Various - Sven Väth: What I Used To Play (CD3)

Cocoon Recordings: 2023

Can I say how weird it is seeing photos of Cherub Sven? RIght, I've chosen his most puckish mug shot out from the ones included with the booklet as CD3's cover art, but most aren't that much older looking. I'll grant decades of clubbing will age anyone in rapid order, but he looks like a wee chile' compared to the soul-patch sporting harlequin of his Harthouse days. To say nothing of the Papa Sven look he adopted at the height of his Amnesia fame. Heck, for a large portion of contemporary punters, the grizzled German has always been 'that kooky uncle you love'. I, of course, knew of him earlier than that, such that the 'wet look era' came off quite shocking to yours truly, but man, just how young can this man actually get? Yes, I know that don't make a lick of sense.

We're into the rave years of What [Sven] Used To Play on the final disc, though nothing too bangin' or hype, so if you're expecting some vintage Frankfurt trance, this ain't it. Yes, even though we're definitely in the OMEN era, and even dip our toes into the '90s with tracks like Bobby Konders' Nervous Acid and Primal Scream's Loaded with Andrew Weatherall on the rub. Oh hey, it's that remix, which basically kicked off that whole 'rockers go rave' movement of the Second Summer Of Love.

Other essential rave classics here include A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray, Ecstasy Club's Jesus Loves The Acid (that's “Aciieedd!” to you), and Meat Beat Manifesto's Helter Skelter. You probably know this tune more for its wildly popular b-side Radio Babylon; aka: that one with the rhythm break knicked by a lot of folks after. And speaking of sampling, here's the first proto-plunderphonic single that charted, M|A|R|R|S' Pump Up The Volume (“Pump up the volume... Dance! Dance!”). Man, did that ever set off an arms race of throwing whatever one could into the production pot, soon after getting suits paranoid over what the actual legalities of all that cribbing of 'found sounds' actually was.

That's most of the familiar tunes sorted. Can't say I ever heard Foremost Poets' Reason To Be Dismal or Lhasa's The Attic, so it's cool filling out a couple personal blanks. The latter sounds like a very primitive piece of New Beat trance, so I can understand why Sven included it, the sort of tune that'd go on to inspire much of Eye Q Records' output. Just, y'know, up the BPM some twenty to thirty notches.

Rounding things out is a re-interpretation of Manuel Göttsching's epic E2-E4 from Sueño Latino – and by 're-interpretation', I mean sampling the tune for their own Balearic house jam. And what collection of early Väth vibes would be complete without at least one OFF track, in this case Electrica Salsa. I dunno', was this popular? I appreciate it for its historical context, but yeah, I'll take Rhythm Is A Dancer or An Accident In Paradise over that any day.

Various - Sven Väth: What I Used To Play (CD2)

Cocoon Recordings: 2023

By the by, I wasn't kidding in suspecting part of the reason this compilation was made was for the boutique vinyl market. In fact, I can't help but think it's the sole reason, as the record option features twelve 12”s. Yes, that means only one or two tracks per side! Which hey, is kinda' handy for record collectors who don't want the fuss of scouring the internet for original (or re-issues upon re-issues) of all these tunes. Yeah, some of this is undoubtedly redundant for serious black crack enthusiasts – having New Order's Blue Monday is almost mandatory for any proper collection – but at least they're all here in one box-set with Sven's seal of approval, right?

Speaking of, if I must levy a major nitpick over What I Used To Play, it's that the presentation is rather bare-bones. The included booklet just features all the various mug shots of Mr. Väth in the cover's collage. There's no liner notes about the tracks, no written blurbs about their history or what they mean to Sven's career. Not even some insight into his early days as a DJ at Dorian Gray in the '80s or setting up Omen later that decade. Highly detailed historical context doesn't seem to be the point of What I Used To Play, letting the music speak for itself. I suppose if you really wanted to know that stuff, you can easily find it all over the internet. Again, disappointing if you wanted more out of this compilation, but far from a deal breaker as a whole.

After an opening salvo of synth-heavy new wave music (holy cow, is Anne Clark's Our Darkness ever an early precursor to New Beat!), disc number two brings us to the midlands of American. That's right, folks, we got our acid (Phuture), we got our Detroit techno (Model 500), and we got Chicago house (Frankie Knuckles and Quest). Okay, hearing No UFO's and Your Love is rather redundant in my case, but at least Sven picked the less obvious We Are Phuture over Acid Tracks, not to mention a real obscurity in Quest's Mind Games (Street Mix). See, there's some merit to this compilation for even the hardiest of crate diggers!

Then CD2 takes turn for the ...world beat? Okay, not really, as that was really a thing yet in the '80s. More like jazz fusion musicians fusing whatever they could get away with, and if that included some Afro chant with drum machines, so be it. So we get the epic fifteen-minute digital drum jam of Jasper Van't Hof's Pili Pili, the pure percussive workout of Guem Et Zaka Percussion's Le Serpent, the Afro trumpet-boogie vibes of Hugh Masekela's Don't Go Loose It Baby, and the... wait, hip-hop of Sly & Robbie? I thought these guys were reggae and dancehall. What are they doing here sounding like something straight out of the vaults of Rick Rubin? Never would have expect such guitar shredding from these chaps.

Various - Sven Väth: What I Used To Play (CD1)

Cocoon Recordings: 2023

Hey, it's the return of the 'let famous DJs show off their neglected records' compilation! This once was a rather fruitful genre of CDs, several series springing up at the turn of the century, Back To Mine probably the most famous of the lot. However, as streaming services took over the market, it made more sense to curate sets and playlists of favourites on such sites rather than deal with the messy business of label legalities. And yet, interest in physical copies of such collections must have started up again, as I've seen a small resurgence in 'what I used to play' compilations. Heck, even Back To Mine emerged from the ashes in recent years!

I honestly have no clue what's spurred on this physical resurgence. Something to do with the boutique vinyl industry? A growing concern of just how 'everlasting' music left on the internet cloud truly is? Whatever the case, it at least gives me an excuse to fill in more blanks of my own collection.

Straight up, Mr. Väth's selection here isn't terribly adventurous if you're already well-versed in '80s club music. Granted, few of these tracks would get play on retro radio these days, and only a handful ever cracked the pop charts when they were new, especially in stodgy America. For a young German making his way in Cold War era nightlife, some of these probably were considered edgy and daring to rinse out. If you were looking for some ultra-deep digging on Sven's part though, this is clearly the wrong 3CD set to come into. He's showing off what he used to play, and that included plenty of familiar crowd pleasers for less discerning heads.

While there aren't any specific themes associated with each disc, there are some stylistic consistencies among each other, which is perfect if one intends to review Every. Single. CD. in the box-set. As I do! So let's dig into CD1 of Sven Väth's What I Used To Play.

Save a couple nods to early hip-hop from Whodini and Rockers Revenge, this is about as 'euro' as these CDs get. We got Kraftwerk! We got Yello (but not Oh Yeah, thank God)! We got Liaisons Dangereuses (such accent)! We got Clan Of Xymox (much darkwave)! Hell, even the Americans and Australians sound like they're trying to be Europeans! Lots of new wave fusions stuff (The The's Giant the most epic of the bunch), and lots of spritely Italo synths (Klein & MBO's Dirty Talk, A Split – Second's Flesh, Severed Heads' Dead Eyes Opened). Plus, a little Easter egg in closing out with 16 Bit's Where Are You?, the duo who'd go onto massive success as Snap! Oh, and team up with Sven as Off. Guess they really liked his guest vocals on this track. Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard Mr. Väth's voice outside a musical context. Just how thick of a euro accent does he actually have, I wonder...

Various - VVAA - The Sky Sampler Vol. 2

Espacio Cielo: 2022

This is another one of those 'when did I get this?' items – they seem to be growing more common within my Bandcamp library. I'm assuming someone shared a link to the label's homepage, I browsed a couple releases, then snagged a couple items. Who or why this happened by, your guess is as good as mine, a chance of happenstance discourse and all that.

Which hey, is fine and dandy this day in age, getting recommendations from friends and folks I trust opinions of. About the only other way to 'discover' something new is pure dumb luck. Oh, sure, I could go by what a streaming service's discovery algorithm thinks I may like based upon previous listening habits, but where's the fun in that? Nay, give me the alluring thrill of the hunt, the satisfying sense of accomplishment upon hearing music you hadn't considered before, possibly only shared by a handful of others in an increasingly over-saturated market. Also, streaming service discovery algorithms generally suck ass. Stop suggesting me Tim Hecker, got'dang it, I know who he is!

Anyhow, Espacio Cielo is a relatively new net label, emerging at the start of this decade with artists like Parissior, Azaria, Andreas Rund, MI.RO, and Cannibal Coconuts. Mostly a blend of space synth, dark disco, and New Beat acid, their oozing retro vibes are undeniably infectious (hm, I think I remember who put this on to me now). Couple that with early cover art cribbing planetary beauty shots, and it's no wonder why I'd at least give them at least a casual ear-glance. And what better place to get a sampling than a sampler compilation called VVAA – The Sky Sampler Vol 2?

David Body kicks things off with Inside Out, a total electro love-in with grand cosmic strings attached. No, seriously, how can one tracks sound so epic while being so booty-shakin'? Follow-up Cielo Rojo from Tierra de Ovnis almost can't help but be a bit of a let-down, a straight-forward mechanical chugger with sparse robotic noises. Cool as a transitional piece in a tech-house set, I guess, but man, after flying so high with Inside Out, I wasn't ready to come down from that space.

Silicodisco and Futuristant provide a track that's more in Espacio Cielo's wheelhouse, He's Coming, a fairly standard little cosmic disco outing, while Parissior's Resistance follows them with some gritty New Beat boogie. Finally, Jay-Son closes The Sky Sampler Vol 2 with Chronicles Of Hedonism, a tasty blend of synthwave and New Beat ...which I guess is officially called dark disco? I dunno, that genre always seems to have eight different people providing slightly different variants of a sound that's highly reminiscent of something that already exists. Genre rabbit holes, amirite?

So a glorious start to this compilation, with a solid enough run with the rest. Obviously I shouldn't go expecting mind-melting material from a self-professed sampler, but as a taste of what Espacio Cielo's about, this mini-comp accomplishes that.

Dub_Connected - Vol. 1 - Mind The Gab!

Liquid Audio Soundz: 2000

I've dabbled in Gabriel Le Mar's material here and there, but there's more I should be digging into than his prime project and that Saafi Brothers joint. Like, the Ambient Dub compilation (no, not those ones ...Or those other ones). It featured his production on nearly half the tracks. What about Banned-X and Dublocation and such? Just how far deep into the Gabriel rabbit-hole can one go? And how much effort will it take doing so? A little, I wager, but the good news is artists are making things much easier by uploading their back catalogue to Bandcamp. Ooh, I spy a couple Dub_Connected selections there. The track Dublicity got itself an Ace Track honour back on Ambient Dub. Seems an easy choice to start on, then.

And by Ongoing Alphabetical Decree, I'm covering Vol. 1 – Mind The Gab! first. Hey, it's got Dublicity on it as well! Good to know I'm not going into this one utterly blind, then. That said, I can't tell if this is an album or a compilation. Like, I'd assume an album, since most of the tracks seem specific to this release, but Lord Discogs says this is a compilation, and the Lord knows all. Far as I can tell, this was a side project Mr. Le Mar had as The Gab! working with an assortment of other producers. I guess that can make this a compilation, but I dunno'. That would be like saying every album from The Orb is a compilation, what with the rotating cast of artists working with Alex Patterson.

Anyhow, Mind the Gab! kicks off with a collaboration with Ronda Ray called Martha. Oh man, I wonder if Mr. Mastichidis has any idea how much cultural cache that name has these days! Regardless, it's a suitably groovy, dubby little number, closer to the realms of acid jazz really. A 'Dubbed' version closes things out, though it's more like a 'stripped' version. Interesting that Gab' was doing such remixes even this early on.

From there, we get the crunchy techno dub of Dublicity and High Moon with 10Cars. The Rootsman pairings find the two going more tribal techno. Plug-A-Dub with Carson Plug gets minimalist in its dub, while 13 Monde (whom Lord Discogs knows nothing about) coerces the bangier, ravier side of techno dub from Mr. Le Lar with the tracks Drop Worlds and Mental Chant. And finally Jack “No, not that one, obviously” Black provides Gab! with a simple dubby groover in At The End Of The Century.

So a decent collection of techno dub, all said. It won't light your world on fire, but it's fun while it plays. In the end, I'm just glad Gabriel made this available on Bandcamp, as I'd hate to have broken the bank paying huge Collector's Market sums of cash for this. Say, how much is the original CD going for now? *checks*. Huh. That cheap, eh. Well, I'm sure Mr. Dub_Connected appreciates my direct financial compensation.

Various - Tranceculture > Endless Universe

Hypnotic: 1995

This was a fairly popular CD among my raving peers way back in the day. When you're stuck in the hinterlands of Canadaland, in the Before Times of primitive internet, finding anything with a hint of the underground was like mana from heaven to the ears of high-schoolers. This wasn't some poppy eurodance rinsed out by MC Mario, this was European trance music, with sounds emitting from the deepest cosmic corners, conjuring sci-fi concepts like semiconductors, DNA structures, and Apollo moon missions, all throbbing at 160 – 200 bpm. It does all seem a bit silly in hindsight, doesn't it?

There's a lot about Tranceculture that can come off rather dodgy, even by mid-'90s efforts. Despite being presented as a compilation, it's abundantly clear all the tracks are produced by one man, Steffen Schuhrke, who barely gets an 'Operations & Navigations' credit. The alias Reverse Pulse had appeared on a few other scattered Hypnotic collections, so why not just bill it as that? No, this is just Hypnotic (re: Cleopatra) on their chintzy marketing shtick again, right down to a lenticular jewel case with lame- oh, I can't stay snarky at you, lenticular jewel cases. There's even a picture of Saturn, always frickin' awesome!

Besides, it's all about the music, right? Right, and Tranceculture features some of the purest forms of trance you can imagine. Like, ultra-retro pure. We're talking basic, hypnotic loops, performed in incremental waves, melody more of a suggestion of minor chord progression in backing pads. There's acid and bleepy arps, but served as a rhythmic rudder to the blistering pace of these tracks rather than prominent leads. Aside from escalating tension as loops build upon each other, there isn't any sort of typical song structure going on here.

It's an almost improvisational method of constructing each track, Steffen feeling out when and where each loop gets dropped in, whether a key change is warranted, and how much knob twiddling one earns. Nor does he seem encumbered by when and how a track should end, letting things run for however long feels right for the moment, even if that's nine, thirteen, or fifteen minutes. It rather reminds me of the old Spiral Tribe free-tekno tapes but with German trance sounds rather than hardcore techno.

Still, the dated nature of Tranceculture can't be overlooked. Heck, I'm sure some could argue A.I. does this now – it certainly ain't no th'ang for computers to emulate popular EDM, so why not three decade old (!!) trance? Plug in some stock loops, request a couple effects, and let 'er rip, right? I thought so at first, but the more I re-listened to this CD, the more I realized Steffen's still doing things that just can't be mimicked by technology yet. When and where such loops are utilized, just how much a knob gets twisted – a 'human intuition' sort of vibe, however basic or subtle it may be. Damn, didn't expect to get so metaphysical with a shameless nostalgic trip.

Sven Väth - Retrospective 1990-97

Club Culture: 2000

Kinda' wild to think there aren't many Sven Väth compilations. Plenty of Harthouse or Eye-Q collections, sure, where he's had his hand in the production chair one way or another. An actual LP dedicated to just his works though? This simple little nine-tracker released in the year 2000 is about it. Okay, also a Mixmag set he did for his 30th anniversary as an artist. This CD doesn't go that far back though, only focusing on his Harthouse era. I assume because Club Culture – and by extension, WEA – only had licensing rights to these tracks, thus it was all they could include. And with Sven's Cocoon print and nightclub gaining plenty of plaudits at the turn of the century, time was about right for those licence holders to cash in.

Nine tracks may not seem like a lot of music covering a seven year span, but considering a few of these cuts breach the double-digit length, I'd say that's reasonable bang for your buck. Not so much, though, if you were already a hardcore Harthouse follower, very little on Retrospective even the most casual consumer of that label's output wouldn't already have. Heck, I already have two-thirds of these tracks in some form, but there are a few remixes that I haven't plucked up yet, plus a few others missing from my own library, so springing a few bones for this compilation was an easy buy for yours truly.

Sven Väth's retrospective collection opens up with the early trance hit of Zyon's No Fate ...which isn't actually a Sven Väth joint. Oh, he and right-hand man Ralf Hildenbeutel are definitely on the Struggle Continuous Mix (the version with d'at piano!), which is what's included here. And this is a perfectly suitable track to open Sven's CD on. Just, y'know, hilarious how Sven technically isn't much involved with it, but rather those other two Eye-Q all-stars: A.C. Boutsen and Stevie B-Zet. Speaking of, Vernon's Wonderland is also on here, but again as remix (called The Future) handled by Sven and Ralf.

Anyhow, of the tunes I already have, Spectrum is here, as is An Accident In Paradise. Heck, I even have that ultra-long Underworld rub of Harlequin – The Beauty And The Beast, which I assume would have been a selling point for this CD for most others. Nice to finally have an original version of the classic, chipper My Name Is Barbarella, though this moody, minimalist Michael Mayer version of L'Esperanza isn't much to get fussed about – darn edits.

That leaves just two tracks I've never talked about. The first is Sven's own Ballet Fusion but it's also an edit, so nuts to that. Electro Acupuncture then, with B-Zet under the guise of Astral Pilot. It's a twelve-minute outing of bouncy techno that's a lot of fun and would probably get huffed out of Very Important techno circles but is so Very Sven Väth – especially of this period – so who gives a hoot?

Solar Fields - Red

Droneform Records/Sidereal: 2014/2018

Hah, bet you forgot I have a Solar Fields box-set to get through as well, didn't you! Right, it's not that big a box-set, containing just three CDs in all. And it's not like you can't get these coloured-titled compilations separately either, at least in their digital forms. Red / Green / Blue is only a box-set in the sense that it's a tidy consolidation of wayward collections of music, particularly for those who like having a physical medium on their shelves.

Of the three discs, Red is the most redundant to my own music collection, already having half these tracks elsewhere. In fact, three of them appeared on Fahrenheit Projects, but as Magnus was a regular contributor to that Ultimae series, it's only natural a significant chunk of track list space is taken by them. For the record: Union Light comes from Fahrenheit Project Part Four, OnFlow comes from Fahrenheit Project Part Seven, and Electric Fluid comes from Fahrenheit Project Part Two ...or does it? Wait a minute, something seems to be missing from this Red version, the bit of acid towards that track's end. Is this an early mix? *checks through Discogs* Ah, so it is, this version first appearing on a 3D Vision Relax compilation called Module 01. Huh, guess that makes the Ultimae cut, the superior cut, an exclusive to F.P.2.

Some other Ultimae exclusives include the ultra-subdued Combinations (On/Off Edit) from Oxycanta 2 (which I have), the Solar Fields At His Solar Fieldsiest Fiat Lux from Albedo (which I have), and Times Are Good (Sometimes Remix) from Imaginary Friends. I don't have that one. I don't know why I don't have that one. I guess the by-line of “audio poetry” had me thinking it some spoken word outing? Times Are Good is definitely not that, a pleasant slice of charmingly twee downtempo chill. Not the most mesmerizing Solar Fields tune out there – especially on a compilation containing Fiat Lux and OnFlow - but definitely a hint of things to come with Until We Meet The Sky.

Now the rest. Jeezlh comes from an Interchill Records compilation called Future Memories, a fairly standard bit of Solar Fields psy-chill with another winner of a melody at its peak. I'm more fascinated by Solar Fields appearing on Interchill at all though, especially rubbing shoulders with Eat Static and Phutureprimitive (Carbon Based Lifeforms and Cell also joined in). A different remix of Confusion Illusion appeared on a Suntrip Records compilation, adding operatic singing to his blissed-out chill atmosphere, while Compressed Universe goes a little more prog-psy with its uplifting vibes, which makes sense as it first appeared on a Spiral Trax CD. As for Velvet Reptile from the hopelessly obscure Stargate Recordings, it's fine as a tranquil transitional ambient piece within Red, and that's about all.

Still, a top grade compilation, Red is, with some of Solar Fields' best tracks on it. If you had to choose just one, I'd go with this (spoiler for Blue, I guess?).

The Future Sound Of London - The Pulse EPs

Jumpin' & Pumpin': 2008

This has to be about it. There can't be anymore long-lost FSOL releases from way back that I haven't gotten. Officially released ones, at least. Like, there's still all that From The Archives material that they never seem to run out of, though I'm sure whatever was still in their ancient data banks has been expunged by now. No, wait, I'm seeing a recently released EP called Mental Cube (Original Recordings From 1990). Oof, of course there would be something like this floating about. And I suppose they could still gather up all their wayward single-purpose aliases into a compilation at some point. Aliases like Metropolis, Semi Real, Intelligent Communication, Art Science Technology, and Homeboy (2). Brian and Garry really were quite the busy-bodies back-when.

But no, I'm talking about straight-up, proper Future Sound Of London works, of which The Pulse EPs was where they first emerged. Indo Tribe too, if we're keeping count. And Smart Systems as well. Technically also Yage, as an artist and not a producer. Mental Cube though, that had already been around. Basically Garry and Brian finally just putting themselves and their Earthbeat sessions out there, seeing what stuck and what would be relegated to the dustbin of early rave jams. Four records emerged from this series, with a spiffy consolidation of them released when the duo were re-releasing a bunch of archival material on the 'net.

Things kicks off with, appropriately, Bring In The Pulse (MFK Mix), as Indo Tribe. Though Lord Discogs tells me this is the first instance of me having this track, it sure feels like I've already heard it, a fairly standard breakbeat-bleep track as heard out of the early UK rave scene. Maybe a lot of it was recycled into other tracks? Whatever, the first real item of note on the first Pulse EP is the first official FSOL track, which appeared nowhere else: Hardhead (Frothin' At The Mouth Mix)! It's... um... it's not like any other FSOL track you'll hear, just a rudimentary breakbeat tune with some sample play, a standard hook, and a freakin' rave whistle. Wow, and to think this alias would lead to such wonders as Cascade and My Kingdom. More representative is Pulse State, the groovy acid house number as heard on Accelerator.

Yeah, there isn't much else on The Pulse EPs that I haven't talked elsewhere, only two more tracks unique to this release within my collection. Mental Cube's I'm Not Gonna Let You Do It is a nice, simple, retro-future techno jam, but Smart System's Zip Code is little more than a standard rave bosher. Still, I love hearing Calcium again, even if in slightly edited form. In fact, there's a lot of 'slight edits' on here, a consequence of cramming four EPs onto a single CD. I think this is a better overall compilation of early FSOL material compared to Earthbeat, but it's not the whole story, and with a quarter of it re-appearing on Accelerator, a bit redundant to completists.

Various - positivesource 'Bundle'

positivesource: 2022

Two 'label compilations as Bandcamp downloads' in a row now. Do I have any more? Eh, not in the pipeline, but it is funny how this pair lined up, especially as they couldn't be further apart in genre if they tried. Well, okay, maybe if that Green Bay Wax print was actually nosebleed hardcore, and positivesource was lowercase ambient, then yes, that's about as opposite extremes as it gets.

And I suppose there is some similarity, if not in genre, then definitely in manifesto. Whereas Green Bay Wax is all about that ol' skool jungle, positivesource seems to be all about that ol' skool techno-trance. Yes, I'm talkin' early '90s, Harthouse-era, high-BPM spaced-out trance-trance. When I say no genre dies, I ain't tellin' lies.

The label is an off-shoot of Blue Hour, a print helmed by an artist of the same name, though goes by Luke Standing when dealing with the German auto license depot. It started as an outlet for his own techno material, but gradually grew to incorporate other artists, and now a sub-label with positivesource. Three four-track compilation records were released over the course of a year, which provided just enough material for a charmingly retro 'label compilation' consolidating it all. Now if only there was a CD option, the '90s retro feels with this release would be complete.

And right from the jump, we're dropped into the brisk BPM business, Oprofessionell's SXTOOL pushing the pace pretty high, far higher than cavernous dub techno of this sort ever dares to tread. Still, this is more of a minimal outing, and I promised trance. Wh'ar tha' trance, wh'ar? Follow-up Maniac from Newa gets us closer, with a rolling bassline and punchy synth stabs that tease out brighter chords over its seven minute run-time. And... are those choir pads I hear, towards the end? That's about as ol' skool trance as it gets, ain't it? If that's not 'trance' enough for you, then here's Alan Backdrop's Liaq, with floating pads, burbling acid, and flanged-out percussion that's gotta' get your Oliver Lieb triggers flaring. Not to mention the follow-up to that, Rove Ranger's Future Starts Today, is some straight-up vintage Spicelab action.

Other tracks, like Lady Starlight's G 3.1, Mikkel Rev's Entrance, and Less Distress' Crush The Candy, recall the Platipus side of trance, while Blue Hour reaches back even further to ravier roots on Flashback. And what classic trance compilation would be complete without those weirdo techno cuts that defy easy classification, such as LDS' too-fast t.m. (fm mix), or the oppressive minimalist dub-drone of Ryan James Ford's Purity, or the distorted acid stomp of D.Dan's Raw Jam. A little something for everyone!

Does this 'bundle' promise a proper trance revival then? Eh, no more than Green Bay Wax does for darkside jungle. This is still very niche music in today's clubbing culture, but it warms this old raver's heart knowing it is out there, for those who wish to hear it.

Various - Planet Wax Volume 1

Green Bay Wax: 2021

Once again proving the old adage that 'no genre truly dies', here's Green Bay Wax, putting the music where their mouth is. Or at least, keeping the ol' school jungle vibes alive and well into the modern era. What's funny is, some of their stuff, particularly the ragga jungle cuts, don't sound dated in the slightest. Maybe it's because, unlike most genres that get a revival, ragga never really fell off because it hadn't 'gotten on' in the first place. Like, whenever I hear some contemporary tech-step or darkside or darkstep, I'm taken back to when those sounds first imprinted onto the d'n'b scene. Ragga though, always remained this forever-niche thing, unable to take root to any specific time or place. Thus, its timeless, the tracks offered by Kid Lib & Percussive P on this compilation sounding just as fresh today as they did when they were released a decade ago as they could have two decades prior during the genre's birth.

That isn't to say the rest of this label showcase doesn't have jungle worthy of your attention. I just find it funny how some tracks sound so very, very old school, deliberately so, but the ragga stuff, it just can't age, won't age in the slightest. You say it hasn't evolved since its inception? Mang', that's it's whole appeal! Its recognizable tropes – spastic Amen Break manipulations, knee-cap demolishing basslines, incomprehensible toasting rastas – are its appeal, needing nothing else sullying things up, the core elements working best. Ragga jungle: the horseshoe crab of the d'n'b scene.

Enough waxing on about genres. What's up with this compilation, then, and who is Green Bay Wax? Not based out of Wisconsin, but rather Sheffield, the label is a loosely tied group of ol' school jungle enthusiasts making tunes with propah' vintage vibes and nothing else. Yeah, the ragga stuff doesn't sound quite so retro, but when other artists pop in with their love-in's, you can't help but be transported to the early '90s. With the label's original vinyl releases well out of print, Green Bay Wax felt it about time to compile their catalogue into a series of double-LP digital compilations. Y'know, for those who discovered them late (*cough*). Volume 1 naturally sums up their first five releases, so let's take a quick gander.

I've already covered Kid Lib & Percussive P's ragga takes (kinda'), so let's move onto some Champa B, who gets into some gnarly darkside business while never losing his hardcore. And speaking of, Bazia's Lovin' You is pure, unashamed ol' skool, what with the piano lines and synths stabs and wistful soul singing: proto-jungle! Further along, tracks from Phineus II and Darkman (with Kid Lib on the rub ...a lot), inch towards the more atmospheric and 'intelligent' side of the genre, what with pads and drum programming that's just a little more complex than your standard Amen rat-a-tat-tat-tles. Day'um, feels like I've just taken a crash-course in all of jungle's early permutations with this one.

FSOL - Music From Calendars

fsoldigital.com: 2021

So, you think you're a hardcore Future Sound Of London fan? Got all their classic '90s albums, do ya'? Pft, that's not even scratching the surface. Side project stuff then, like Amorphous Androgynous, Humanoid, and all those early Earthbeat records. Not even close to a completist. Ah, you kept connected with all their 21st Century albums then, the Environments series, more AA prog-rock, even that Blackhill Transmitter thing. No, wait, the entirety of From The Archives too! That's pretty hardcore, no doubt, but still not propah' FSOL 'ardcore. Well shit, son-of-lung, what else is there? The soundtracks for films that no one saw (Four Forests) or don't exist (The Cartel)? Getting warmer...

If you consider yourself a true, bells-and-all hardcore FSOL fan, you've subscribed to their Calendar series. Once a month, the lads send a new tune, usually as their main nomme de plume, but under different aliases as well. It's a series that's been ongoing for half a decade now, and a handy way of keeping up to speed on the goings-on at EBv.

Obviously, I'm not that hardcore of a FSOL fan, since I never subscribed to this series. Nor did I much care to indulge the yearly summation compilations either. Look, when I can't even be bothered to get any of the Archives material, you're damned skippy I haven't the care to hear whatever random sonic studio doodles Brain and Garry squirt out a given month. Now, a gathering of all the choice material from a four year time-span, that's the ticket!

If you have been keeping up with your recent FSOL output, much of Music From Calendars 2017-2020 will be familiar territory. The weird, psychedelic abstraction (Frozen Air, Blacked Out Windows, Memories Of A Yesterday), the future-shock electro (Near Field, Obscured By Dark Intervals), the primordial chill (Artificial Placement Of Emotion, Commensalism, Riverbeds), the... throwback Earthbeat techno? Oh, wow, Alertions certainly is a surprise. Guess they made this just to show if they wanted to make something danceable, they're still more than capable of.

It's not a total FSOL love-in, a couple side-projects getting a side-glance in. Second track Surrounding The Garden Is A Fog comes from Synthi A, a deliberate throw-back to the days of '70s synth wizards. It's one of their more recent projects, conceiving only one album in 2016, plus a couple Calendars tracks. That this piece was considered among their best recent works is, not that surprising, to be honest. For '70s synth wibbly-warbly stuff (think Tomita or Schulze), it's rather nice. The other 'non-FSOL, but is still FSOL' track is Propogate from Humanoid. It definitely shows off Brian's love affair with the more techno-y side of IDM, but seems more fascinated with experimentation for its own sake.

Overall, Music From Calendars runs a tidy fifty minutes, and flows nicely from beginning to end. It still doesn't come off much more than a glorified sampler of FSOL music, but then we've been enjoying those since ISDN, haven't we?

Solipsism - Kismet

Carpe Sonum Records: 2018

So now Solipsism. Ever since I took a dive into the extended Lee Norris Ambientverse, this is a name that's floated about my periphery. Like, it's hard not to notice an alias that reminds me of some of the more tedious discussions I engaged in during university philosophy courses. Not to mention simply being a word that would leave one drenched should it be uttered by Sylvester The Cat.

Seriously though, the Craig Murphy project has existed for nearly two decades now, spending much of the '00s releasing several digital-only items on labels like Herb Recordings and Ambidextrous Records (no relation to the artist Ambidextrous). He finally landed a CD roll-out debuting on Mr. Norris' ...txt print, and the two went on to collaborate on a few more albums, sometimes as their separate aliases (Nacht Plank in Lee's case), or as a totally unique project called Ashtoreth's Gate. Hmm, name sounds dark ambientish, that one. May need to investigate further.

Anyhow, Solipsism is a project that I probably would check out proper-like at some point, should the right record entice me further. And leave it to Carpe Sonum Records to publish that CD, Kismet luring me in with yet another striking bit of geometric architecture. The blue-hued cover art didn't hurt either. As for how Mr. Murphy got his stab at a Carpe Sonum outing at all, well hey, it's right there in the title, is it not? Also, Kismet isn't actually an album, but a compilation of several previous works released under the Solipsism banner, some reaching as far back as 2008. I admit I didn't know this going in, but hey, makes for a handy sampler of his music now, and Carpe Sonum has often proven capable of weaving an artist's back catalogue into their own flowing LPs.

Even though I'm fairly certain Solipsism is an ambient artist, I wasn't sure what brand of ambient I might be in for. Considering he's worked with Nacht Plank, I was expecting a few dalliances into the more experimental side of the genre, and sure enough, a few tracks go there. Beachcomber starts out with some nice, subtle tone, but gets rather distorted towards the end. It's not nearly as annoying as The Space Between Atoms though, which doesn't waste much time before piercing your ears with quite grating noise between musique concrete transistor twerps. A shame, because the rest of that track does feature some nice, soothing passages of opulent synth drone.

Those are the only two egregious examples though, and are nicely spaced apart so it doesn't detract from Kismet's whole. Rather, the album-compilation opens with a nice, fuzzy bit of piano 'n' synth ambient in Toking Elders In Avalanche, gives us a taste of the mysterious warble-reverb in Maighdean na Tuinne, slows the pace down to contemplative reflection with Stargazer and Planes Of Existence (with extra sub-bass drone!), while Forgotten and Escape Pod takes us out in ambient grace. Yep, I'd say that covers about everything in Solipsism's oeuvre.

Various - Heights

Archives: 2020

Finally, I get to talk about Archives! Not that this Spanish ambient label is some utterly unknown entity. Nay, they've been operation for over half a decade now, steadily releasing albums at a solid clip of several items per year, with such names like Purl, Halftribe, and Gallery Six making appearances. Throw in gorgeous naturalistic cover art with each release, and you'd think Archives would be on the tips of more tongues within the ambient-o-sphere.

Honestly though, if it wasn't for the Purl connection, I probably would have completely passed Archives by. As I've said in the past, when there's so much ambient music being released by the hour, one tends to focus their interests on specific artists and labels after a while, trusted go-tos and the like. Occasionally a Discoggian dive or a spiffy write-up in a 'zine might lure you in for a closer look, but in my experience, such times are rare. We are very much creatures of habit. Maybe, if I'd happened upon the cover art at least, I'd have given Archives a shot (they are very lovely landscapes), but I haven't seen much of their output in the usual blogs and store-fronts, to say nothing of being almost a non-factor in getting attention of the Almighty Algorithm. Nope, it was strictly the fact Purl released an album on there in 2020 that I ever learned of the label at all.

With that in mind, you may expect Archives to mostly be on that slightly dubby, layered drone type of ambient business, rather like Silent Season on their beatless days. Well, I don't know about that with any authoritative measure, as I've only gotten four CDs from the label thus far. I suppose it's handy that we're starting this mini-plunge with a compilation then, a tasty appetizer of various artists on offer before taking in a proper meal.

And hoo boy, am I ever diving into the ambientia obscura here. Andrew Tasselmyer. Shuta Yasukochi. Pepo Galán. Sphereuleus. Snufmumriko. Not to say these are complete unknowns abroad – some have even made appearances on Kompakt. Out of the eleven tracks featured on Heights though, I only recognize two off-hand: Hilyard, due to her collaboration with ProtoU on Cryo Chamber; and Warmth, because he runs Archives, and thus has a ton of material on the label.

Tasselmyer's Columns opens things up, and it's a pure drone-tone piece, eventually fading off into white noise and wind. Ellis' Canyons edges closer to modern classical, gentle piano piercing dense layers of calming, dubby drone. Heights mostly flits between these styles of ambient throughout, pieces ambling along and generally maintaining a tranquil mood. While every artist does bring something unique, you probably won't notice much variation unless you're paying close attention.

And that's fine, Archives' brand of ambient clearly intent on existing as nothing more than a cleanser for your headspace. As such, you'd justly believe it'd remain overlooked and obscure, but it's just so darn good at it!

Solar Fields - Green

Droneform Records/Sidereal: 2014/2018

Wait a tik'...! Solar Fields has a box-set too? Solar Fields has a box-set too! And not just any ol' 'album gathering' box-set, but one that consolidates many a wayward track and tune floating about the compilation and internet ether. Red / Green / Blue actually started out as individual releases on Magnus' own Droneform Records, strictly digital options for those who hadn't been too diligent in obtaining every single item released under the Solar Fields banner. Or heck, even for those who were, but now offering a tidy collection in three releases (because there was just that many out there!). A few years later, Solar Fields starts re-issuing hard-copy releases of his back-catalogue, eventually leading to these former digital-only compilations getting a box-set treatment as well. [enter outdated “and still no Earthshine re-issue” quip here]

As for what differentiates Red from Green from Blue, I really couldn't say. I breezed through them all, and didn't notice much thematic difference between them. Nor are they chronologically sorted, each track seemingly plucked from whatever compilation from whatever year it may have been released. About the only common thing among them is how Magnus sequenced each, with a gradual escalation in tempo, such that they play out in similar fashion. The actual track selection seems to be nothing more involved than being in service of this, but I guess that's to be expected. It's not like Solar Fields has that radical a disparity in his musical aesthetic, especially among tracks mostly intended for compilation contributions.

By alphabetical decree, I'm covering Green first, and of the ten tracks included, I already have two: Spiritual Ocean and Levitate, appearing on Fahrenheit Projects. A few remixed album tracks also appear, including Insum from Leaving Home, Magic Eye from Blue Moon Station and... Sol from Movements? Ah, sweet, Sol is, like, one of my favouritest Solar Fields tracks ever! I bet this remix will be totally dope as well. *listens* Hmm, okay, maybe not after all. Seems less grand and... singular? Something meant to stand on its own rather than add to an album experience, I guess.

So the rest. Opener Level Out is rather chipper and plucky with plenty of spacious woodwinds and chant going with its bouncy electronics. Rain Geometry was a H.U.V.A. Network track, though as this is Magnus' own rub, does the usual Solar Fields slow build with plenty of atmospherics churning up the ethnic sounds on display. Respiratory Rate is an almost experiential piece by Solar Fields standards, the sounds of steady breathing forming a rudder while a mid-tempo bounce breaks out. Finally, The Sight Is White and Third Time (T Version) are noteable for the types of compilations they appeared on: the former on a label called Candyflip Records (cute), the latter on a rather dodgy 2002 psy-trance CD called First Impression. If AP Records was the sort of label Magnus had to deal with in the beginning, I'm sure he couldn't wait to become part of the Ultimae family.

Various - EarthBeat

Jumpin' & Pumpin': 1992/2021

Well, this certainly makes that 4-CD Techno Explosion compilation redundant. If you recall my five year old review (!!), I picked it up for exactly one track, Q by Mental Cube. My reasoning was, of the few available options out there, it seemed the most cost-effective. Old pre-FSOL music from Dougans and Cobain was growing pricier on the second-hand market, and no way any of those early collections from Jumpin' & Pumpin' would see a re-issue. So of course they put out a 30th Anniversary release of EarthBeat, the compilation highlighting a bunch of tunes from their early pre-Accelerator catalogue, including Q by Mental Cube. Thanks, Jumpin' & Pumpin'! Or is it fsoldigital that did it? Whoever put it on their Bandcamp page.

In case you haven't kept up with your Future Sound Of London history, Earthbeat is the name of Brian and Dougans' original studio, infamously barely bigger than a working closet lodged between a couple other music gear shops. The lucrative Virgin deal landed them the money to expand, but before their breakout in Papua New Guinea, they mostly used the typical tools of the techno trade of the time: Roland synths and drum machines, Akai samplers, Atari computer, and the like. Small wonder the material released as Mental Cube or Indo Tribe or Smart Systems or Yage wasn't much evolved ('future sounding', if you will) compared to their contemporaries of the time. All they could afford was whatever else everyone else was using, including a few hand-me-downs. Not to mention a little self plagiarism when they finally did a proper album in Accelerator.

With that in mind, going into EarthBeat expecting something mind-bending three decades on is a fool's errand. This compilation is very much a product of its time, techno that you instantly date to three specific years (1990, 1991, 1992), with very little hope of excelling beyond. Yes, Q is one of the few – how many tunes can lay claim to a bunch of bleeping turning into an earworm? Papua New Guinea is also here, but it's the Dumb Child Of Q remix (aka: just the ambient-ish intro), which will never not leave the listener with blue ear-balls. Elsewhere, In The Mind Of A Child is another strong outing for bleep techno, and Tingler's fun for some ol' skool 'ardcore.

As for the rest, they're mostly fine, and certainly show off more diversity than you'd expect from early FSOL: You Took My Love going piano house, People Livin' Today a pure Balearic house outing, Chile Of The Bass Generation repping that Meat Beat Manifesto vibe, the Coby '94 Mix of Stakker Humanoid going full-bore acid techno. If you didn't know better, you might even believe all these aliases were unique artistes on the same label.

The byline on EarthBeat's cover sure suggests so, implicating FSOL, Indo Tribe, Semi Real, Smart Systems, Yage, Mental Cube, Candese, and Humanoid all different. Like, it was some secret knowledge that had to be maintained for all time.

Various - Drum & Bass Arena 2015

AEI Music: 2015

About a year ago, I got it in my head that, instead of just waiting around for another anniversary anthology from the Drum & Bass Arena, I ought to scope out their yearly compilations too. Surely there's enough annual material to justify three CDs worth of d'n'b. Perhaps, but I doubt the Arena would be the outlet for such a comprehensive collection. Don't get me wrong, they've done a remarkable job serving as a curator for the junglist mah'seeve since the Web 1.0 days. It's sometimes been a handicap though, focusing on what's the most trendy and popular out there. Granted, the drum 'n' bass scene is remarkably wide and diverse, and the Arena at least dips its toes in many genres, even if others are passed (ain't no Tech Itch Recordings here, no sir).

So I fire up their Bandcamp page, and settle on two releases from their annual series: 2015 and 2019. Something old, something new. Yes, Drum & Bass Arena 2019 is indeed the 'newest' of these, for reasons I'm sure we're all too familiar with by now. As for Drum & Bass Arena 2015... um, I'm technically still waiting for it. I haven't a clue what happened, but they haven't shipped the CDs (I did receive 2019), despite having an 'estimated to ship' notice on it. Haven't been able to contact anyone about it, and am well past the 'get a refund' window by now. Besides, I still have the digital download of 2015, and surely that's enough, right? Well, not quite.

I'm not sure why, but the digital version of 2015 only includes fifty-two tracks of the sixty that makes up the CDs. Also, unlike later Bandcamp releases of D&BArena CDs, 2015 doesn't have a continuous mix option. Hey, swell beans having unmixed tracks and all, but something tells me I'd appreciate this selection more with the beats and drops coming relentless and rapid fire. Not to mention those missing eight tunes.

Anyhow, the music. Names I'm plenty familiar with show up – TC, Calbire, Calyx, Spor, Black Sun Empire, Total Science – and a whole lot more I'm not. Which is good, the point of annual retrospectives offering some shine to the underground and unknown. Honestly though, the production homogeneity among many of them is so rampant, you could tell me half of them are the same guy, and I wouldn't be the wiser. Hey, genres are genres for a reason.

Best I can glean from the tracks I do have, CD1 of 2015 mostly features d'n'b's version of full-on tear-out anthems and whatnot: the Pendulum continuum. CD2 goes deeper into tech-step's domain, even glancing sideways a bit towards drumstep, before unloading its own anthems for the end. CD3 has the most soulful tunes of this collection, pure afterhours vibes. Or bus ride home, as the case may be. Isn't it funny, that d'n'b saves its chill stuff for the comedown, rather than a pre-party patio soundtrack that, say, deep house occupies?

Various - Deeper 01.02

Hed Kandi: 2002

I started this kinda'-annual glance into the Hed Kandi legacy with a Deeper compilation, so it's only fitting that I return to it at some point. Having gotten the second collection, Deeper 01.02, I've now completed the entire series! Yep, only two of these were ever released, making Deeper the shortest series the label ever put out. Unless there was some aborted runs later in Hed Kandi's existence, when their popularity had dwindled down to bupkis.

It's funny that despite all the label's early success in cornering the disco, house, funk, and soul market, their stab at prog never caught on. Not that I blame them for throwing their hat into the pile. When the highest paid, most popular, critically hailed DJs in UK clubland are rinsing dark, dubby house music with a tribal edge, you bet your bottom dollar on the punters wanting those tracks for themselves too. Except that's not the sort of audience Hed Kandi had cultivated. When you think of prog, you think of Very Serious DJs posing, not glamour girls sashaying about. Besides, I think the label had their eyes on that burgeoning 'twisted disco' sound (re: electro house). Can definitely milk some saucy cover art with that concept!

So, familiar names and tunes. The Creamer & K rub on iiO's Rapture is here, which is about as obvious a 'prog house anthem fitting with Hed Kandi clientele' tune as you could expect. Honestly though, it's been a lo-o-o-ong while since I last heard this track, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it still held up. B.P.T.'s Moody is also here, by way of a Pete Heller remix, so not quite as dated as hearing it again a few years after Digweed's Bedrock. Other 'prog' favourites include Danny Tenaglia, Satoshi Tomiie, Timo Maas and... Superchumbo? I can't remember if they were fav's or not.

It can't all be a prog love-in though, not if you want to retain some of the Hed Kandi faithful. Thus, there's a little deep house action from Roger Sanchez, Kidstuff, and Puretone, but by and large, it's the prog vibes that dominate. Dubby basslines, deeper grooves, lengthy run-times, and all that good stuff, even from names I don't recognize in the slightest. Well, maybe Miriam Project, I think I recognize that one. Maybe Stylus Trouble too. Not Goldtrtix though. Or Dirty from Dirty.

And, in a move that makes absolutely no sense from any angle you wish to approach from, Deeper 01.02 ends off with Hardfloor's remix of Circus Bells by Robert Armani. What, pray tell, does acid techno from the '90s have to do with a 'prog' collection from Hed Kandi? Mark claims in the liner notes it was included as a summation of Deeper's manifesto, of a track that “builds and builds”. But... lots of tracks do that? I dunno, maybe I'm just perplexed by the fact that, despite it being rather random inclusion, this track always seems to follow me around.

Various - Coercion Of Deities

Neotantra: 2021

After twenty-five releases in a mere two years, Neotantra felt it wouldn't hurt to put out a little celebratory compilation summing up their (then) current catalogue. One track per release, ranging from four minute long sonic doodles, to twenty minute long dronescapes. As you can imagine, there was no physical production of Coercion Of Deities, just a Bandcamp exclusive at whatever price you wish to donate. A label sampler then, which I don't normally bother with. If I'm browsing your print, I'm already convinced of the musical product to check out all the proper releases on offer. That's just me though, so if you've just started wondering what the deal is with Neotantra, this is a handy introduction. That said, I ultimately got this for two reasons.

One, I was curious about some of the 'missing' albums from my collection. For sure I've bought quite a few of them, eleven CDs out of the twenty-five (well, technically fourteen, but one order of three was lost – does that make Blue Mountain, Organic Adventures, and Soul Offerings even rarer now?). Generally I'll take in a few audio clips before I decide if yet another Neotantra release is worth dumping my cash into, and if I like what I hear, I buy in. I know, what a shocking habit.

Some stuff I wasn't so immediately convinced on though, so let them pass. Not that they were poor releases or anything, but my music budget stretches only so far, and would rather spend on items I'm immediately sure of rather than might have to 'work to get', if you get my drift. With Coercion Of Deities, I can at least sample what I missed, maybe reconsider down the line. And yeah, stuff like Mind Over MIDI's blissy, calm ambient of Subdivision, or the reflective lowercase field recordings of Bålsam's Sunshower, or even the New Age leaning Pleochroism 2 from Juta Takahashi, even if is a bit over long... all stuff worth scoping further. The more musique concrete experimental stuff though, like Interconnected's Sockelgeschoss or Myoptik's Borgon Plinth, not so much. Personal preference and all. Still, if I want to complete the Neotantra set, I'll have to get them, won't I?

Yeah, that's the other reason I wanted to show off Coercion Of Deities. The cover art is a collage of all the album covers, nicely displaying the gradient colour scheme each batch of releases used. I may only like a select few, but gosh, won't my CDs look weird on the shelf with a broken scheme? I can't have Mick Chillage's Epinaz pink go into Motionfield's Signals purple without Bålsam's Soul Offerings magenta bridging the gap!

Not that this was some insidious manipulation of marketing on Neotantra's part, oh no. I'm positive they simply came up with a nifty thematic idea that helps their releases stand out in a rather niche yet overcrowded scene like ambient techno. I'm just astounded how effectively it triggers collector's FOMO in doing so.

Model 500 - Classics (2022 Update)

R & S Records: 1993

(Click here to read my original EMC review.)

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

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

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

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

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

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