Sound Synthesis - IC 4406

Nebulae Records: 2019

IC 4406 is a planetary nebula, more commonly referred to as the Retina Nebula. As its equatorial plane is about edge-on with our line of sight from Earth, it looks more flat and rectangular compared to the traditionally ring-shaped features we associate with planetary nebula. With a higher concentration of ionized gasses still surrounding the stellar nucleus, it can give the astronomic object the appearance of, well, an eyeball, though modern higher resolutions of IC 4406 tends to blur these edges. If you have good vision and low light pollution, you can spot it with the naked eye, near the constellation Lupus (the Wolf is located between Scorpius and Centaurus), though obviously as little more than a fuzzy star. Oh, and it looks nothing like the image adorning the cover art of this EP.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really neat bit of cosmic design, looking like the core of a blue giant in front of some sort of stellar nursery. Maybe this is what IC 4406 looked like at some point in its history. That's the fun thing about astronomy: for the most part, we're only granted a snapshot of what the heavens looks like, and then as they were in the past. Observed cataclysmic change is rare and infrequent. Much like this label's release schedule!

Right, I don't know that much about Nebulae Records, only happening upon them when doing a little digging into Darren Nye (I think ...memory hazy). Stumbling into their Bandcamp page, you bet your bottom dollar I was instantly attracted to all the fancy, colourful space clouds. As for why I picked out Sound Synthesis' IC 4406 for my initial dive... C'mon, you know by now.

That's right, it's because I was due to get myself some more Keith Farrugia music! Okay, that's more a coincidence, but a happy one, his Unfolding Cycles as Stimulus Timbre a fun romp through more classical styles of synth music. The significant bulk of his recent work has been as Sound Synthesis though, so its only appropriate we look in on this aspect of his sound.

And yeah, we're in spacey electro and cosmic acid with this EP. Opener Expansion 303 is about as vintage early IDM as things get, breaks brisk and crisp, acid squelchy and burbling, and backing synths... okay, they're actually a lot more opulent than the other elements, but hey, space, man.

Noisy Shouts Of Joy gets a little more melancholic in its melody (definite FireScope feels here), Octagon a little deeper while offering a quicker pace, and Breathe chilled-out and charming. Plus, some sci-fi bleeps and zaps, because why not. All solid, all worth a listen if you favour this particular niche of spaced-out electro and acid.

Where to from here, then? Strange question, but I get it: do I dig further into Sound Synthesis, or Nebulae Records. Well, one has more releases, so potentially more variety. The other, however, has prettier cover art. Decisions, decisions...

Various - Hidden Realms EP

Omni Music: 2019

Sweet, a drum 'n' bass release. Damn, it's been, like, forever since- Eh? Oh, right, Photek's Form & Function, just a couple months ago. Alright, got me there, but since before that one? You'll have to go back a literal year, to Centaspike's Bent Bound Broken, when I last covered the genre. Blame it on all that psy trance making these gaps artificially vast.

Anyhow, Omni Music. This is a label that kicked off at the start of the '10s, a means of producer Eschaton to release tunes that didn't fit on other, established labels. Not sure how accurate that is, but my recollection of the state of d'n'b back then is a bit sketchy now. Probably not so robust for those who were interested in sounds outside the Pendulum or liquid funk oeuvre. Yeah, there will always be Good Looking Records (as well as Looking Good Records), but surely there was demand for more outlets of jungle on the jazzy, intelligent tip, right.

Must be indeed, Omni Music carrying on to this day, with a catalogue of three-hundred plus records. Oh my, where does one even start with this label, then? For our purposes, it's an EP compilation called Hidden Realms. I... have no memory of why I picked this particular item. Oh, there's a specific reason how I came across Omni, but has nothing to do with this. It wasn't a recent item either, so wouldn't have been an impulse buy upon first stumbling in. Heck, it doesn't even have blue cover art! A mystery for sure.

Whatever, I have it now, so let's dig in. Each track is a collab' effort, the first featuring Enjoy and Pariah. Don't know much about the former, but Pariah had been a staple of the aforementioned Bukem prints early on. And if you know anything about that namedrop, then you should know what sort of d'n'b we're in for. Sonic Void is mostly an ultra-deep techy session, though does pick up in the back-half with a little Amen Break action complimenting the minimalist spacey synths leading the melody. Omni honcho Eschaton follows up with Booca (very little Discogs presence) on Behind The Magenta, a far more jazzy, atmospheric outing with broken beats, operatic choirs, heavenly leads, trombones... A real stew of sounds, but darn cool in a blissy sort of way.

Third track State Of Consciousness is another 'veteran meets newbie' session featuring DJ Trax and Infest (3). It, too, follows the vintage LTJ vibe, with busier drum work but no less chill on the melodic side. The final two producers, Parhelia and Dissident, are relative newcomers compared to the '90s folks, but have still been in the game over a decade now. The Day Of 5 Suns is suitably grand in scope for such a title, conjuring sci-fi vistas and all that. Is this the level of quality for the whole damn Omni Music catalogue? Gosh, only one way to find out! ...but I'm not the person to do so.

Natural Life Essence - Forms Of Life (Other Versions)

Liquid Frog Records: 2019

When I saw this was subtitled Other Versions, I thought I might have another skippable item from N:L:E on my hands. Not that there wouldn't be something worth talking about here, but with so much still to get through in this discography (just... so much), cutting corners has become a must. I figured if these were just remixes, I could refer back to them whenever I got around to covering the original tracks proper-like.

After checking through what material of his I did have, however, I realized I didn't have the original tracks! That... couldn't be right? I bought his entire catalogue as it existed on Bandcamp, they had to be there! This being an earlier release, there weren't many options they could be hiding, yet sleuthing through the comparatively scant items available, I found nothing. Could there be *gasp* other Natural Life Essence albums out there, that didn't even reside on his crowded Bandcamp?

Indeed there is, though far as I can tell, this is the only item that exists as such. I can understand why it wouldn't be among Juan Pablo's own catalogue though, one of those 'label rights' things that makes redistribution of one's own music at times a sticky situation in streaming circles. Heck, that might even be why he went about releasing this particular EP, artists doing 're-recordings' or 're-masters' or 're-mixes' that skirt around rights technicalities.

I have no idea if this is the situation surrounding the original Forms Of Life as it appears on Ovnimoon Records, but then I don't know much about that label to begin with. They seem to have a lot of material though, one of those multitude of psy trance labels that sprung up in the past two decades, and still going to this day. I can't say I recognize much of anyone on their roster though: a lone AstroPilot item here, a LemonChill there, and... yeah. Still, they were releasing CDs for a spell, so can't be all netlabel bunk, can it? Haha, oh, if you think that, then you really don't know psy trance labels very well.

Anyhow, I can't be bothered doing a compare-and-contrast between the original Forms Of Life, so here's what we get with Other Versions. Lapse (Little Snail) (Lucky Return Mix) does the N:L:E spritely ambient thing with a little pulse of a rhythm that invokes something more mysterious and Middle Eastern. Liquid Frog (More Rain Mix) does... Hey, that's where Juan Pablo got the name for his self-release label, isn't it! Cool. The track gets closer to the realms of ambient dub, which is pretty much a brand standard for N:L:E even this early in the project's lifespan. Nomad Dragonfly (Tranquil Wind Mix) is the most interesting of the lot, if you like your pure ambience with nice field recordings, sweeping synths, and deep meditative tonal harmony. And finally, Symbiosis (Insects Gathering Mix) gets back to the spritely ambient style as heard in Lapse. Yep, all par for the course.

Placid Angels - First Blue Sky

Magicwire: 2019

I really need to keep a record of my buying habits. Like, I can suss out the 'why': been neglecting John Beltran, nabbed a record with striking blue cover art. It's the 'how' I'm drawing an utter blank on. How did I end up landing on his Placid Angels side project? How did I even find it in the first place? It's certainly not on his own Bandcamp page, First Blue Sky coming out on the little-known Magicwire print instead. Yes, it was initially an offshoot of R&S Records, but far as I know, has been mostly independent since 2017, and has barely released much of anything lately.

It had to have been name-dropped somewhere, Magicwire. Perhaps Simon Reynolds on his Energy Flash blog, or one of the trance forums that still exist, pointing out some tunes that capture the feel of the genre in its vintage form. If either so, then the fact this happened to be a John Beltran album as well is pure coincidence. I mean, you sure wouldn't have guessed it as such just from listening to the samples. Who even knew he resurrected this alias in the first place?

For those not in the know (most, I wager), Placid Angels started as a one-off guest feature way, way back. Sometime in the late '90s, his career doing quite well with a solid handful of albums under his belt, he put out The Cry as Placid Angels on Peacefrog Records. Was it because the use of his regular name was an exclusive to R&S at the time? No, he'd already released an album on Peacefrog as John Beltran prior. Was The Cry a radical departure from his usual sound then, thus in need of an alias properly separating it from his regular output? Not terribly so, perhaps a shade more Detroit than his other techno works. And he certainly felt no need to return to Placid Angels after, letting the name sit fallow until reviving it for Magicwire.

Resurrect it he did though, and boy does First Blue Sky ever drip with retro rave feels. Right from the jump in the titular opener, you got brisk breakbeats, dreamy synth pads (a John Beltran staple), and subtle little samples spicing things up. Follow-up Angel leans more into classic ambient techno, when the beats could still be abrasive and the melodies outwordly. A Moment Away From You slides closer to Detroit's realm, and Vent... well, this is just straight up jungle, ain'it? The use of an Amen Break, sure, but not those supporting melodies, nosiree.

The remaining album mostly flits between variations on these types of tracks, which is great if your earholes crave more dance music in that vintage Warp and Apollo style. Of course, you can likely find plenty of this stuff elsewhere, but few have a way around a moving melody quite the way Mr. Beltran has done time and time again throughout his career. First Blue Sky is no exception to that rule.

Function - Existenz

Tresor: 2019

David Sumner didn't need to join Sandwell District, already having a modestly successful career in techno for nearly a decade. It certainly gave him a significant boost in profile though, and when the conglomerate disbanded, he had plenty of buzz going for him in where he'd take his Function project next. A proper debut album on Ostgut Ton apparently, which was probably the most obvious thing he could have done at the time. But hey, fair play, the Berghain label about the hottest thing around, and a long supporter of the Sandwell sound before it truly took off. Following that, he did a collaborative work with Vatican Shadow, then got all chummy with Speedy J's boutique vinyl label Stoor.

Which I'm sure was fun for a spell, cutting lathe records live and all, but hardly anyone's ever gonna' play those. Sometimes you just want to make some music that will actually get heard. He must have had a fair bit of material percolating in his head during those Stoor years, as when he finally did emerge from that, he dropped nothing less than a double-LP on one of the longest running German techno prints in existence, Tresor. Hey, is that where David got the title for the album? Mm, yeah, no...

Anyhow, this is a dope-ass album. Overstuffed a little, y'say? Well, if you prefer some styles of techno over others, there's a small argument there. Like, if you just wanted a collection of clubbing tools, then the more experimental pieces like Ertrinken, Zahlensender and Alphabet City may not be up your alley. Or you're so absolutely done with Berghain minimal, you never want to hear it ever again, then sure, you could leave Vampir on the floor. Having a Robert Owens feature strikes you as nothing more than a decades old nostalgia gimmick? Fine, you can skip Be, if that's how you feel. All are valid reasons to critique Existenz, but personally, I'm all for the diversity.

Primarily though, it's that vintage Detroit retro-future techno that dominates, the first disc with the downbeat options, CD2 featuring stronger rhythms. Sometimes it goes trancier (Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Distant Paradise), sometimes housier (Growth Cycle, Be), sometimes electroier (Kurzstrecke, Nylon Mood), sometimes vintage Detroitier (Pleasure Discipline, Golden Dawn, Interdimensional Interferenc), and sometimes even ravier. Yes, the breakbeats in No Entidendes pushes that one into rave territory to me – nothing robotic about those drums – while Downtime 161's about as blatant a 'feel the gurn for a dozen minutes' tune as I've ever heard. See, something for everyone!

While this album is half a decade old now (!), I do hope it helps prove the modern LP format is better served offering diversity rather than a run of tracks mostly doing the same thing over and over. Not that I mind having a few items in my collection that do so (oh hi, Planetary Assault System!), but for a couple decades there, too many techno records seemed to forget that.

Median Project - Constellation

Suntrip Records: 2019

I guess this marks a minor milestone in my current forever-coverage of Suntrip Records. Not only is this the twentieth item from their catalogue I'm reviewing (only fifty-some more to go?), but it's the first instance of a repeat artist in this venture. Okay, technically Emanuel Carpus is, in that I've covered an E-Mantra album, plus that one-off Night Hex side-project EP he did. I don't really count that as the same though. I'm talking about an actual established alias used by the same producer, in this case Sergei Petrenko.

I didn't get too much into the man's background in my first review of Median Project, spending most of my word count lamenting other nonsense. So let me make amends here. Based out of Moscow, Sergei released a handful of EPs and albums on labels like Timewarp and Global Sect Music before landing himself on Suntrip with this record, Constellation. Floating about after with a couple items elsewhere, he put out Another Galaxy, then has remained relatively quiet on the production front since. Yeah, I wonder why that may have happened...

Anyhow, I liked this album more than Another Galaxy. It still has some issues, similar to the ones I brought up in my other review, but overall, I feel there's more musical momentum going for the tracks on here than the latter record. It's the overt Astral Projection influence, goa trance designed to send your mindspace soaring as the relentless rhythms keep the heart rate pumping. Not so focused on earworms, but containing enough melodic backing that effectively keeps the auditory cortex fully stimulated. Oh yeah, this is definitely a psy trance album that knows all the subtle tricks of working the brain chemicals into a frenzy.

Unfortunately, its greatest feature is also its critical flaw. There's little variety between tracks, each just dropping you into a full throttle goa session, each piece playing out its assortments of spacey synths and squiggly acid and delayed arps in mostly the same fashion as the last. The kicks are perhaps a bit too punchy, leading to some degree of ear fatigue, making a full playthrough of the album a bit of an endurance test. And when there aren't any obvious hooks for your brain to latch onto, that feeling of something missing can't help but persist.

Granted, it's not as bad a feeling as a came away with from Another Galaxy, some definite strong peaks heard on Constellation. Tracks like Infinite Space, One The Edge, Pandora's Box have killer climaxes. They're also rather similar too, such that if you played just those peaks one after the other, you'd swear they're the same track, save some aesthetic differences.

Fortunately, the whole record isn't like this, a bit more melodic variety found later in Constellation. Still, everything is so go-go-go in that neo-goa fashion, folks will either adore or grow weary of it. Great for those right moments when out at a party, but a little tiring when taking it in on the home front.

Various - Clockwork Manor (Cottage Industries 9)

Neo Ouija: 2019

As mentioned in my first review of a Cottage Industries, the Neo Ouija series has pretty much become the label's sole output in recent years. Really, it's kind of funny Lee Norris would dust off the old print just for this reason. Then again, he's got so many labels and affiliates since this one's early '00s heyday, I doubt he'd be able to keep track of what artists should go where and so on.

Yeah, its relaunch probably had as much to do with releasing new Norken and Metamatics material than anything else, but why waste the opportunity to bring other talents into the fold, even if its only via compilations. Still, it must have proved successful, as after the first couple Cottage Industries tested the waters with single CD options, the ninth edition, Clockwork Manor, goes hog wild with a triple-disc, thirty-six track extravaganza. Or overload, depending on what your enjoyment threshold is for various forms of experimental IDM glitch-pop.

Of these thirty-six, I only recognize a handful of names: John Tejada, Ambidextrous, Ruxpin, Drøn. That led me to believe I was dealing with a bunch of new artists, the compilation going out of its way to highlight up and comers. Yet clicking through most of their Discogs entries, that's hardly the case, many actively releasing material throughout the '10s. They may have been extremely obscure, getting shine on Neo Ouija their biggest break and all, but still, some spent in the trenches getting there is good.

This is also one of those collections of music where you could assign a unique genre to every single track, if you're anal-retentive enough about music classification. I gave a very generalized style-salad above, but that's only scratching the surface. There's honestly something enjoyable for everyone here. Randomly picked, there's Boards-like downtempo (Velum's Break Infinis) or confounding skitter-skatter beatcraft (BLN's Ly Oc) or noisy electro (Carbinax' Capable Beast) or shuffly frigid-acid (Octavcat's Icefield) or clicky mood music (h7 buffer's Qwon Trill). Only duff I recall is a lone dubstep track, 4D3x from Dialed, sounding like an out-of-place 'alleyway toff' among so much undeniably dorky music.

If there's this much music worth discussing across three CDs, why don't I split this review up as I've done in the past? Well, despite ordering the 3CD option off Bandcamp, I never received them (not the first time this happened from this label, sadly), leaving me with the thirty-six track digital version. And believe you me, when trying to sit down and take in nearly three hours of this stuff, a lot of it kinda' mushes into your brain. Matters aren't helped when the sonic diversity is wildly abrupt, with track lengths averaging four-to-six minute, such that material doesn't have much chance of standing out in single playthroughs. Frankly, I often felt like I was listening to a glorified label sampler rather than a thematic compilation. Which kinda' sums up my thoughts about most mega-massive 'streaming playlist' collections of the modern era.

Humanoid - Built By Humanoid

fsoldigital.com: 2019

After three decades, Brian Dougans felt time was right to dust off the alias that started it all for him. Why such a long gap? Well, he had a little side-hustle called The Future Sound Of London commanding much of his attention, so there's that. Also, I suspect he had lingering harsh feelings over the moniker, the label Westside Records releasing a 'debut' Humanoid record without much of his input involved. He did put out a 'from the archives' item from those sessions on Rephlex, but for the most part seemed content leaving the project in the distant past.

Wouldn't you know it though, that ol' spark of techno inspiration kept nagging at him, eager to try his hand at something more proper acidy and robotic. Can't do much with that in all those FSOL Environments though, lest they muck up whatever psychedelic chill vibes they maintained. Plus, who knows if Garry was even up for such IDM experimentation, his muse often wandering off to parts unknown. No, to truly sate his techno fever, Brian would have to use a completely different alias. Or dust off an old, mothballed one, that'll do too.

A track on a compilation here, a track on a charity collection there, and soon enough, Mr. Dougans had enough material for a new Humanoid album, which in some ways is the real debut. Of course, he hadn't the studio or technology to make anything remotely similar to what's offered on Built By Humanoid way back when, so leave whatever preconceptions of what a Humanoid record should sound like behind, because this ain't it.

Fortunately, Brian doesn't waste your time letting you know what you're in for, opener Orfan Atmosphere three minutes and three seconds (nice) of abrasive glitch-core and acid distortion. Ol' school IDM is back, baby! And as if that session wasn't enough to get your techno-dork on, follow-up Polymath is apparently one of those experimental tracks that uses something called a 'probability theory'. Cool, but mostly sounds like burbly, dubby acid ambient.

That's what the bulk of Built By Humanoid entails: lots of IDM beatcraft, lots of digital acid crunch... the sort of stuff you would expect to have appeared on Rephlex. Is there any of that classic FSOL album narrative though? After a fashion, sure, the track titles suggesting a future dystopia ruled by cybernetic man-apes tweakin' on acid. It's not a touch on Dead Cities' cinematic post-apocalyptica, but then what is?

I feel like there should be more talking points to Built By Humanoid, but without venturing into the weeds of production techniques, there really isn't. Like a lot of Brian's other solo ventures, this sees him pushing a particular sound to a particular limit, the outer edges of sonic styles emanating from the EarthBeat studios. It may be a bit much for those still forlorn for more Stakker acid, but for those willing to hear any ol' indulgence from the FSOL boys, this is a fun record.

ProtoU - Anomalies

Cryo Chamber: 2019

Her most popular album? Well, it's got the most scrobbles on Last.fm, which ain't too shabby seeing as how Anomalies came out much later than her earlier works like Lost Here and Khmaoch. Heck, even her collaboration with Purl, Sub Life, is dwarfed by how many plays Anomalies has garnered over a similar amount of time. You'd think getting exposure on Dronarivm would have yielded more plays there, but maybe I'm underestimating just how popular Cryo Chamber has gotten within not just dark ambient circles, but across other scenes as well. Or it just could be that literal eye-catching cover art luring folks in for a closer listen, unable to resist the hypnotizing glare of a burning sun over a concave valley. Truly one of the best from a label replete with captivating cover art.

And before any folks made of hay claim I'm just hopping on whatever bandwagon this album's gathered, I honestly always intended to grab it. However, as I postponed my latest Cryo Chamber bulk-buy for an unexpectedly long time, I missed the initial buzz over Anomalies. Or maybe not, those same scrobbling stats showing a healthy, consistent play cycle, at least among the Last.fm contingent. For a genre that has so many albums getting lost in the shuffle (just... so many albums), that's about as good as it gets.

And what has made Anomalies the runaway smash hit of ProtoU's discography (relatively speaking)? More of a focus on naturalist ambience, would be my guess. Not that Sasha hasn't dabbled in this field before, indeed this album treading similar ground as her debut Lost Here. However, she's taken many different paths in her dark ambient journey – sci-fi themes in Stardust and Echoes Of The Future; the occult with Khmoach, Metta, and Tomb Of Druids. Which is great if that's the dark ambient vibe you're down for at the time, but for most folks just getting their feet wet in the murky swamp, something that at least sounds grounded in our reality has some small comforting familiarity. Sure, you may be lost out in the woods with strange phenomena casting disconcerting visages across starless skies, but at least it's all natural, right? Right...?

Opener The Escape sure feels so, at least at first. Rather gentle and calming with soft, if chilly pads casting a mist over your earlobes, the drone does turn more mechanical and menacing, but not overbearingly so. And with such a tranquil piece of piano ambience in follow-up Transparent Clusters, such apprehensive thoughts are easily dismissed – the sound of rainfall certainly helps.

What's interesting about Anomalies is the back-and-forth of tone between tracks. Harsher pieces like Electric Grounds and Chamber Of Visions are followed by reflective respites in Lucid Sequences and Ghost In You , while ten-minute closer Pellucid Waters with Hilyard wraps everything back together. You'll come away feeling both confronted yet relaxed, challenged yet released. Like an intense Pilates workout, followed by a tender massage, for the mind and the soul.

Warmth - Wildlife

Archives: 2019

Agustín seems to have done well for himself now, finding his footing in a way overcrowded ambient scene. Something has to be that tipping point though, where one's success goes from ultra-niche hobbiest to algorithmic search engine approved. It'd be easy enough pointing towards landing some prominent names for his Archives print as one such tipping point, and having acts like Purl, Halftribe, and Gallery Six certainly were gets. I'm more curious about Mr. Mena's own output though, where his Warmth project was seen on equal footing as other ambient luminaries. It's not like his pre-Archives material was gaining much attention, mostly floating about various ambient and dub techno netlabels with little notice. Even his initial material on Archives didn't generate that much buzz.

Is Wildlife that one Warmth album you need to hear, even if you're not a fan of Warmth, then? Hard to say, but it certainly feels unique among his catalogue. Unlike other releases within Archives', erm, archives, this one does not feature some lovely bit of natural scenery. Rather, a big ol' mama grizzly bear adorns the album's cover art. At least, I assume it's a mama bear, as the inlay has a couple cubs running about, plus the Wildlife Addendum record features a shot of the whole family together. Right, having some sort of actual wildlife as the art for your album called Wildlife makes one-hundred percent sense, but what I find interesting is Warmth's Retrospective (2016-2021) collection also features a prominent grizzly. Agustín must feel some personal connection to these magnificent ursine to reuse their visage, is what I'm saying, which leads me to believe Wildlife is, indeed, that one Warmth album you need to hear, even if you're not a fan of Warmth.

Is the music any good though? Well, it's more ambient drone in that Archives stylee, so if you're down for more of that, you're likely down for this. I haven't tired of it yet, and don't sense I will anytime soon. Gads, there's just so much music in Archive's catalogue!

But yes, you have that fuzzy, dreamy timbre the best of dubby drone has to offer in Wildlife. Where gentle tones seemingly drift across fog covered mountain lakes at dawn. Where subtle, echoing sounds emanate from distant corners of pre-dawn shrouded forests. Where melancholic pads settle layer upon layer such that you're lost within their sonic embrace. Some tracks offer quiet, reflective moments (Owls, The Bear, Wildlife, Dawning), others a more disquieting tone (The Woods, Sonora, Shine, Soil). A couple artists add some acoustic flair to the dense synth drone (Pepo Galán in Shine, Robert Farrugia in Dawning), but this is primarily Agustín's show.

So yep, this is definitely another solid outing from Warmth, and if you're unsure where to dive into his discography, about as good as any place. Well, unless you want to get the whole kit and caboodle with Retrospective (2016-2021). Either way, you're getting at least one more release with a prominent Kodiak on the cover.

SadGirl - Water

Suicide Squeeze: 2019

”So [Vol. 3 – Head To The Mountains] wasn't what I expected or hoped for, not really convincing me SadGirl was actually a contemporary surf rock band. And yet, I still went and ordered their debut album, Water. Go figure.”

Flash forward nearly four years later, and here I am, finally reviewing the darn thing! If you ever wanted an idea of how backed up my queue has gotten, that's as good an indicator as any. I'm starting to wonder if I should even bother with the alphabetical stipulation at all. Like, it was a handy bit of organization when I was initially going through my original music collection, a definitive end-point to work towards. Now that that's done and dusted, however, what real need for it is there? Legacy? Maintaining a gimmick well past its usefulness? What I'm getting at is, for all practical purposes, shouldn't I now review items I get as I get them, rather than let them languish in a 'To-Review' pile for years, long after their 'hot on the streets' drop dates have cooled? Mind, if I was doing that, I'd probably still be going through all those goa trance CDs I bought earlier this year. Yeah, maybe let's keep things as are for now...

Anyhow, SadGirl. The band was tapped by Bandcamp as one of the nu-surf scene's ascendant acts, and at the time, they certainly seemed primed as such. A run of solid singles with eye-popping artwork, a debut album primed for launch... What could go wrong? Oh, yeah, that whole pandemic thing. That would stall any musical career dependent upon live shows for sustainability, and it seems SadGirl stalled indeed, nothing new released for a couple years now. Maybe they'll reconvene for a comeback, but as it stands, Water remains their lone LP.

They don't waste any time letting you know you're in for 'life's a beach' vibes either. Opener The Ocean immediately drops you into a lazy, hazy, dreamy bit of echo-drenched croon, organs swaying and electric guitars sliding. Follow-up Chlorine gets more into the cabaret side of classic rockabilly, while instrumental Hazelnut Coffee may have your Khruangbin triggers flaring. If you have any Khruangbin triggers to flare in the first place, that is. Y'know, the sort of easy-peasy tiki lounge jam music best enjoyed while laying in a hammock, frilly drink in hand.

Water mostly flits about such songs for its duration, unashamed in its ultra-retro aesthetic, never upping the tempo to more than a lukewarm simmer. I guess that doesn't really make it a proper surf rock album, even though you can't help but be reminded of endless waves as the sun sets below the distant ocean horizon. Forever remembering those loves lost, drifting somewhere out at sea while you remain landlocked and moribund. Oh yeah, the metaphors on this album are rather blunt and obvious, but hey, it is a surf record, a genre of music that was seldom ever subtle in execution.

Saphileaum - The Traveler

Silent Season: 2019

I've had Saphileaum's The Traveler for some time, bought among a bundle that included Beat Pharmacy's Safety In Dub, Mohlao's Landforms, and Wanderwelle's Lost In A Sea Of Trees. Items I reviewed two years ago now. Why, then, did I skip this one? Some weird quirk of my convoluted queuing system? Nay, 'tis a sillier reason: I simply forgot I had it.

As The Traveler is a digital-only release, I assume it got lost among all the other 'travel' albums in my folders (Travel The Galaxy, Traveler '03, Traveller, Travelling Without Moving... bonus points if you can I.D. what artists those are tied to!). Only now, during this run through the 'T's, did I realize I missed Saphileaum's EP. Oopsie on me, but that sometimes happens when I don't have a physical copy to confirm I actually bought something. And y'all wonder why I held off on the buying digital for so long.

Anyhow, Saphileaum. There's a lot of history behind this project of Andro Gogibedashvili, at least according to his Discoggian bio. More than I'm willing to divulge here, if I'm honest. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame (aside from being the grandson of one of Georgia's most popular singers, Temur Tsiklauri), is having a snippet of one of his tracks sent out into space, directed at a Neptune-like planet orbiting a red dwarf called K2-18. Huh, seems a bit random. Why not an Earth-like exoplanet, like Gliese 667Cc, or Trappist-1E, or Kepler-69C (nice). Guess the waiting list to transmit to those locations is a tad longer.

Anyhow, after spending some time floating about net-labels like Norite, Controlled Violence, and Oslated, Andro landed on Silent Season with a debut of The Traveler. And what an interesting debut it is, treading into sonic territory I've yet to hear the label venture into. Sure, opener Golden Tunic seems to follow upon similar, spacious dubby aesthetics so often heard throughout Silent Season's history, but there's something oh-so relaxing, calming, and soothing about these gentle synth pads and soft tribal rhythms. It's ambient dub, but for the New Age sect. Not that we haven't heard mystical-leaning music out of this print before, but almost always with a dub techno approach. Saphileaum shows almost no techno-fetishism in his songcraft, dub merely used to enhance the spacious vistas he creates. And boy howdy, does he create some deep spaces indeed.

That said, the tracks making up The Traveler do run a tad samey throughout. Establish a steady rhythm with a meditative melody and twilight field recordings, then subtly loop them for around six minutes each, throwing in a few rolling drum fills, layers of harmonic drone, and echo effects for flavour. It's all finely crafted, no doubt, but once you catch onto the Saphileaum stylee, you won't hear much deviation from it. Fortunately, The Traveler doesn't grow long in tooth either, wrapping up in a tidy seven tracks. A perfect length for a nice stroll through ancient forest paths.

Bålsam - Soul Offerings

Neotantra: 2019

It cannot be denied: the ambient scene is filled with hippies. No, I'm not talking about anarchist crusty-punks you might see at 'free tekno' parties, though there is some bleed when it comes to the psy side of things. I'm referring to the more New Age sort, who are about yoga, granola diets, herbal remedies, and naturalistic life-styles. All the calm, meditative tones that comes with many forms of ambient music, it's a natural lure for those who fancy themselves living on the mystical side of counter-culture existence. I cannot deny also retaining some minor attributes of this, but nor do I delude myself into thinking I've unplugged from society at large – I'm very much a willing participant of the rat-race. How else can I afford to constantly buy music, after all?

This here Bålsam (Anthony Asher-Yates to the Minnesota census board) is one such person who has managed to get off-grid, so to speak. Inspired by his travels through South America, he decided it was best for his life to retreat to the mountains of Columbia where he could spend his days debugging his soul from the trials modern society had wrought upon him. There, he could indulge in all the healing activities denied him by Western culture – the spiritual ceremonies, the ritualistic music performances, the horticultural medications, and such as. Y'know, real hippie shit.

Okay, I tease – do what works for you, right? I guess I just find it funny how, for a label that's got 'tantra' right in its title and even features a running, free compilation series named as such, it's mostly cultivated the more arty side of ambient musicians. Bålsam is one of the few who could be considered a full-blown hippie among its roster, at least that I've come across.

And what sort of ambient music does Mr. Asher-Yates create? Little in the way of actual music, turns out, heavily reliant upon field recordings with accompanying harmonic tones. Makes sense, feeling inspired by his natural settings, wishing to share the feelings of being immersed within tropical rainforests. It's not all wind through palm leaves and birds of paradise singing Amazon songs though, an ample amount of urban recordings finding their way into his pieces as well. Or at least, it sounds like I'm wondering some city streets, what with heavy use of echo and reverb used in his sampling.

Come to think of it, Soul Offerings doesn't so much have me imagining wandering about dense tropical foliage, but rather within a gigantic biodome containing said environment. It's the way all the natural sounds seemingly echo, sounding like they're bouncing off enclosed concrete walls and glass ceilings. I assume this is a result of Anthony's manipulations of said field recordings, leaving things sounding less 'real' than their source. Was this his intent in crafting these pieces? Or just a happy accident? Whatever the case, Soul Offerings does bring a unique angle to an admittedly over-saturated genre of tropical ambient music.

Eskostatic - Serpentines & Valleys

Ultimae Records: 2019

I just can't stop giving Ultimae chances, can I? It's like, my interest drifts, thinking the label I once adored has forever moved onto a sound that, while I don't dislike, am not in any hurry to rush out hearing more of either. Then I'll hear something that sparks my synapses again, some fresh wrinkle or genre exploration I hadn't considered being given the exquisite Ultimae Mixdown™. Next thing you know, I'm blind-buying another clutch of CDs, almost always based upon what cover art intrigues me the most. And this Serpentines & Valleys, it doth intrigue me indeed. What are those, dirt bike paths? Rally car race courses? Whatever the case, it's certainly unique among Ultimae's typical focus on natural land forms, no denying the touch of man in this environment. Eskostatic? Never heard of this artist before, so maybe someone new to the Ultimae ranks. Sure, let's pick that sucker up!

And opener Sky Cottage hints at some vintage Ultimae sounds, a simple drone and spritely bit of subtle melody slowly emerging. Half-way through this piece, a deep, digital bass throb glitches in and out, the sort of dub techno that gradually came to define much of the label's more recent output. In fact, the more I hear it follow-up Morning Star, it starts sounding rather familiar. Wait, is this...? *checks liner notes* Ah, Martin van Rossum, also known as Martin Nonstatic, one of Ultimae's regulars now, and an artist I really haven't kept tabs on. His Granite and Nebulae Live At The Planetarium releases just never inspired me to do so. I sometimes think maybe I should, perhaps an album or EP exploring a different facet of his technical dub techno that might latch on properly. Sadly, I can't say this collaboration with Esko Barba (Marcel Montel) does much in getting me hype to hear more.

There's twelve tracks on this album, and most of them follow a similar pattern: spacious ambient drone, ultra-deep dub-glitch bass, with occasional upping of the tempo going from a cool simmer to a gentle bubbling. Some tracks have a more prominent feature added, like the acid in Coastline, guitar in Viamala, or the relatively 'epic' build of the titular cut, but with music performed so subtly, you're gonna' have to really be paying attention to notice the differences. It almost feels like they made a standard track, then someone (Mr. Villuis himself?) kept saying, “No, you need to pull it back more. No, pull it back more. No, more subtle, less obvious leads!”

Again, I don't dislike what I'm hearing on Serpentines & Valleys, but it sure doesn't go out of its way to lure me in either. It basically needs a deluxe, high-grade sound system (or damn fine headphones) to get enough out of its nuances, with no distractions pulling your attention this way or that. As for Martin Nonstatic, I guess I still haven't quite clicked with him either. Maybe one more try, down the road. And another, and another...

James Murray & Francis M. Gri - Remote Redux

Ultimae Records: 2019

Yay, James Murray is back! Or, was back, this album having come out a few years ago now. And then, that's only in relation to Ultimae, Mr. Murray remaining a busy-body between his few appearances on the French label. He's got his own label, Slowcraft Records, to release things on, and a second home with Home Normal, a print housing names like Celer, bvdub, Chihei Hatakeyama, and Wil Bolton. It does give an impression that James didn't need to return to Ultimae, but considering his Eyes To The Height was a highlight of the label's past decade, it's nice seeing him return.

Only, I'm not sure how much of Mr. Murray's music is to be found on this particular release, Remote Redux coming off more like a Francis M. Gri joint. Mr. Gri is another in an endless amount of abstract acoustic ambient producers, often employing pianos and guitars while treating them to delay, detuning, and dubbing effects. He, too, has his own label, KrysaliSound, where he self-releases things while housing other names like øjeRum, Tropic Of Coldness, Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, and Wil Bolton. Oh, and James Murray's released an album there, which is how I assume the two crossed paths. Or maybe it was when Gri released an album on Murray's Slowcraft Records. Either or, whichever satisfies your head-canon.

Ma opens things up with a gentle build of discordant strings, subtle pads, and piano touches with delayed tones reaching far into the deepest canyons. The mood gradually escalates as the layers of timbre pile upon each other, before long the piece doing that wall-of-sound thing you might hear on the more drone orientated ambient labels out there. Though with the twitchy strings and minimalist piano, Ma feels more comfortable in a modern classical lane than traditional ambient.

Toma carries forward with similar production, though with acoustic guitar rather than piano the main melodic rudder. For as much melody as there is anyway, this piece more about the harmonic drones washing over your sense of being. Remote uses more reverse delay effects upon strings and pads, all the while maintaining some sense of forward momentum as the tones ebb and flow. These are techniques I've heard Francis use, but not so much James. In fact, aside from some pad support and electronic sprinklings, I haven't heard much out of James, leaving me wondering if he's in more of a support role to Francis. Like, James playing Eno to Francis' Budd.

Speaking of, Lotano is an utterly blissed out piece of dubbed-out modern classical (d'at analogue fuzz!), while Redux brings back the wall-of-sound washes. That's also the end of the album (plus an extended version of Toma), and with only one track out of five breaching ten minutes, relatively short all things considered. It's also unlike any Ultimae record I can recall hearing, the label seldom going this ambient, much less modern classical. Remote Redux would make perfect sense on, say, Dronarivm, but on Ultimae, it's definitely an unique item.

Mind Over MIDI - Outpost

Neotantra: 2019

Hey-hey, another Neotantra debut from an artist with a robust discography. This one I even know, having already covered Mind Over MIDI's Deep Map some years back. I've actually been meaning to return to Helge Tømmervåg's works for some time now, but he's another one of those highly prolific producers, making a dive into his body of work a bit daunting. For sure his Silent Season contributions are tempting, while his offerings on labels like Shimmering Moods Records, The Level Of Vulnerability, Berserk Fabrik and संस्कार Rites look intriguing. There's just so much of it though, ain't no way I'd be able to check it all out. ...unless, there's a bulk buy option at his Bandcamp page. Hmmm.... *checks* Oh, thank God, there isn't! I don't think I could take on another full-on discography just yet.

Honestly though, I hadn't planned to return to Mind Over MIDI with this particular album, having skipped on it when it first came out. Neotantra was releasing music at such a high clip that I couldn't keep up, so figured I'd focus more on names I was unfamiliar with if I was gonna' scope anything out. It wasn't until getting that Coercion Of Deities compilation that was reminded of Helge even had something out on the label. However, after listening to the gentle, flowing bell tones and soft, ethereal pad work of Subdivision, I knew I had to get the album from whence it came - Outpost - erm, post-haste.

Funny thing is that one three and a half minute track kinda' sums up the whole album, each piece variations on the same sonic ideas. I haven't dove deep enough into Mind Over MIDI's discography to know if this is just how Helge approaches each project, though I do recall Deep Map was similar in that regard. It doesn't make Outpost a deal breaker by any stretch, but if you're looking for an album with a bunch of variety on it, well, you certainly don't know how this branch of abstract, experimental ambient compositions typically plays out. Hey, at least Mr. Tømmervåg divies everything out into twelve, bite-sized chunks (Subdivision is one of the longer tracks on here!), and not some half-hour long meandering piece.

Obviously, there are subtle differences throughout. Opener Dawn To Dark is more of a dronescape. Closer Out Of Reach is a similar dronescape, but with a little more harmonic tone. Outpost 1 is a similar dronescape with brighter harmonic tones. Outpost 2 is a similar dronescape with gentler harmonic tones. Outline 1 is a similar dronescape with splashes of static. Outline 2 is a similar dronescape with sonic stutters and skips. Morning Tide reminds me of J.D. Emmanuel's Visions During Movement.

Okay, so there isn't that much variation, and for some reason, most of Outpost is recorded rather quietly too, as though you're hearing it from a distance. Still, cannot deny it being a nice, gentle bit of abstract harmonic sound while it plays. I'll take it.

Anzio Green - Lygan

...txt: 2019

You know what this label needed more of? Cover art with the colour blue in it. Yeah, there was a little, scattered about, but I can't say I was compelled to grab these based on cover art alone. Ishqamatics' Waterbound has some blue, but lots of green and aquamarine too, so not a true-blue piece of business there. Hakobune's How Slowly We Regret, that's got a whole lotta' blue, but it's also one of those single-track, hour long drone piece albums, a form of music I'm not keen on grabbing often.

Nay, it seems green has been ...txt's preferred colour of choice (erm, when they do primary colours at all). Plank & Ishq's Zeal Monachorum and Crows An Wra series: lots of green! Reverberant Evenings' After The Silence, plenty of green. Nacht Plank's Echo Ark, a weird green for the sky, but green nonetheless. Wil Bolton's Viridian Loops, green all over that hillside. Heck, even the project I'm dealing with here has 'green' right in their name! Talk about a green agenda!

Anzio Green is a duo consisting of Wil Bolton and Mark Streatfield, who seem to convene for a studio session once every half-decade, this Lygan being their most recent effort. Mr. Streatfield had a rather fruitful career in the '00s making dub techno as Cyan341 and ambient techno, glitchy-hop, IDM musics as Zainetica. Mr. Bolton, on the other hand, has crossed paths with this blog a few times, mostly in collaboration with various Lee Norris projects. Not sure what brings the two together for their intermittent Anzio Green outings, but hey, here's another one for those itching on a follow-up to A Day Without Distance.

Some simple guitar tone plucking and overdub effects opens things up on Marshlands, various layers of droning timbre riding along waves of dub reverb carrying the piece along. Some midway through the eleven-plus minute long track, a melody of sorts emerges, in that abstract, Berlin-School sort of way experimental synth works like to go. Navigations – Part One goes heavier on the abstract layers of sound, but a clear ominous vibe permeates the proceedings. Which is more than can be said for Part Two, getting heavier on the experimental musique concrete blasts of tone and timbre.

I was honestly ready to lump Lygan into my “interesting, but not one worth returning to often” pile of CDs when the titular track caught me off guard. Lovely ambient acoustic guitar playing, building tension through oddball dub electronics, string pads escalating the mood towards the end ...now this I dig. The piece also morphs in such a way that I couldn't tell if the various sounds were either playing regular or in reverse – probably both at times. Final track Bright River features a steady rhythm with a nicely depressive vibe of dub tones, capturing the foggy mood of the cover art better than anything else on the album. Congrats, Lygan, you're rescued for my “interesting, play on rainy days” pile of CDs instead!

John Shima - The Lonely Machine

FireScope: 2019

It's been a spell since I last talked up John Shima. Part of that is due to the man's own output, mostly sticking to vinyl releases these last few years, and about half a dozen of them at that. Not to mention drifting from label to label in doing so, making it such that only the most hardcore of Shima fans could follow.

Which I can't claim being, but as a follower of the FireScope family, I certainly kept my eye on him for any future releases on the print. Sadly, that's been skint as well, an EP, a collaboration with label-head Steve Rutter, and an LP the extent of his works thus far. And that LP, this here The Lonely Machine, was released over three years ago. All these factors combined (plus, erm, my own tardiness in picking this up), and yes, it's definitely been a spell since John Shima last appeared here.

What's funny – at least to me – is with my grabbing of The Lonely Machine, I'm now completely up-to-date on FireScope album releases. At least, those produced by artists other than Mr. Rutter. Granted, the label's roster isn't robust, and their focus on EPs doesn't exactly offer a wide range of LPs to gorge upon. Surely someone else is waiting in the wings for their crack at it though? Bauri's been around for a while, how about him? Or a Kirk Degirogio joint would be interesting. Steevio, mayhaps?

Anyhow, this is another darn fine collection of Detroit-leaning, retro-future techno performed in that vintage FireScope way. Like, I've been covering FireScope for a while now, so folks should have some inkling of what the label's in-house style entails. Gotta' get in those nitty-gritty details though, just so y'all know what differentiates Mr. Shima from the other acts on this label.

Well, if Derek Carr is the more Detroit purist, or Morphology goes more electro, then John is definitely on the chill side of techno. Not outright ambient or anything, but opener Intel certainly has a light, airy feeling with spritely melodies as lean synths glide along laid-back broken beats. Follow-up Airwaves goes even deeper on the 'inner reflection' vibes, with tracks like Migrate and the titular closer not far behind. Some tunes do up the pace to something more dancefloor friendly, Distrust and Linear even getting in a little acid action, though we're still quite far from peak-time techno here. Throw in a couple slightly experimental tracks (Electronic Slaves on the electro side, Accepting on the ambient side), add a loose theme of a future-shock civilization on the verge of revolt, and you have a tidy ten tracker from John Shima.

And then there's Empires! Okay, the sweeping grand synths already made this tune tops in my books, but there's something about those backing, bouncing sounds. The ones that clank and hum in a fashion that has certain nostalgia triggers flaring. Less Detroit techno, more UK. Is that... an Orbital influence I'm hearing?

Voyage - Invader

Tech Itch Recordings: 2019

Absolutely I was gonna' grab me Voyage's follow-up to Genesis. That album introduced me to the extended roster of Technical Itch's own Tech Itch Recordings, and what an intro it was. Hard-hitting Amen break action right out the gate, it confirmed that darkstep from the days of yore was alive and well, and several artists I further checked out yielded many more audio rewards. In the process though, returning to Voyage's debut had me feeling it comparatively one-note and singular, almost too reverent of that late '90s sound. Which is fine, if that's what you're going for. Still, I hoped Voyage (whomever he may be, for he still hasn't provided a name online) would show some evolution whenever his sophomore effort dropped.

Well, he doesn't come out quite so hard. Invader opens up with Clarion, a more moody, atmospheric tech-step cut in the classic Grooverider vein – there's even some jazzy trumpets, though as heard from spa-a-a-a-ace. Sycophant gets back to the Amen-step business though, about as rough and tumble as anything you've heard from this genre. Some of those backing strings though, they seem awful familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination.

Anyhow, Voyage mostly sticks to tech-step's domain for the bulk of Invader. For sure it's about as aggro as this genre can ever get, with bass tones roaring like intergalactic cruiser engines while drums hit with the ferocity of a [sci-fi feral beast]. Really, the drums and bass of this d'n'b feel more in service of the general ominous mood Voyage maintains throughout the album. A few tracks stray from that, like the sparse Overdose and ultra-minimalist Electromagnetic (almost all bass and dubsteppy crackles). Some angelic voices serenade us in Serenade, Soldier gets super-tech its choice of sounds and broken beats, while Crash Site brings in some shuffly action to the Amen break. Yet again though, there's some sounds in this tune that has me reminded of an album from the distant past. Not so much a shared synth patch or whatnot, no, more specific than that.

And then it struck me when the track Diagnostics hit. You might recognize that name as the title of Technical Itch's debut album. Heck, Voyage not only apes that, but a whole bunch of sounds from the album too, primarily from that album's opener Focused, right down to the string refrains (one of the few 'melodic' moments from Tech Itch's record). Clearly this is an homage, Voyage's Diagnostics keeping things on a smooth cruise compared to Tech Itch's original. Is this track ever too on the nose for me though. Like, you could easily convince me this was just some long-lost alternate version of Focused Mark Caro unearthed.

Back to Invader, it's another solid album from Voyage, but the same issue as I had with Genesis does crop up: it's rather singular in execution. The whiplash of hearing Diagnostics also unfortunately leaves the back-end a bit of a drag, my brain forever anticipating the Tech Itch classic instead.

Aes Dana - Inks

Ultimae Records: 2019

I don't want to claim Ultimae Records has 'fallen off', as some do, because that's not really the case. Yeah, their musical manifesto has morphed into something quite different from its inception, but that doesn't mean their quality standards have slipped. They've simply chosen to explore different sonic avenues, and whether you're up for joining them in this journey likely comes down to personal taste. And for myself, I can't say I've always been for it. Whereas Ultimae of old was 'must buy' with every release, I've skipped on a few in more recent years, not even worried some may slip into over-inflated collector's market territory.

And truth be told, Aes Dana's Inks might have been included in there. Much as I've generally liked his older albums like Season 5, Perimeters and Pollen, it's been a long time since he indulged in prog-psy of that nature. Rather, dub techno and journeys through the sonic spaces between has dominated his muse for the past decade, and after the wafer-thin outing that was Far & Off with MikTek, not to mention Ultimae's general direction, I wasn't in any hurry to hear where his muse was going.

Still, I was willing to listen to some Bandcamp samples, and what's this? D'n'B rhythms? In an Ultimae release!? Oh... oh my! Never would I have imagined hearing something like that out of this label, much less from Aes Dana himself. And sure, they're nothing on the level of some fierce Technical Itch Amen break action, but those broken beats in Unfold, Transparency Syndrome, Ashen, and Alep Offset sure skip and stutter like some low-key, ASC microfunk does. Well, I'm sold, let's check Inks out proper-like then.

Honestly though, first impressions are gonna' be tough to get through, because yeah, Mr. Villuis' first solo album in seven years does have that omnipresent, minimalist grey-tone dub techno vibe throughout. If modern Ultimae still doesn't do it for you, little on Inks will change your mind, and you'd be forgiven for dismissing it out of hand.

Yet once this album finally (finally!) started sinking in, I was quite mesmerized by the diversity lurking beneath the surface. Tunes on that more classic Ultimae downbeat tip include the titular opener and Akacie, while techno of all stripes gets a look in with Nuphar Log (classic dub), Peace Corrosion (minimalist proggy outing), and Otherness (d'at Berghain shi'). Some ambient pieces in The Gradual District and Juniper round things out, but man, even Alep Offset is a journey and a half. Ol' Vincent even slows the tempo down to a hip-hop crawl. D'n'B and hip-hop in an Ultimae release? Wonders never cease.

Again, if you remain unconvinced about the label's current general tone, I doubt Inks will change your mind. I was glad I gave this a chance though. Heck, it even got me hype to nab Aes Dana's more recent album, (a) period. Heard quite good things about that one and it's already sold out. Son of a b