Convextion - 2845

a.r.t.less: 2016

No way I was gonna' skip out on this. Cover art like that must be respected, nurtured, supported, encouraged, and... Well, not replicated, but I'd love to see more airbrushed, pulp sci-fi on techno releases. Why should space-synth have all the glory? I mean, just look at details on that interstellar cruiser. The little lights, splayed all about in no discernible pattern or form, but you know there's a reason that one is red and that row is blue and that grouping is yellow. I could fanwank theory forever on what's going on with this cover art, especially all over a full-sized, spiffy vinyl edition. Unfortunately, I don't collect vinyl, and as it seems there's almost no chance of a CD version of this record (it's been three years since its release now), I had to settle for digital instead. Yeah, this was among my earliest 'floodgates' purchases, why do you ask?

And who is the space maverick taking techno back to its cosmic roots, rescuing it from the clutches of the evil MNML Galactic Empire? Why, none other than Gerard Hanson, not really a very important person in the world of techno. That was mostly intentional though, the Texan preferring the anonymity of a scene that had its eyes and ears fixated on Detroit and Germany. He released a few records as Convextion in the mid-'90s, with sporadic singles emerging in the following years, but seemed to have moth-balled the project after a self-titled retrospective album. He was more focused on his electro alias E.R.P. at that point anyway, and with techno so enamoured with sterile German minimalism, his retro-future style didn't have much place.

Then, out of the blue, this! I guess the time was finally right for techno in this style to regain its shine. Like, if B12 could make a comeback, why not Convextion? I wouldn't go so far as to say Mr. Hanson's been on a tear since releasing 2845, but he's certainly had one of the highest profiles in recent years within this particular niche of the scene. Probably a lot of anticipation for what sort of lovely cover art his next album will have!

Of course, all this hype wouldn't exist if there wasn't damn good music to go along with it. Even though the sixteen-minute opener has more in common with the dubbier explorations of a print like Silent Season, New Horizon has enough sci-fi bleeps and zaps penetrating the murky echo-space to fixate it solidly in cosmic domains. Or Atlantian, in a pinch (yeah, there's a Drexciyan vibe to this particular track).

The remaining six tracks are all about as solid offerings of vintage Detroit techno as you could hope for in this day and age. I really can't detail it any more than that, as the genre just has that particular sound that tickles the frontal cortex just right, especially if you vibe on the proper spaced-out variants of the sound. Only preaching to the choir at this point, my friends.

Yamaoka & Purl - Simple Songs

Databloem: 2018

Far be it for me to get flustered over seeing certain artists flit between labels I figured would have little cross-pollination, but it's still weird to see a chap I discovered on Silent Season appear on Databloem. First it was Segue, and now Purl, both producers that helped cement in my mind the definitive dubby, trancey, techno-chill Silent Season stylee (ASC too). And while it's a sound that could fit with Databloem's rather liberal explorations on downtempo and ambient music, they still have generally different followers. You'll never see a glowing write-up of Databloem on Resident Advisor, nosiree.

Fortunately, such artists aren't so constrained by label loyalty that they don't mind dipping into other's pools on occasion. Ludvig Cimbrelius (Purl) has in fact done the deed many times over the course of his career, including such labels as... wait, didn't I already do the obligatory Label Namedrop when I reviewed Stillpoint? *checks* I didn't! Ah sweet! Ahem... Labels such as Sediment, Dewtone Recordings, Eternell, and Faint. Many of those releases included pairings with other producers such as Sinius, Deflektion, and Hivertribe. So teaming up with this Yamoaka isn't out of the ordinary for Purl. Still, I'll be flubber-flustered if he ends up pairing up with, say, a dark ambient producer, releasing an album on, say, a drone label. Wait a minute, my Bandcamp bell just rung, let me che- Son of a gun!!

Yamaoka is headed by Yoshinori Yamazaki (Kenichi Oka was once a member, so sayeth Lord Discogs). Yet another one of those tireless ambient producers churning out multiple rare albums on multiple obscure labels like October Man Recordings, Secret Station, Doppelganger, Carpe... Sonum... Records? Dear God, everything I know that is ambient is collapsing within itself!

Anyhow, Simple Songs. Two types of compositions make up this album. The first are the long, ambient dronescapes where minimalist looping passages and melodies are stretched out like ethereal embers across a picturesque skyline. Very lovely, very calming, very expected of another release out of Databloem. The other assortment contain more momentum to them, quicker in their loops such that they percolate into pseudo-rhythms. Add a kick drum underneath these, and you could easily have trance, or neo-trance, or whatever folks want to call this stuff. So of course Yam' n' Pur' do so (or close approximates of) in tracks like Spinning Grid, Simple Songs, and River Run. Ah, that's the Silent Season stuff I was looking for.

And I won't lie, though I've come across a fair bit of mint material from this Databloem splurge, Simple Songs has thus far taken the cake for me. Yeah, it's a small cheat in cribbing the same dreamy dubby vibes as has made Silent Season among my favourite prints as of late, combining two enjoyed styles into one awesome whole. This is what great electronic music does though: mix and merge into wonderfully fascinating new combinations. And a staid scene such as ambient could use more of such worlds colliding.

Cosmic Replicant - Processes

self-released: 2018

Normally I'd prefer a little space between reviews of the same artist, but Cosmic Replicant has proven so diverse, I'm practically covering someone different with each album. Like, just from an ear-glance, you'd never have guessed the music on Processes came from the same chap who made Future Memories or Soul Of The Universe. You might have made the connection based off of Landscapes Motion, and perhaps, if you squinted in the right direction, Mission Infinity. Surely little that was released through Altar Records though. Honestly, I'm not surprised Pavel's gone the independent route, the music he's releasing of late hardly gelling with traditional psy-chill prints, but likely not finding much footing with labels outside that field either. Or who knows, maybe one of his pure ambient outings might find a re-issue on Carpe Sonum Records. They don't all have to be Fax+ alum to appear on that label, do they?

Where does that leave Processes though? What label might be willing to give this seven track album a little more shine beyond the Cosmic Replicant contingent (we small few but proud). I feel super-cheeky in suggesting this, but perhaps... Kompakt? Or baring that, maybe... Music Man Records? I'm getting a real neo-trance vibe from these tracks, techno that is rather deep, with subtle building layers of melody. Tunes that wouldn't sound out of place in a set shared with the likes of The Field or Petar Dundov, is what I'm saying.

Okay, not so much the first couple tracks, more following on the dub techno explorations Pavel first ventured with in Landscapes Motion. Hypno Snake treads a little into Detroit's pastures, while Ants In My Computer does the droning minimal thing with peculating sounds that would fit snuggly in on one of Luke Slater's Planetary Assault Systems records.

Those are mere warm-ups though, Factory Processes getting in on that lengthy, loopy melodic techno stylee that's made neo-trance a maybe kinda' sorta' thing with the above-mentioned producers; Silent Season too, at their more upbeat moments. Mirror Cube and Morning Robots try to get back to the proper dub techno vibe, but even they're too chipper and melodic (them sparse bell tones!) to fit with the serious Basic Channel disciples.

The final pair of tracks are about as trance as techno could ever sound in this day and age, and in some circles, techno's been sounding quite trance indeed. Lunatic Runner has the peppy pace, the building arps, and the atmosphere to spare, while some chap named Noraus gives Strange Dream a dubby, trancey rub of his own.

For a talented guy who probably got lost in the shuffle of annual psy-chill releases, I'm glad to hear Cosmic Replicant taking on styles well outside the genre's wheel-house. Yeah, another Nature Of Life would have been nice, but it takes something more to stand out in that overstuffed scene. I only fear an album like Processes may leave Cosmic Replicant without a willing home to nurture such musical ventures.

The Orb - No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds

Cooking Vinyl: 2018

Yay, it's a Youth orientated Orb album! Those are always my ...favourite? Wait, am I certain of that? If I had to make a definitive ranking of Orb albums, I'd put records like U.F.Orb, Orbus Terrum, and Orblivion above The Dream. Yet Martin Glover has been involved in some of my all-time ace Orb tunes like Little Fluffy Clouds and Perpetual Dawn (among other, less known works). He's, like, the steady dub rudder of the group, always dragging The Orb back from too much weird experimentation, or monotonous techno expeditions, or over-hyped superstar pairings. I get why some folks think less of the Youth productions, what with them not being as 'serious' as other releases, but when have The Orb ever been regarded as a Very Serious outfit? The cheeky stoner vibe has always been part of the group's charm, and I've long enjoyed them more when they indulge themselves while providing an ear-wormy hook.

Still, even I must have my limits in how far this three decade old (!!) outfit tries appealling to an ever expanding collection of punters. I wouldn't blame old-heads in the slightest in writing off No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds based on the first couple minutes, opening track The End Of the End getting in on wub-wubs and trap hits (also: that hook sure reminds me of Dido's bit from Eminem's Stan). Never mind the fact the track settles into a more traditional dub reggae ditty by the end, it don't take much to turn folks away if they'd rather be hearing something else. And gosh, all those air-horns in Wolfbane? Who do The Orb think the are, Gen-Z YouTubers?

Okay, I think that's cleared out the naysayers for this album. Here's what you get if you're willing to hear all these sounds The Orb deems no longer out of bounds. The first half feels the Youth influences the most, plenty o' peppy reggae dub vibes and soulful world beat. Past Wolfbane though, things take a turn for the deep and downtempo. It kinda' comes off like a continuation of Chill Out, World, and no sounds are certainly out of bounds (Harmonica! Trumpet! Orchestras! Roger Eno piano! Jah Wobble bass! Thomas Fehlmann 'techno'!). It's also rather meandering though, and a stark contrast to the punctual pop overtones in the first half of the album.

Really, it all feels like appetizers before the fifteen-minute closer, Soul Planet. Plenty of calm ambient lead-in, settling into a jaunty soul-house groove with Andy Caine on the croon, and a dubby, trippy, minimalist outro session of all those non-bound sounds. Can I call Ultraworld-era Orb retro now? Because this sounds retro Orb, another shocker considering how blatant a trend-wagon jump the start of this album had. As mentioned though, that's always been the best part of Youth's collaborations with The Orb. He'll hit you with music unabashedly ready for the radio, but still takes you to those blissy downtimes that's kept a dedicated following of this conglomerate for so long.

Cosmic Replicant - The Nature Of Life

Altar Records: 2013

This is about where I feel Cosmic Replicant truly came into his own as an artist, which is funny considering it, too, lacks much of style that initially drew me to Pavel's project. Who knew when I started digging deeper into his discography there'd be so much more to discover? He almost reminds me of another Altar Records alum, AstroPilot, in how diverse his various albums have been. Of course, in this early portion of his career, Mr. Shirshin is still playing by the usual psy-chill rules, but even here there are hints of the paths he'd later take.

For instance, the bleepy ambience that had me swooning over Mission Infinity pops up in the track Technological Era. Yeah, it's an appropriate title, definitely of a colder, harsher nature compared to the rest of an album quite fixated on the wonders of organic life. Where else am I gonna' get my acid fix though? Still, those expecting the sophomore effort from Cosmic Replicant to be more of the same as Future Memories had to be caught off guard by that sonic detour. Perhaps, but probably not so much as with Microscopic Structure, which dabbles in that trendy dub techno genre the lads at Ultimae Records were all on about. Hey, a one-off cut's not such a bad thing on an album clearly stretching beyond the norms of one's current scene, but a full record of it wouldn't fit well with the Altar manifesto. Just as well, then, he hooked up with Pureuphoria Records to scratch that particular itch on Landscapes Motion. Uh, nothing here suggests the pure prog-psy outing of his self-released Soul Of The Universe album though. Guess Altar wasn't having any of that from Cosmic Replicant one way or the other.

And now I feel bad because I feel like I've already run out of things to say about The Nature Of Life. What else can I say? As mentioned, it's Future Memories, but better. It has the bookened ambient pieces, the opener Somewhere Beyond more on a dub-drone tip, the closer Rebirth Of Nature opting for the Solar Fields happy feel-good bliss-times vibes. In between those you have the usual assortment of psy-chill (Living Particles, Molecular Compound) chill psy (Song Of The Forests, Morning Horizon), and whatever Sunnarium is. It almost sounds like it wants to be IDM, but just can't quite shake free of the psy shackles. Gosh, makes me wonder whether Pavel started exploring that domain in his more recent releases. Guess I'll find out soon enough!

Oh yeah, as with Distant System, I went and purchased the near-entirety of the Cosmic Replicant digital discography as found on Bandcamp. He's remained quite active since his last album on Altar Records, four items released since 2015. I suppose I could listen to them now and confirm any new developments in his songcraft, but I prefer savouring the anticipation. There aren't many artists left that make it worth my while to wait a little longer, y'know.

ACE TRACKS: May 2019

This post is coming to you from the tiny mountainous town of Jasper, Alberta, nestled within the northern arm of the mighty Canadian Rockies. And is this tiny mountainous town ever a tourist trap, believe you me, but with splendorous scenery such as this, how could it not? Like, sure, no one gave Jasper much care half a century ago, when it was little more than a way point for train routes through the mountains, but when The Greatest Generation and their offspring were scoping Canada out for vacation and retirement options, they realized this untamed region was quite nice for hiking, skiing, camping, and seeing various wildlife in their natural habitats. Thus, tourist trap of a town was born.

Now, I've actually passed through Jasper a number of times when I was a wee lad, when my family would drive from one corner of Canadian hinterlands to visit other family in another corner of Canadian hinterlands (the flatter kind), but I barely have any recollection of it, almost always passed out from the super-long road trip by the time we came to Jasper (my folks were hardcore about making it across three provinces in a single 24-hour shot). Figured if I'm going to do a road trip for a vacation of my own, why not visit some places of my youth? I'm not sure why we feel so compelled to do that as we age. It's very strange. Maybe I should have brought some Raffi with me to listen to if I truly wanted to recapture that experience. Ain't none of that on this month's ACE TRACKS playlist though.


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Brasil & The Gallowbrothers Band - In The Rain, In The Noise
Waki - Hurry Up And Relax
Wanderwelle - Gathering Of The Ancient Spirits

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 3%
Percentage Of Rock: 0 %
Most “WTF?” Track: Oh, obviously the one with DJ Shadow's name attached.

Why yes, I did listen to this while on the road! Well, for the portions of British Columbian highway that I could still get Spotify signal. Was surprised it held out as far into some regions as it did. Can't say this was a terrible good playlist for a road trip though, genres wildly jumping all over the place as they did. Good thing I brought a CD wallet with me too! Ah, the ol' standbys...

Lars Leonhard - Interstellar

self release: 2017

Dub techno is all well and good in exploring the minutiae of simple wonders and personal introspection, but those cavernous reverb effects demand the indulgence of wide open spaces too. Say, the huge vista of our galaxy - that's what I'm talkin' about. Oh, there's still something of an intimate nature behind this concept, a lonesome voyage into the realms of the impossibly vast, a singular path tread by those who need a little solitude from their hectic sociable lives.

Whatever the case, it's clear Lars Leonhard ventured outside his usual forte with Interstellar, at least at a conceptual level. We're still in his comfort zone of chill, groovy dub techno, some of which can up the pace a little towards the domain of prog-psy, though not much in this particular album's case. Also, I can only let myself down by all-too high expectations. Cover art alone had me hyped for all that hyperbolic stuff I gushed in the first paragraph, and Interstellar simply is not that. It's Lars Leonhard doing Lars Leonhard th'angs, and I'm fine with that no matter the context. I just need to temper my expectations some, lest I turn into one of those Game Of Thrones fans demanding ridiculous changes on something not catered specifically to me. I mean, if I wanted to hear exactly what I wanted to hear with this album, I should have done the logical thing and perform an incantation wherein I could possess Lars while he was in the studio, taking over his talents to create the album I was expecting. Or, at a more practical level, just make such a record myself. That almost sounds harder than studying the occult arts though.

Musically, there's only one thing throughout Interstellar that had me raising an eyebrow, a synth that kinda' sounds like an out-of-place car horn in Solar System, but that's minor. Nay, two things leaped out at me that slightly sullied my enjoyment of Interstellar, one of which really isn't the fault of Lars at all. First though, this album is kinda' tracky, in that it doesn't have quite the same narrative flow other releases of his have; just ten dub techno tunes with a light space theme running through them. I can dig on that, but it does put this album a step below something like 1549.

The other thing however – and I know this is an utterly selfish quibble – is the mastering sounds flatter compared to the rich, dubby texture I've come to know from Mr. Leonhard. Now, some of those releases were polished by the best in the game – it's unfair comparing the mastering of a self-release item like Interstellar to the EPs he put out on Ultimae Records. It's just when I have expectant notions of the cosmic grand already in my ear-brain, hearing a Lars Leonhard album that's a touch lower on his discography's scale can't help but leave me wanting. Maybe microspace is the better dub techno realm after all.

Wanderwelle - Gathering Of The Ancient Spirits

Silent Season: 2018

The release of Wanderwelle's debut album Lost In The Sea Of Trees was something of a turning point for Silent Season. While not the first foray into vinyl for the label, it was the first time the format was the lone hard-copy option for a long-player, skipping out on a CD version entirely (erm, and hence why I skipped on it as well ...if I must, I can wait forever on snagging a digital copy). More prominently though, it was the first time Silent Season went with something other than a picturesque photo of local scenery for cover art, instead offering an image out of a children's fairy-tale book. As the chaps behind Wanderwelle claimed the music was inspired by the pagan tribes of ancient Europe, I suppose slapping the usual misty mountains or Pacific rainforest fauna overtop wouldn't do the concept justice. (oh, and the album was wonderful; will definitely spring for a digital copy, eventually)

A year later, and the Dutch duo have come forth with their second album, Gathering Of The Ancient Spirits. Sweet, more European paganism? Nah, guy, misters Bartels and van Dulm opting for something a little more tribal here. Or tropical. French Polynesian, if we must be specific, which at least keeps with the 'Silent Season represents music inspired by the Pacific Ocean' thing. Just, y'know, the literal opposite corner from their usual haunt of the planet's largest body of water. And even then, it's not so much being inspired by Tahiti, but by the “ultrasavage” artwork of French artist Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, who's own paintings were more an idealized depiction of the region and cultures residing there. I feel like I'm falling into some deep inception levels of inspiration here.

This tribal-tropical-Polynesian motif has generated one of Silent Season's more unique offerings. For sure such ideas have been explored before, though typically in the context of rainforests (equatorial or taigan). To say nothing of how often we hear coastal ambient dub and aqua techno from the label (new genre alerts? Oh God, no!). Gathering Of The Ancient Spirits combines these ideas into something quite soft and haunting, tapping into that same well-spring of primitive vibes that reminds me of TUU. Just in a dub techno-y sort of way.

That said, I honestly don't have much to detail on a track by track basis. Absolutely some compositions have things that prominently leap out – d'at bassline in The Seed Of The Areoi! Different forms of percussion are featured in various tracks, while the ample use of field recordings remain diverse enough such that I never feel like I'm hearing the same croaking crickets, twittering tucans, or bubbly brooks. Still, the general tone blends together into a singular overpowering mood. It all feels like I'm lazing about a tiki lounge at some resort surrounded by palm trees, but being encroached upon by the recesses of a passing culture, long since eradicated save some weathered artifacts. There's mischievous spirits on them islands, I reckon.

The Field - The Follower

Kompakt: 2016

There's things worth talking about in The Field's fifth album The Follower. Things like “Axel Willner moves on from shoegaze, does proper techno” and “haha, I'm still dodging his Very Important Album, aren't I?”. I did something this past weekend, however, that's made talking about anything else extremely difficult. It wasn't even my fault! I had no idea it would or could happen. Nor is The Field at fault either – just unfortunate timing in this particular item cropping up in my queue when it did. I suspect if I don't write something about this event, however, it will fester even longer, somehow blocking my ability to connect fingers to keyboard. So I must do what I must do to move forward. I urge you all to skip the next paragraph, and rejoin me in the following one for my real review of The Field's The Follower.

So I went to a tech-house night on the weekend, as the dude who promoted the party said good things about the Berlin DJ he was bringing in. He always says good things about the Berlin DJs he brings in, but I was bored so went anyway. There I stood at my usual hunch just to the side of the front of the crowd, people watching while bobbing my head as I drank my pale ale in a can. Some decent deep-tech kept the vibe going, though nothing out of the ordinary, much less nabbing my attention in one of those “WHAT IS THIS!?” moments. Then, I heard it. A tinny, spacey rhythm, slightly off time, like out of the Golden Era of space disco. No, wait, it is from the Golden Era of space disco! Is it..? Yes, there it is, the cosmic 'aahhs', the triumphant organ refrain, and the hilariously warbly, ripped from pulp sci-fi pitched-down vocoder announcing the arrival of The Ultimate Warlord! Oh my God, I never thought I'd hear this tune out live, much less at a tech-house night. Do any of these people in the crowd know this track? They sure do now! Dammit though, that perfect context burned the song into my brain as it never had before. How can poor Axel Willner compete with such perfect Canadian disco cheese?

*whew* Okay, got that out of my system. The Follower, then.

The titular opener features some cool acid work from The Field before easing us into his usual brand of ultra-loopy tranced-out flow, where most of the album follows suite. Soft Streams and Raise The Dead get deeper in the dub techno zone, with the former a more abrasive than the latter. We all gotta' mellow out at the end though, which The Field does for the fourteen-minute closer Reflecting Lights. Another solid outing from Mr. Willner, then, and a definite have for those who prefer The Field's more techno outings. Unfortunately though, there's not much else to say about it, especially when one has The Ultimate Warlord imposing his Sword Of Light upon ye'.

sgnl_fltr - Exhalo

Databloem: 2008

As I perused the Databloem catalogue for a half-dozen items or so, I couldn't just rely on eye-catching cover-art for all my purchases – not every release of theirs is a shade of blue or features a picture of Saturn. Nay, sometimes good ol' name recognition does the trick, and the label has many artist names I recognize indeed. Mick Chillage, Lingua Lustra, Oophoi, Mathias Grassow, Nacht Plank, and on and on. I prefer digging a little deeper though, checking out artists I'm certain I know from somewhere, but can't quite recall. Absolutely I'm talking sgnl_fltr. Something about that name incites positive feels, but considering he's a dub techno guy, I couldn't remember where. Perhaps a Silent Season album? No, that can't be it, Mr. Kreutzfeldt essentially mothballing the project before the turn of the decade. He's since focused his efforts on Periskop, which features dark industrial dub and ...submarine noise? Ooh, bathymetric bass!

As always, The Lord That Knows All enlightened me. Turns out I first came across sgnl_fltr way back in my earliest explorations of Ultimae Records, specifically as featured in Oxycanta 2: Winter Bloom Boogaloo. The track, Waters, also earned an Ace Track nod, and I even had the audacity to call it akin to old-school trance. Compared to what passed itself as trance in the year 2007, okay, sure, but that sure was a stretch on my part way back when. Just goes to show how desperate I was to hear 'authentic proper trance' in those dire mid-'00s years. Would even accept some dub techno as a worthy substitute.

Anyhow, Exhalo was the album sgnl_fltr released after that Ultimae appearance, so seems appropriate I'd end up stumbling upon it after the fact. Would likely have been the album I'd have picked up had I known there was any out there to be had. Not sure what I'd have made of it back in 2008 though, my interest in dub techno definitely on the wane at the time due to market saturation. It wasn't as bad as minimal-tech, but DeepChord left an undeniable wake of copycats after his success. Still, Mr. Kreutzfeldt had been making similar music thoughout the '00s, Exhalo his fifth to that point (he'd release another with Stadtgruen the following year), so he ridin' no coattails on this wagon, nosiree (too... many... cliches...)

I do know I'd have been initially disappointed, just because I wouldn't be expecting what I hear on Exhalo. That would have been then, however, and when I threw it on in the today-times, I quite enjoyed this, in a very low-key manner. Absolutely it's another dub techno album with some broken-beat glitch thrown in, but man, the headphone space this creates is lush. Par for the course in this genre, and certainly extensively explored this past decade. Sometimes though, you just want to get lost in endless sonic space as crunchy micro-beats with thudding bass cruise along, and Exhalo provided that right when I was ready to hear it again. Timing is everything.

Axs - Arctic Circle

Silent Season: 2011

It's about time I accept many of those original Silent Season CDs are well and truly out of my financial reach. Yes, even more so than the elusive early Autumn Of Communion discs. I mean, I shouldn't feel bad about digging into their digital catalogue, most of their initial run released as MP3 or WAV only options anwyay; heck, it was a full year before they even added their distinctive photographic cover art of Pacific Northwest scenery. Such is the way of things now, and if Bandcamp streams remains the best option of hearing items like Atheus' Compile or Purl's Deep Ground, then so be it. Just would be nice to plug that into my main sound system at some point, is all I'm sayin'. Maybe I just need to upgrade my computer speakers too.

Thus it is so with Arctic Circle from Axs (or Dj AXS, or Alexander Gouard), because if I'm finally gonna' dig on me some Silent Season digital, it may as well be the one with the derelict boat. Well, not so much derelict, but sunken, abandoned, left to rot in the foggy harbours of the Georgia Strait. A once proud fishing (crabbing?) vessel little more than a rusting hulk, soon to be home for all manner of barnacles, mussels, starfish, and tiny baby salmon. There's certain themes I like in my cover art, is what I'm saying, and if it ain't blue, then an abandoned boat will do. Landlocked preferable, but I cannot deny seeing this one half-submerged brings the strange melancholy feels just the same. Incidentally, this is possibly the most presence of humanity that's ever graced a Silent Season photo-cover. Figures it also depicts nature reclaiming it.

Mr. Gourard had a fairly productive half-decade of activity (so sayeth Lord Discogs). He floated about various labels like Other Heights, Red Dye, and ZeECc, plus had his own short-lived print called Blue Oranges. Following a three album stint with Recycled Plastics, his output appears to have dried up, going quiet these past five years on the production front. Arctic Circle came out around the middle of all that, his lone contribution to the Silent Season saga.

So we're in dub techno and ambient drone territory, as expected with this label. There's the calm and soothing layers of timbre as found in Empty Sky and Frozen Signpost, plus the slightly uptempo tracks like Compass and Edge Of The Chasm. Meanwhile, Glass Dome touches on some good ol' Biosphere-styled drone dub, with an ultra-long fade-out that would have Geir watching his clock a little. What surprised me though, was when this album cautiously tread into dark ambient's domain. Island At The Brink Of Time is quite desolate and sparse, mysterious and cold as the northern winter skies, while The Dusk Glade creates something of a claustrophobic vibe, as though the empty tundra suffocates you under its overwhelming desolation. I guess that explains the oceanic wreck on the cover art – dark ambient loves its boat ruins.

Bandulu - Antimatters

Infonet: 1994

And thus, I've completed my Bandulu albums collection! Except Black Mass, the LP that launched their short-lived Foundation Sound Works print, but that was only on vinyl, a format I must resist to my dying days (I ...must). I guess there's also technically New Foundation, though at a mere five tracks long, more an EP. Maybe someday, the lads behind Bandulu will reconvene to release their stuff via Bandcamp, though with their music on so many different labels, getting all their rights back might prove tricky. Plus, if I'm really jonesing for some more Bandulu product, I could always check out that Sons Of The Subway side-project they did. Ooh, that's a tidy little price on the Discogs market there. (I'm so weak ...oh God, I'm so weak!)

So I've finally come to Antimatters, the album that, if things had played out normally, should have been the first Bandulu CD I got. It has the lone tune I was familiar with, after all, the sublimely spacious ambient dub of Run Run (that reverb! D'at bassline!). I wonder what Teenage Sykonee would have thought of the album though, had he been fortuitous in finding it way back when. Was he ready to hear roots techno of this sort? For sure I was stunned to hear it on that Millennium Records Ambient Dub compilation that had it instead of ambient dub. A similar scenario could have happened here, me going in expecting ambient dub, and not getting it at all. Ah, I'd probably have been more forgiving, since I'd have been tickled pink over even finding a Bandulu CD at all. You've no idea how many patient years I've waited to see them all come down to affordable prices in the Amazon market.

Right, enough blog-blather about my music consumption practices. How is Bandulu's Antimatters, their sophomore follow-up to the well regarded debut? Definitely different, the aforementioned nods to reggae dub far more prominent than before. Guidance had the dub vibes going too, but there was more adherence to the UK's take on Detroit techno and Afro-fusion there. But here, what can you expect from an album opening with a track called Agent Jah?

There's also more explorations of ambient techno, and not just with Run Run. High Rise Heaven gets in on a little Artificial Intelligence action of its own, Phaze In is over ten-minutes of shimmering, cascading synths, with nary a rhythm in earshot. Industrial Orchestra sounds like Bandulu took field-recordings of a busy transit centre, then looped and over-dubbed them for a two-minute jaunty. And let's not overlook experimental interlude doodles scattered about. Oh, you already did, because they're so short.

That's fine. We still get plenty of techno bangers too. Whether the roots influenced stuff (Agent Jah, Original Scientist) or thumping minimalist numbers (Close Ups, Presence, Downstairs Somewhere), Antimatters has a little something for everyone. Why, I'd even say this is Bandulu album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Bandulu fan.

Various - Ambient Dub: Futuristic Techno Dub & Electronic Roots

Millennium Records: 2000

I first saw this advertised among a pile of promo flyers we'd get in the little music shop I worked at, and I couldn't believe my eyes that it was real. An honest-to-Jah ambient dub compilation in the year 2000, half a decade past the micro-genre's peak of prominence? For sure a couple acts were keeping that fire burning (s'up, Sounds From The Ground), but as the Kruder & Dorfmeister style had overtaken the downtempo scene, the O.G. works from Beyond had been relegated to the annals of electronic music history; this is, what, the seventeenth time I've written this blurb?

Anyhow, without knowing anything about any of the names listed on the promo spiel, I ordered a copy for myself because what else was I supposed to do? I thought ambient dub was long gone, but here was a label promising a return of the stuff, even being so bold as to include the genre in blazing big font. Never mind the cover art looked a tad dodgy and this could all be some false advertising. If there was to be a proper revival of the sound that opened my ears to all manner of wonderful sonics, you had to support any and all attempts at it, amirite? No, I ain't right, but such was my logic at the time.

So the CD comes in, and I immediately throw it on to hear what 'Year 2000 ambient dub' is all about and the first song has some Jamaican roots loops and a mild techno beat and is kinda' dub but in no way ambient. Thus, my fear had been confirmed, Ambient Dub nothing more than a tacky marketing gimmick. How could any label get away with such a blatantly misleading compilation title, promising ambient dub and providing no ambient at all? Who is the label anyway? Oh, Millennium Records, they of the UK Space Techno series. That explains that.

So I was disappointed my new Ambient Dub CD didn't have ambient dub on it. Then I actually sat down and listened to the darn thing and I realized something: there's some gosh-darned dope dub techno on this compilation! That opening track, for instance, comes care of The Rootsman, and is a chipper slice of roots techno in its own right. The next track comes care of Saafi Brothers, who I didn't know at the time, but are highly regarded within the psy-dub scene. They include Gabriel Le Mar, who appears thrice more on this CD, once under his own name (with groovy April My Dear, almost treading into prog-psy's territory), again as Dub_Connected (crunchy dub techno dopeness), plus as part of Banned X, their That's Dub a surprisingly brisk outing of trippy dub techno.

The rest of Ambient Dub (sans ambient) pretty much flits between dub techno and roots techno, and despite a couple weird moments (Outernational's Cape East predicts brostep belches a decade early!), is a solid assortment of the stuff. Clearly though, Millennium Records couldn't have called it Techno Roots-N-Dub or something more accurate.

Lars Leonhard - Adrift In Time

self release: 2018

What does one do when an artist you like has so many albums available as a digital-only option, but you've developed a silly stance of only buying physical items? The logical course of action is to forego such a backwards-ass position, and do the right and proper thing of moving forward with the times, accepting that digital-only music is a viable and totally acceptable means of procuring tunes these days. However, I'm not so logical. In my mind, if I maintain long, unyielding hope that one day, Lars Leonhard would find a willing label to make hard-copy versions of all those stockpiled Bandcamp albums, there's no need to spring for a digital version. And lo', my illogical hope doth bore fruit, Mr. Leonhard's music finally finding its way to discs of aluminum, care of... Mr. Leonhard himself? Ah, well, if you want something done, sometimes you gotta' do it yourself, right?

That being said, it seemed releasing music on BineMusic gave his LPs a sense of focus. Whether it was retelling tales of aborted airline flights or odes to those traversing the lonely rail cars late at night, there were clear stories on those works. His stuff since, however, appears broader in scope, titles like Erstwhile, Deep Venture and Interstellar suggesting music with less narrative focus, and rather capturing certain moods and atmosphere. Such remains the case with Adrift In Time, one of three albums Lars released this past year (holy cow!). Like, what, exactly, is adrift in time? Lars' muse? The listener as they listen? The sounds as they play out, streaming on an ever-lasting electromagnetic wavelength to the furthest reaches of the cosmos? No, wait, that's probably Interstellar's game. And it's not like the Bandcamp copy gives a clear idea either, essentially stating that this is Leonhard music for its own sake. Okay, that's good enough for me.

Playful nitpicking aside, Adrift In Time pretty much is exactly the sort of music I've come to expect from Lars, and welcome indeed. Downtempo music that never meanders. Dub techno sounds that remember to work in a little melody. Deep layers of pads and reverb that let you get lost in cavernous headphone space. A few gentle nudges into the cinematic soundscapes, though only the most sweeping shots of nature's splendour will suffice. Actually, check that. Given the track titles have something of an earthy, geomorphology bent to them (Onyx, Sparks, Grounded, Highlands, Saphir), I imagine mostly static images of landforms, played out as time-lapse movies, the achingly gradual shifting of masses over the ages. Seems right up dub techno's general aesthetic, such visuals.

Mostly, Adrift In Time keeps things on the downbeat, with only a couple tracks upping the tempo towards anything club friendly (Onyx, Sparks). Not that Lars is generally a DJ friendly producer, but it has been part of his repertoire over the years. Not on this outing though, these tunes intended for chilling back with superior sound-systems at your disposal.

I:Cube - Adore

Versatile Records: 1999

An album I've long looked forward to talking about, but also kinda' feared doing so. For some, I:Cube's sophomore effort is among the glistening jewels of criminally overlooked French house gems, a record that should have been at the tips of everyone's tongue come the new millennium, and cemented Nicolas Chaix among the upper elite of clubland's tastemakers. I suppose I rank myself among those “some”, Adore blowing my mind when I stumbled upon it. I knew of him, tracks like Le Dub and the titular cut appearing on mixes and compilations in my collection, but I had no idea he was this versatile. Maybe I should have, what with his appearing on Versatile Records.

Yet despite getting playlisted by a wide range of DJs over the years, I:Cube never broke through to the rarefied French air acts like Daft Punk and AIR occupy. Mr. Chaix' project remained an underground darling, one that heady wax spinners expose to an unsuspecting audience at those 'perfect moments' in a set. Then someone in that audience will run up to the DJ, eyes alight with wonderment, inquiring, “Dude! What was that song? It was so funky and deep!” And the DJ will smile with a slight nod, knowing his job was done, and he could now comfortably return to his home planet. “Gastro Funk,” he replies. “Gastro Funk by I:Cube.” Then the punter will furiously tap through his smartphone options, voraciously searching online for that one jam he heard that night, saving it for a future playlist. It's a tale as old as time.

Adore has all that I've ever wanted in a French-pop, electro-dub, deep house record. The titular opener hits you with sweeping strings and groovy-chill Latin rhythms, La La La hits you with the swingin' funk and French soul, Le Dub and Tropiq go deeper down the dub lane, and Cash Conv. gets a little techy with I:Cube's deep house stylee. A bunch of nonsense happens for a few tracks, then we're right back into the deep house bliss of Deep Republic, Pooh Pah (it makes sense when you hear the 'lyrics'), and ultra-deep dub techno of Dans la Piece Vide (DeepChord approved, I'm sure).

Eh, that skipped over bit? It's nothing. No, it's nothing! Okay, it's something. What holds Adore back from being a nigh-perfect record, is what. Yeah, my opinion and all, but seriously, the noisy, abrasive stabs at loud club fodder always sound out of place compared to the proper-deep vibes the rest of Adore cultivates. Caca Carnival at least has a little pep to it when it's not indulging those farty noises, and Lak does bring things back to the deep electro, though its drifting out of key leaves a sour taste on my ears. These tracks don't break the album, but sadly blemish it enough such that I honestly don't return to Adore as often as I'd like. Ah well, at least it lets me savour the rest all that much more when I do return.

L.B. Dub Corp - Unknown Origin

Ostgut Ton: 2013

L.B. Dub Corp is Luke Slater, whom I've mentioned in the past as being a Very Important Person in the world of techno, primarily for his work as Planetary Assault Systems. Following the turn of the century, however, he put that project on hiatus, focusing his attention elsewhere (DJing, label managing, misplaced stabs at crossover material). During this period, he released a couple EPs cashing in on that trendy dub techno action of the mid-'00s, this here alias its outlet. They didn't garner much attention, and L.B. Dub Corp would likely have been left a footnote within Mr. Slater's discography.

At the start of this decade though, Luke signed a deal with techno tastemaker Ostgut Ton, reviving P.A.S. in the process. Folks got super-hype in his output after that, giving him enough clout with the Berghain print to release more material from his side project too, the result of which being this here debut L.B. Dub Corp album Unknown Origin. And a good thing too, because we can always use more music in the Bandulu stylee these days.

Wait, isn't L.B. Dub Corp a dub techno thing, as is in the Basic Channel stylee? At first, yes, when doing Basic Channel clones was all cool an' hip, but there's plenty of those, and Slater wasn't adding much to the discourse making it. Nah, 'tis a far better thing to do, exploring the tribal side of dub techno when so few ever do anymore.

And Luke doesn't waste time letting you know where this album's heading. Opener Take A Ride gets in on a shuffly, broken dub rhythm with husky whispers uttered from famed rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Nearly Africa and Ever And Forever lay out a bobbin', minimalist grooves, echoing chants, dubby pianos, and spaced-out synth leads. Elsewhere, L.B.'s Dub offers up some vintage heavy Bandulu rhythms, while No Trouble In Paradise inches things back to the lands of Detroit without ever losing that tribal dub fell. To close out with I Have A Dream, an opulent tribal-dub sermon with Zephaniah preaching celebrating multiculturalism, I can't think of a better vibe to end a record on. Shame Mr. Slater doesn't, then.

Four more tracks take us out of Unknown Origin, but they don't have much in common with the Afro-tekno that cames before. Turner's House and Generation To Generation stick to classic Detroit vibes, while Any Time Will Be OK reminds us that L.B. Dub Corp was a serious dub techno project at one point. Roller with Function sounds like a something initially intended for the P.A.S. albums, but contains enough of a dubby, tribal thrum to warrant inclusion here. None of these are deal breakers for this record, just less interesting paths taken compared to the unconventional roads the first half of explored. Considering we haven't seen any new L.B. Dub Corp material in the half-decade since Unknown Origin's release, maybe this was all Luke needed to make to satisfy that Afro-dub techno itch he had niggling at his muse.

Lars Leonhard - Stella Nova

Ultimae Records: 2013

I liked 1549. I liked Passengers At Night. Why haven't I gotten any Lars Leonhard musiks since? Dude's gone mostly independent, is why, which mean self-releasing his work now. Fine and dandy, but that also means he no longer has that label backing for manufacturing hard copies, and for too long I was a stubborn bastard about buying digital. I'm now a new man though, with new perspectives and new facial hair, including lightening my spending reigns on Bandcamp options ...if there's a discount code involved at least. Thus it's only appropriate that when Ultimae offered one, I picked me up a non-physical copy of the EP that first introduced me to Lars Leonhard, Stella Nova. Finally get to hear what's behind those shiny reflective spheres!

And if anything, holy cow do these three tracks mark as close to a 'ground zero' in the label's shift into dub techno's domain as any. Right, the spacious, dubby downtempo sound was already part of Lars' style, but glancing over the surrounding releases in Ultimae's catalogue is illuminating in hindsight. Prior to this, you had stuff like Solar Fields' Origin #2 (to date still his final release), Aes Dana's uptempo Pollen, and final entries from Carbon Based Lifeforms (plus Sync24), Cell, and Hybrid Leisureland (as Connect.Ohm). After Stella Nova, you find that Passages compilation, Aes Dana's collaborations with Miktek, and eventually Martin Nonstatic. Circular's Moon Pool feels like an outlier where Ultimae went after this EP.

The titular opener is about as you'd expect of downtempo dub techno, reverb and echo tones drifting in endless space with sub-bass frequencies a guiding rudder. There's a tiny, spritely melody some two-thirds deep, reminding me of an old Alter Ego tune called Chinese Eyes. Wow, Stella Nova's a modern minimalist-dub version of that, now that I think about it.

Whispering Colors has more breathing room at nine-minutes in length, and follows in a similar path as Stella Nova, though with a flowing, swaying swing to its rhythm. There's also more melody present in this tune, but the dubby stabs still dominate most of the frequencies. Hidden Places gets on that bleepy techno vibe with cascading echo effects pinging about. It's about as far from what you'd expect from the Ultimae sound of yore, but definitely what you'd expect from Ultimae of yeh'e. I don't know what the present-tense of “yore” is.

That's all there is to this EP. If you're at all familiar with Lars Leonhard's brand of dubby downtempo techno, you're in safe hands here. Stella Nova comes more off as an introduction of the man to the Ultimae faithful, testing the waters whether his sound would jive with a label known more for its psy-chill output. He did release another EP with them the following year (Burning Clouds), but by the time he came out with another full-length, he'd gone back to BineMusic for the deal. Kinda' feels like ol' Lars was one that got away from Ultimae in the end.

Various - Polarity (Mixed By Focal)

Ultimae Records: 2017

It was inevitable. Sure, Ultimae's been heading this direction for some time now, several releases sneaking it in with the usual downtempo offerings. Regardless of that fact though, it was bound to happen, as it happens to all long-lasting labels. No matter where you start – psy-trance, hardstyle, d'n'b, bossa nova, noise-glitch-wankstep – all paths eventually lead you to the two longest, dominating scenes of electronic music: house and techno. And now, the journey is complete, Arnaud Galoppe (Focal) given the green light from Aes Dana to provide his label with an honest-to-God, true-to-the-blue, right proper techno DJ mix, scene jumping into an untapped demographic unlike anywhere they've ventured before. Oh, and an ambient mix too, to placate the faithful, I guess.

Also new for Ultimae is the fact Polarity is their first foray into the double-disc DJ mix. Many of their past compilations had light blending between tracks, but nothing like the traditional mixing that goes on the Techno Side CD. Since much of the psy-chill they promoted had disparate rhythms and tempos anyway, doing a regular mix wouldn't be feasible. Here though, Mr. Galoppe gets to show the very important world of techno that Ultimae, too, can hang out with the Echospaces and Ostgut Tons of the globe. If they're paying attention at least.

Okay, that's not fair. The Ambient Side does bring the sort of sounds that- no, actually, even this doesn't have much to do with the Ultimae you know. Despite this label inching closer to the dub techno singularity, there's remained slight hints of psy-chill even in recent releases, but Focal says nuts to that. The only Ultimae name that shows up is Aes Dana (of course), every other artist appearing for the first time on this label. Not even current 'regulars' like Martin Nonstatic get a look in. Some of the Echospace chaps do though.

If anything, Ambient Side reminds me of a Silent Season collection rather than anything Ultimae's ever done. It's got copious amounts of flowing, droning, dubby layers of pads and field recordings, sprinkled with moody, melancholy melodies, but not too much as to get in the way of all those cavernous effects. Some tracks provide rhythms too – Valanx's Dance Of Death gets nu-jazzy, Mod21's Hunting The Black Eagle tribal, Resoe's Pressure Elements Detroity – but for the most part we're dealing with beatless music, rhythmic momentum generally supplied by dubby throbs reverberating into the distance. With that wonderfully full and rich Ultimae Mixdown™ in play, it reaches far indeed.

Which leads us to the Techno Side, where Focal takes us down a dub techno journey of, well, dub techno. Some of it gets minimalist (Area's Wanting, Beat Pharmacy's Tone), other times funky (Deadbeat's Entonación Chilena), elsewhere indulgent in effects (Beyond Air from CV313; aka: DeepChord), but there isn't much in the way of surprises either. Focal's set is generally as linear and flat as you'd expect of this genre, but boy does it sound nice on a good sound-system.

Various - The Wandering II Compilation (Part 2)

Silent Season: 2015

A sorting glitch after downloading from Bandcamp? Silent Season intentionally making digital and physical versions different from one another? A higher power sating my strange alphabetical obsessions? Whatever the case, the track sequencing between the MP3 and CD copies of The Wandering II is vastly different. Whereas the latter stylistically spreads the music out across three discs, the former arranges everything per artist, going from A.P through ASC to Ethernet, Kanthor, Michal Wolski, Segue, all the way to Yuka. And while I'm all for such organization in spicing up a playlist as staged randomness, it doesn't work so well in this case.

The chaps at Silent Season spent a full year in collecting, curating, and crafting this triple-compilation, such that each track had its proper placement on CDs. Playing it out by Artist totally messes that up, and while Silent Season promotes a generally narrow aesthetic range of dub ambient and techno, my digital version still made for some strange transitions. That ten-minute long dark drone of Sonitus Eco's Frost works as a second track on an ambient-heavy CD, but playing out at the forth-to-last position with a few rhythmic tracks following was jarring to say the least.

Whatever, it's just a quirk, one I'm certain Silent Season didn't intend. Nay, the 'proper' way of hearing The Wandering II is per the CDs themselves. I mean, the opening half of CD1 prominently features ambient, and doesn't really return to that style anywhere else. You get a couple different flavors of it too, from the aforementioned drone, to some blissy pad work (Legiac's Jefre Tropod) or ominious field recordings (Birds Of Prey's The Surface, Kanthor's Hegemony). By track six, we finally start hearing intermittent rhythms, some more of a microfunk thing (A.P's Interdimensional 2.0, Aesthes' Amphibians), others doing the soft, minimalist dub techno throb (Inanitas' Tuesday Evening, Ethernet's Reminiscence). Overall a typical warm-up disc for Silent Seasons' preferences.

CD2 is where I get the most bang for my buck though – there be trance here! Right right, it's not trance as you or him or her or they or Them or It might call it. Archist's Photosensitive has a tribal rhythm with soft pads ebbing and flowing throughout. Hidden Element's Edge Off and Michal Wolski's Lunyata provide a nicely thumping dub techno pulse to distant synth melodies. Hydrangea's Ananké works a slow-n-steady techno beat as widescreen pads fill a wide range of timbre. Alfredo Mazzilli's Continuando a Sognare and Tdel's Deep Field sound like they could have been chill cuts on an old Eye Q collection. See, trance!

If all that sounds too uplifting and melodic for you, CD3 goes about as de-e-e-eep into dub techno's domain as you'll ever likely hear. There's occasional touches of pad work (As If's Nærvær, Warmth's Altitude), but yeah, this is a rather clinical disc compared to the other two. Still, Mr. Zu's Retaw takes us out with some vintage ambient techno-dub, which is only appropriate for a massive collection such as The Wandering II.

Various - The Wandering II Compilation (Part 1)

Silent Season: 2015

It's a rare event when Silent Season releases a compilation, their first coming three years after the label launched. Following that initial Wandering CD, they put out a white-label collection called Full Circle, then sat fallow on the format for five years. Not really sure why that is, as they seem to have enough contacts in dub ambient and techno circles to warrant a few favours phoned in for contributions. And while it's lovely and all having spiffy albums and pleasing EPs available, the compilation has long been the preferred format in promoting one's manifesto, a sampler of artists and genres a label wishes to support by luring in the curious passerby. Then again, Silent Season is the sort of print that's long been able to sell itself almost entirely by word-of-mouth, the quality of their releases readily reaching the ears of dedicated disciples of dubbed-out music. Making compilations for the pure purpose of promotion would be a redundant venture, and likely a time consuming effort for a label that prides itself on its minimalist aesthetic.

Nay, better to save the format for celebratory events, which is what Silent Season done did in finally releasing a second volume of The Wandering in 2015. The occasion of note with this item is it marking the label's twentieth release, a feat that... doesn't quite add up when I look over their discography with The Lord That Knows All. Mind, Lord Discogs' cataloguing isn't an exact science, some albums appearing twice under different formats, so I guess I'll have to take it under faith that Silent Season is being on the level in claiming The Wandering II marks their double-ten triumph. I mean, that Dubpression Remix digital release from Rasmus Hedlund was just half a release anyway, right?

And just in case you felt this label's been far too skint in offering compilation options over the years, Silent Season didn't hold back on this one, going with a gargantuan 3CD extravaganza, inviting familiar artists from their past for a dub techno party. ASC is here! Segue is here! Inanitas is here! Mon0 is here! Tdel is here! Yuka is here! Um... is that it? No Vitalis Popoff? Or Shaded Explorer? Mind Over MIDI? Martin Nonstatic? Edanticonf? Refracted? Faru? Purl? Bueller?

Well hey, as I said before, a good compilation should expose you to new and unknown names, and The Wandering II definitely does that for yours truly. While there's a few artists here that I think I've come across in the past (Brando Lupi, Archivist, As If, Slownoise), most of these I'm dealing with for the first time. And since I've clearly almost used up my self-imposed word count now, I'll spend a second part detailing the musical particulars of this release – oh yes, it ain't just twenty-eight tracks of droning dub techno. I'll finish this one off by mentioning the track sequencing of The Wandering II is... odd, artists arranged in alphabetical order. Who even does such a thing? *cough*