bait-and-switch album names like Ibiza Anthems Vol. 4, Bogdan can be one tricksy musician.

On his sixth full-length, it also appears he’s become nostalgic,Alright! a kind of joyful throwback to the hedonistic days of raving, when folks were more concerned with happy-fun times rather than prestigious regard in the eyes of the larger world. Goodness knows seeing the word ‘eurodance’ on the back cover of a Rephlex release is enough to throw such serious plans right out the window.

Fortunately for fans of Bogdan’s drum programming, his scattershot rhythms and frantic pacing is still in full effect, although far less complex than in years past. There’s breakbeats at break-neck pace, proto-gabber beats bobbing about, and plenty of tin-can rim shots for you to gorge on. Er, yeah, a lot of the percussion, while interesting to hear, comes off weak and flat, as do many of the sounds used too. You’d think he cannibalized a bunch of 8-bit video games for samples, which may not be far from the truth. Frankly, aside from moments when the bass suddenly rumbles with authority (especially so in #4), much of Alright! is gleefully under-powered, and will immediately turn away those whose tastes are within the confines of squeaky-clean, pristine, EQ’d-to-the-max production.

Shame for them, then, as they’ll be missing out on some gosh-darned wonderful little songs here. Between rave-tastic riffs - #1 and #3 spring immediately to mind - and mellower melodies (#6 and #7) Alright! is just so endearing, you can’t help but come away with a smile on your face. Heck, the tinny production even helps sell the tone of the album, reveling in childlike exuberance.

Is it silly? Sure. #4 could just as easily be called The Spastic Acid Kitty-Kat Parade, but what a hoot it is! And #8 sums up Alright! perfectly, indulging in both old-school energy and ambient sentimentality for a winner of a track. Perhaps the only stumble to be found is the acid work in #5, lacking the spiffiness the other tunes have but still fun in its own right.

Undoubtedly, fans of Bogdan’s work and dedicated followers of Rephlex have already snagged this one up, but what about the rest of you? Should you commit debit to disc on a silly ‘braindance’ album? Even if your tastes are razor thin, I still say yes, if anything to spice up your collection. But more than that, no matter the circumstance, these tracks are simply fun diversions, very much channeling the care-free spirit of raving’s heyday. And isn’t the whole point of dancing to let go of the world’s formalities anyway?

Clocking in well under an hour, Alright! breezes by quickly and like the rave party that prematurely ends, you can’t help but long for just one more song. End it does though, as does this review.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved