Sound Synthesis - IC 4406

Nebulae Records: 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GGGG - Gazé

FireScope: 2022

Not the actual final item from the FireScope camps, but it functionally may as well be. It was the last record to feature the label's brand of vintage IDM, electro and techno, and looks to remain as such for the foreseeable future. Yeah, Kirk Degiorgio released an album of ambient doodles the following year, but that seemed like a bit of obligatory business from FireScope, not a continuation of the print's manifesto - a coda if you will. Will Steve Rutter's label ever make a comeback though? Well, he'll need to rediscover the creative spark that got it going in the first place. That... may take some time, unfortunately. Even scene veterans can feel the crushing weight of apathy, more so when you're being counted upon to give up-and-comers some increased shine.

Gabriel de Varine chose an... unusual alias for his techno work (man, I hope Google doesn't decide to flag me for it), though I don't know how dedicated to the project he is. Lord Discogs doesn't list many items to his name or any other, instead spotlighting his D.KO Records as his career highlight. A humble little Parisian print, it mostly focused on house throughout the '10s, but it wouldn't surprise me if Gab' felt as much an itch for the other side too. Create a new alias to explore it, get the attention of one of that scene's luminaries, and before you know it, you've got a spiffy double-LP on the market with a cosmic kitty on the cover art. Guess there was worse ways to spend the Pandemic Years.

As mentioned, if Gazé is among the last of FireScope's releases, it's about as perfect an encapsulation of the label's legacy as I've heard (well, save another B12 outing, but y'know what I mean). Opener K-Robot OG feeds off classic electro while beefing it with IDM trickery and ambient techno warmth, while follow-up Cas Contact sounds like a spiritual successor to Aphex Twin's Heliosphan. Which is either a testament to the lasting influence SAW 86-92 imparts three decades on, or how insanely ahead of the curve Mr. James' music remains. Then Broutine Lamé goes beatless, spritely pulsing synths and delicate melodies shimmering about, and oh man, we're not in for a strict genre exercise with this album, are we!

If there was ever any specific criticism I've had with FireScope, it was that many of their releases tended to sound samey throughout. If Gazé is gonna' give us some diversity though, then yes, I can legit say this is will be a great final album for the label. If the rest of the music holds up to its promising start, anyway.

Fortunately for fans of the original Artificial Intelligence, it does. The variety carries on, some tracks getting heavier with robo-funk (120U Piano), dubby electro (Slowdry), spacey IDM (Trip 2 Delinc), ultra-melodic arps (Mudla 2.2), and even ambient drone (Sac Ala Blofel). Man, kinda' makes me wish more of FireScope's output had showed this much of a stylistic smorgasbord.

Function - Existenz

Tresor: 2019

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

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

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

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

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

John Shima - The Empty Lands

FireScope: 2022

Seems the label B12 built has gone relatively quiet as of late. This album from Mr. Shima came out some eighteen months ago, and FireScope has only seen two more items released since. The ambient leaning Origins from Kirk Degiorgio was the lone record out from the print in 2023, itself a year ago, to say nothing of drawing a blank for this year thus far. While it feels premature assuming Steven Rutter had to scuttle FireScope or something, it can't help but seem like the label's best days are behind it, their brand of retro-future IDM and vintage, bleepy ambient techno having enjoyed its mini-revival, now done and dusted. Maybe it'll see another flurry of action again, but if not, t'was a solid run of six years.

If FireScope is truly mothballed, it feels appropriate John Shima would have one of the label's final releases. His Elements Unknown single was the first to break from the initial B12 run, even introducing the sci-fi style of cover art that was as much a part of the print's aesthetic as anything musical. I'm always for symmetry in my narratives, and even if this is mere coincidence, it's nifty seeing the FireScope saga end similarly to how it began.

Actually, listening to The Empty Lands, I kinda' hear why the label's fortunes may have diminished some. Don't get me wrong, this is still music I generally enjoy, but it cannot be denied Mr. Rutter cultivated a very specific style to his print - techno that sounds like vintage B12, for the most part. That's cool and all for a while, but when there hasn't been much evolution from that, it can grow rather samey-sounding. Save for die-hard collectors and completists, incentive to keep splurging on records lessens when it seems like you're just buying the same thing again and again.

If I were to take any of Mr. Shima's tracks from The Empty Lands and replace them with something from Elements Unknown or The Lonely Machine, would you be able to tell the difference? At their core, the sounds in play are mostly the same: crisp electro rhythms, smooth sci-fi pads, melancholic melodic leads conjuring vistas of metropolis inhabited by machinery and automatons. John's shown he can go other ways with techno on recent EP's like Tokyo Nights or CPU Modular 1. This is just the FireScope stylee, and you're gonna' get more of it.

And I'm fine with that, really I am. I like the FireScope stylee, and if this truly is about the last of it we'll get to hear, I may as well enjoy it while it's there. Kemx and Desolate have fun little echoing synths that sounds like robots singing. Depart, Desolate, and Mettle are surprisingly chipper compared to how moody the rest of The Empty Lands goes. Sayaka provides the obligatory reflective tune. All solid stuff, just stuff I've heard before, and doing little to distinguish from the rest of FireScope's catalogue. Seems a common refrain from me, lately.

The Grid - Electric Head

EastWest: 1990

Tale as old as time: two guys meet while working with a legend of their scene (in this case, Psychic TV), decide they have enough creative synergy to do something on their own, and proceed to craft a bunch of tunes influenced by their contemporary clime'. That it would eventually lead to kicking off the 'country twang house' movement of the '90s is something I'm sure no one could have conceived, but I've already covered that bit of history in my review of Evolver.

And to be fair, it's not like Dave Ball was some unknown entity when he lent his talents to the Genesis P-Orridge project, having come off a successful run as the music-man behind Soft Cell. Getting in on that UK acid house scene was inevitable, but finding a kindred spirit in Richard Norris likely helped get things rolling much smoother than most post new-wave efforts often yielded.

However, sometimes you hit the studio with too many ideas sloshing about your brainpan, anxious to get them all out without any clear focus in how to make them all connect. Electric Head certainly doesn't hold back in offering a little something of everything you might hear wandering in a daze through the second Summer Of Love, but I'm not surprised this album doesn't get name-dropped that often when talk of that era comes up. Floatation, yes, absolutely, a definitive staple in the burgeoning afterhours chill-out scene. The plunderphonic-hop of Are You Receiving though? Or the woozy house of Driving Instructor? Or the hi-NRG antics of A Beat Called Love? Or the dopey EBM of Doctor Celine? The Pet Shop Boys aping This Must Be Heaven? Not so much, I wager. That Intergalactica though, I can't see anyone having much trouble working that into a Moroder inspired set. You might even throw folks for a loop after revealing it was made by the same chaps as Texas Cowboy.

That about sums it up though, doesn't it? The classic albums of electronic music from the early '90s are typically deemed as such because they were trend setters, defining genres in their infancy. While The Grid were certainly capable song writers and clever studio producers right out the gate, there really isn't much on Electric Head that you couldn't hear elsewhere. I guess that's why they made this more of an album experience, linking everything with interstitial sonic doodles and field recordings, which does help. Makes it feel like you're taking a sampling of what you might hear surfing the radio waves of the UK at the time. The spaced-out acid house of opener One Giant Step not doing it for you, so you switch the station, and oh, here's some sampledelic electro in Islamotron. But I want to hear something reminding me of that trip to Ibiza. Like all the clubby tunes? No, no, I've heard plenty of that already. I mean the comedown part.

Yeah, small wonder lead single Floatation got placed at the end of the album.

Various - Decima Circuits_Cottage Industries 10

Neo Ouija: 2020

If y'all are wondering why I ended up with a whole bunch of Cottage Industries, it's because of this volume right here. How could I resist nabbing something with such an awesome display of minimalist architecture and all the shades of blue? And hey, it's something from Neo Ouija, the Lee Norris label I'd heard so much about but never really dove into before. What's this? A bunch of Cottage Industries collections have CDs available? Sure, I may as well splurge! Shame I only ended up with, like, two of them. That's my fault though, not keeping track of all the orders I make. Not so egregious, mind you, as this one arriving with yellow on the cover, diluting Decima Circuits' blue purity as advertised! Makes me wanna'... ooh, argh! *impotently shakes fist*

Cottage Industries 10 not only has the best bit of cover art of the series, but may also have the best collection of tracks too. Right, I can't make that a definitive statement since I've only gathered half of them, but for what I prefer hearing out of these compilations, it hits the mark more often than not.

For one thing, it's only two CDs long, which is about the right length for music as deliberately leftfield as this stuff goes. Sorry, but three discs is just too damn much, Clockwork Manor turning into almost a chore to get through (so no, I won't be getting Cottage Industries 12). And a single CD never seems quite enough, barely an appetizer in showcasing all the esoteric artists willing to contribute. Finally, as this is one of the later additions, we're firmly in the era where electro and ambient techno tend to be more of a focus than stylized IDM experiments. There's still a few scattered, but give me the simple future funk of Zainetica's Soyokaze Park or sweet acid jams of Xylic's Basfoldintis 7 over the off-kilter broken-beats of illocanblo's Alma or twee electro-pop of Germain Fraisse's Everything Is Green any day.

Actually, I thought we were in for a real retro love-in after the first few tracks. Night Haze's Abandoning Safety is some vintage Jean-Michel Jarre vibes, while Milieu's Pan Of Green Fables will get your classic Aphex Twin flares firing. And it feels retro including an Ambidextrous cut, a staple contributor to Cottage Industries since the second volume. Soon enough though, its clear we're in latter era Neo Oujia, where the electro and techno vibes Lee and Árni have been cultivating on Móatún 7 amd Intellitronic Bubble start dominating. A few outliers like the urban slowbeat of Keiss' Behind The Glass and spaced-out acid d'n'b of Daveeth's Lélegur and Ruxpin's Ruffneck keep things fresh for a playthrough. And naturally, an ambient closer from Nike Vomita's Nymphaea Alba, though I was more surprised by the previous blissy chill-out track Anna Maggý from Futuregrapher, including a self-help spiritual speech. Huh, and here I thought Árni mostly peddled in rough electro. Maybe I ought to check out some of his works proper-like.

ReKaB - Counting The Days

Intellitronic Bubble: 2020

Does this mark the end of another run of box-sets? Granted, these 'two-for-the-price-of-one' double-discers from Intellitronic Bubble aren't really box-sets, and I did skip the first volume featuring Metamatics and Futuregrapher. Still, I grabbed three out of the four, with ReKaB's Counting The Days at the end of this run. Counting to what? Whenever I finally got around to a review of his 'debut' album, I wager!

Yes, like a few other artists in these double packs, this counts as ReKaB's first full-length – heck, it's even paired with G-Prod's debut in the same pack, Space Time's Bubbles LP. Unlike that French electro duo, James Baker, the man behind ReKaB, hadn't been releasing much music prior to putting this out. In fact, of all the featured artists in these collections, Mr. Baker is basically the rookie of the roster, rubbing shoulders with scene vets like Lee Norris, Mick Chillage, and Devin Underwood. Well, this chap must be an exceptional producer for getting shine like that, even if its on CD2 of a double-pack deal.

That said, I wasn't expecting Counting The Days to be so mellow. I don't know why I would have come to that assumption. The styles of electro I've heard from those other Bubble albums being grittier and more menacing, perhaps? Still, the tracks of his I heard off the label's numerical compilations were rather mellow for electro as well, almost dipping into ambient techno as heard out of the FireScope camps, so I should have gone in ready to chill out on some future-city patios.

Only eight tracks make up Counting The Days, and while about half of them do stick with the relaxed side of robot music, there's some nice and surprising variety sprinkled about too, usually within the longest tracks no less. Space Echo Dub is, as amply titled, a spaced-out session into the dubbier side of slowbeat techno. If that don't get your Silent Season triggers flashing, I don't know what will. Unless you have another label doing the loopy, dubby techno thing as your primary reference point. That'll do too.

Elsewhere, the spritely synths and bright melodies of There Maybe Times has me vibing more on synthwave than electro. Ark goes as menacing as ReKaB will allow, a pulsing throb of a bassline the only rhythm offered while ominous synths and tones permeate the atmosphere. Then there's the trance track Drifting. Or neo-trance, if you must. Or melodic techno, if you will. Or hypno-house, if you choose. Or hypnotic-melodic tech-house, if you wear five different sets of socks per day. I'll keep calling tunes like this trance, thank you very much, but I'm sure we can all agree its a wonderful little space groover.

So another dope artist out of the Intellitronic Bubble camps. Now I gotta' get more of ReKaB's music. Which means I'm probably gonna' splurge on more items from the label. And now the sister label, Móatún 7. *sigh*... Bandcamp Fridays can't get here fast enough.

Various - Cottage Industries 11

Neo Ouija: 2022

It's interesting jumping ahead twenty-two years in this series, giving me an intriguing look in just how much the field of melodic IDM has grown in two decades. Or not, the music contained within volume eleven of Cottage Industries remarkably straight-forward when compared to the more experimental beatcraft as heard on the first edition (also going titleless for some reason, hence its alphabetical placement within my music library). Don't get me wrong, there's ample amounts of scatter, broken rhythms, just not presented in the glitchy sort of way that had been a staple of the series for much of its run. Heck, it was on as recently as Clockwork Manor, volume nine released just a few years prior to this one. Does the mastering touch provided by Futuregrapher really make that much of a difference in how IDM beats sound? Guess I'll find out when I get around to reviewing Decima Circuits (Cottage Industries 10), the edition he jumped into the series.

Not gonna' beat around the bush with this one: Cottage Industries 11 doesn't really sound like a Neo Ouija collection to my ears, but rather an off-shoot of Intellitronic Bubble or Móatún 7. Again, part of that likely has to do with Mr. Grétar's influence, his feel for icy-cool electro and techno a defining trait in those labels' discographies. Having consumed five of the Bubble's compilations (among other assorted releases), its an aesthetic I'm quite familiar with now, so hearing it here isn't that much of a surprise.

And to be blunt, I find that makes Cottage Industries 11 a better overall listening experience when standing it in stark contrast to the first edition. Sure, the twee electro-pop of early Neo Ouija is mostly absent here, but I'll take synthy future-soundscapes over that any day. Personal preference is a Hell of a critical bias, y'know.

Did I mention there's also lots of acid on here? There's lots of acid too, a bit more on CD1 than CD2, but plenty 'nuff leading this compilation further away from the realms of IDM and into vintage techno. If the spaced-out electro doesn't quite do it for you though, there are some skittery rhythms and distorted analogue fuzz tracks littered here and there. Downtempo ditties that hint at the twee melodic side of vintage Neo Ouija too (Novel 23's Step By Step, Xylic's Dinky's Acid, DJ Dorrit's Apotek, Daveeth's Pro Pos, Weldroid's Sandal Warrior Disarmed), but not that much.

Nay, as mentioned, Cottage Industries 11 feels more in line with what Lee Norris' other labels have been up to as of late rather than carrying on with its legacy. It's a whole new generation of artists doing their own thing now, finding influence from other sources. Some of them end up on Intellitronic Bubble, others end up on Móatún 7, while a few continue wandering the wilds of label hopping. For those hoping for a little extra shine on an established brand, however, it seems Cottage Industries will always be here for them.

Various - Cottage Industries (A Neo Ouija Compilation)

Neo Ouija: 2000/2020

Humble beginnings for this humble label, a tidy single CD kicking off the continuing Cottage Industries series. Seriously, it just came out with its twelfth volume this past month, once again indulging in a triple-disc collection of... well, if you don't know what the deal with Neo Ouija's musical showcase by now, I don't know what else to say.

That does leave me wondering how Cottage Industries: Da' Kickoff fared when it first came out. Obviously it didn't have commercial aspirations – almost nothing with this much glitchy-twitchy rhythm making had much financial hope at the turn of the century. Surely though, the abundant twee melodies lurking underneath all the leftfield beatcraft would lure in many a passerby, melancholic moods in a rapidly digitizing age. Some, I wager, but if the original CD's Discoggian data is accurate, this was not a widely distributed compilation. Less than three-hundred folks claim to hold a copy, which is a shockingly low amount for a release nearly a quarter century old now. Or perhaps it never had much promotion in the first place, forever remaining ultra-niche in an already incredibly niche micro-scene, unable to gain the critical attention similar prints like Raster-Noton and Mille Plateaux attracted.

Does this make Cottage Industries: Comin' On Cool an overlooked gem within said scene? I honestly don't know, as my own interactions with it remain skint. I'm sure the CD has its die-hards proclaiming its genius, but nor have I seen it relentlessly name-dropped abroad. It just doesn't contain those essential tracks or artists a classic compilation needs for that demarcation. Sure, a few familiar names crop up: Geiom would go onto a decent career in future garage and dubstep, Clatterbox made his way into techno sets throughout the '00s, Yunx has featured in Nick Warren set, and that Lee Norris fella' collaborating with Geiom as the one-off Consumer Durable seems to have done well for himself. Other names are complete blanks to me, however, some of whom have sparse Discogs data beyond this CD. Sometimes its hard getting hype for names like Phonem, Penfold Plum, and Plod.

And I have to be honest: this era of clicks 'n cuts has long been hit or miss for yours truly. It's an aesthetic thing, the micro-glitchy sounds too often rubbing against my cochlea the wrong way. Not to mention I can't shake the assumption some of these producers are just showing off what they can do with whatever plug-ins or gear they're using, rather than composing an actual tune worth listening to. And there's only so much the twee melodies included can do to hide that postulation. Eegh, now look, this egg-headed music making me use egg-headed terminology.

It's not all skittery micro-edits, mind. Quinoline Yellow's Eythl Maltol goes more drill 'n bass on his beats, Clatterbox' Power Up gets on the chiptune vibe, while Yunx' Nemo-Sis sounds like a regular ol' ambient techno tune. Beyond that though, expect lots of experimental digital rhythms coupled with charming synths.

Various - Clockwork Manor (Cottage Industries 9)

Neo Ouija: 2019

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

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

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

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

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

Various - Annexe (Cottage Industries 2)

Neo Ouija: 2002/2020

Though the original run of Neo Ouija never made a huge splash across the world of electronic music, it was successful enough to garner a dedicated cult following while it lasted. Among the various releases that helped solidify said following was a series of compilations called Cottage Industries, three volumes worth springing forth during its initial heyday. Whenever the label would stir awake after many years absence, it was usually a Cottage Industries collection that would declare its arrival.

In fact, it's about all that Neo Ouija releases now, including digital uploads and CD re-issues of the early editions. I even bought a few, but for some reason, those CDs never showed up. Hmm, are those the items that got switched for all those Intellitronic Bubble CDs? I swear, I appreciate all the various labels Lee Norris juggles with these days, but there's sadly been a few too many missing orders as of late for me to buy any more from them. One more reason to just stick with digital, I guess.

Annexe (Cottage Industries 2) came out two decades ago, and boy does looking at the track list ever feel like a time warp. So many names within the ambient techno and IDM scene getting their start here: Sense, Ambidextrous, Bauri... Erm, that's honestly all I recognize off hand. Hey, can't be a proper cult label known for giving ultra-obscure artists within your scene their starts if you don't have a compilation series doing the work for you. Like, where would the likes of Biosphere, Autechre, Black Dog, and Speedy J be without Artificial Intelligence, right? Okay, pretty well-off regardless, but you know what I mean.

And just because I'm not familiar with them doesn't mean some of the featured artists didn't have fruitful future careers. Yeah, names like Phonex, Idmonster, Sica, Pem, and Qeshi didn't amount to much after, but Yellow6, Maps & Diagrams, Kettel, and Ilkae remain active to this day. By and large though, many of the acts on Annexe had respectable output throughout the '00s before petering off as the '10s took hold. So it goes.

Ah yes, the music. Lots of simple, charming IDM and melodic, glitchy techno. It feels like Neo Ouija was throwing a little bit of everything into the original double-discer, which is great in providing variety. When you're dealing with music as esoteric as this, however, much of it can slip on by during a casual listen. So it's no surprise tracks with more melody in them (Sense's Icyltap, ENV(itre)'s Atodeq, Kettel's Nestingbox Seventeen, Qeshi's Island Dryad, Maps & Diagrams vs Pem's Orteip) stick with me more than the more experimental stuff (Qeshi's Schem, Sica's Mykeys, Tandy's Bell_Libbing). One thing's for sure, if you like your micro-pop rhythms, Annexe has you covered but good. Xela's Don't Talk To Strangers, Bauri's Neo Robot Party Crash, EU's Lytop, Ilkae's Pilve, and so on. Not that it's surprising, the early 2000's pretty much peak micro-pop within IDM circles. Darn clicks 'n' cuts hype machine...

Jessy Lanza - All The Time

Hyperdub: 2020

While I'm far from a Hyperdub disciple, they are a label I confidently return to whenever I'm interested in hearing something outside my comfort zone. And anytime Burial so much as sneezes, it's enough to get the Hyperdub, erm, hype-train going again, such that I'll gander over to their Bandcamp for a look-see. I must have been feeling particularly saucy on my last visit, indulging in a couple items so far off my usual lane, I may as well have completely changed highways, one of which being this here All The Time from Jessy Lanza.

I've crossed paths with Ms. Lanza before, as she had a few tunes on that Hyperdub 10th anniversary box-set I covered a few years back. More specifically, she featured in Hyperdub 10.2 - aka: the R&B CD. She apparently failed to make enough of an impression for me to mention her in that write-up, but to be fair, she was surrounded by the likes of Burial, Cooly G, and Ghostface Killah in that track list. I did generally like her tunes, just there were so many other dope cuts that were quicker in catching my ear, is all. Not so when I last browsed through Hyperdub's latest clutch of releases, Jessy's sweet croon instantly luring me in for a closer listen. Or maybe it was just that simple, syrupy funk rhythm in Lick In Heaven doing the trick. Could be, could be.

I guess I should get into who Jessy Lanza is. I wish I had more to say than what a standard wiki or Discoggian bio offers, but I don't. I'm diving into this artist about as fresh and raw as can be, which is part of the fun in of itself. Can't grow old and stale settling on the familiar, gotta' get out there and hear other music and newer musicians. Even if said musician has been in the game for over a decade now, it's still new to me, dammit! If you need some background, here's the short-short version: classically trained, took a liking to jazz and R&B, gained plenty of plaudits in the nascent neo-soul movement of the 2010s, fusing her influences with UK garage and synth-pop sensibilities.

And that's basically what we have with All The Time. Music arrangements are mostly sparse, letting the bass bubble about simple electro and footwork rhythms. Jessy uses plenty of multi-tracking on her voice with various pitch changes and dub effects. It's nothing fancy on the surface, but has plenty of depth the more you peel back the layers. It all rather sounds as though she's performing solo at a club that's just emptied out after last call, a strangely isolated vibe for such seemingly chipper music. Which makes some sense as part of this album was written during pandemic lock-downs, Jessy moving cross-continent due to life circumstances. Those are some very lonely roads throughout the mid-west at the best of times. Can only imagine how desolate it got when most folks weren't vacationing.

Various - 026028

Intellitronic Bubble: 2022

We've come to the last of these Intellitronic Bubble compilations (for now!), and I have a confession to make: I hadn't intended to get the previous two. It was the cover art, y'see, doing little to inspire an impulse buy, after which I simply let them fade from my initial interest. This one though, with its stark white and bubbly patterns... wow, how could your eyes not be drawn to it? And gosh, what if the label went an extra mile, giving the CD cover a little texture with those bubbles? Right, they probably wouldn't, but it was enough to get me buying in regardless. Only I didn't get this CD in the mail, receiving 016020 and 021025 instead. I honestly can't remember how this mix-up occurred, but it's nice that it did. Even if I never got a CD for 026028, I at least got one for 021025, which I feel a stronger collection of tracks than this one. Oops, spoilers, I guess?

Before getting into that, you may have noticed a slight change in the titling of this compilation. The first five were named after the clutch of five singles from which the tracks were plucked. Since those CDs weren't twenty tracks long, a few cuts were made along the way. For whatever reason, the folks behind the Bubble said nuts to that after 021025, opting to include all the tracks in future collections. Sweet beans. Even if that means only three singles get repped, at least all the tracks are included now. Oh, wait, I already let slip 026028 isn't quite as good as the last, so maybe not as good a deal as initially thought.

Right, we're still dealing with quality electro and retro-techno for the most part, I just feel the selection of tracks on this outing run rather singular in comparison. For instance, G-Prod is back for two more tunes, and while I generally like G-Prod, many of the other producers on this CD sound rather similar. Stefan Kibellus spaced-out chill vibes is also featured twice, as well as Konerytmi, who's synth-poppy style sticks out rather sharply being only separated by Andartak's Sunnudagskirkjan (praise be c+p with that title). Not because it makes sense to have them sequenced like this, but because of circumstance regarding the original vinyl these tunes came from. I know this is still the most OCD of nitpicking here, but I can't help but feel the pared-down earlier collections made for leaner, tighter listening experiences.

Anyhow, Owen Ni offers an ultra-dubby, spacious tune in Ancient Science, Deeb's Software_Selection 1.1 pushes into the hardline bleep-n-bloops end of electro, Devroka's Helix supplies the requisite acid cut in _Nyquist's absence, Hidden People joins Konerytmi in going a little more twee, and Orang Volante tries going tech-house in Song For Futuregrapher. I swear between that and Sunnudagskirkjan, I've heard some of these hooks before, even if under garbled electronic distortions. As I've said, there's only so much electro can do before some repetition become apparent.

Various - 021025

Intellitronic Bubble: 2021

I cannot deny being a bit put off by Intellitronic Bubble's change of cover art. Right, there's only so much they could do with black and white photos of folks blowing bubbles, but it was a unique theme, one I'm sure could have carried on for at least a few more editions. Get real creative with it, y'know? Like, have someone pose with a bubble-maker in front of a Icelandic lava field! Or just feature bubbles in various sizes and numbers, maybe with nifty reflections of brutalist architecture! Just something other than whatever it is they currently got going on. At least the label's Bubble Flowers series has maintained a flower theme thus far, even if it's a lone dandelion sprouting from a crack in pavement. Nay, their mainline compilations instead get various shades of brown and burgundy.

Okay, I'm picking at the nittiest of nits in that paragraph, because I honestly have little else to criticize about 021025. All the things I claimed needed to happen for this series to show growth and evolution pretty much happen on this CD. A greater variety of fresh artists? Got 'em. Less reliance on pure electro retroism and ambient techno familiarity? Sorted. Erm, I think those were the only two major ones, and even calling those 'complaints' is a stretch. More like hopeful conditionals to keep me engaged with this label long-term.

The returning regulars are as expected: Futuregrapher, _Nyquist, and ReKaB (but no G-Prod). Considering that's all, it leaves plenty of room for other names to make the cut. And even then, their contributions are rather different to the sort of electro and techno heard prior. Futuregrapher's Norðurmýri has something of an urgent, paranoid feel going for it, all the while riding a rather smooth rhythm. Later, his Qualopec prominently features rather simple acid, with a splashy beat and subtle hum in support. Meanwhile, _Nyquist tones back his usual acid workouts for something almost trancey, in a bouncy techno sort of way. ReKaB also gets two tracks, and they're ultra-chill, Sky High proper ambient techno for the downtempo sect, Trying To Cope only a smidge brisker. A couple other returning names include Rob Belleville and Orang Volante, providing the proper Detroit nods.

Rounding out everyone else are names like Xylic, KEDA8, ENUIT, Akero, k_schreiber, and CNTRLD MND. Some do regular ol' electro jams, while others really stretch into the experimental side of the genre, even splicing with others. Hell, Stefan Kibellus' Fog almost sounds like what would happen if The Bug went electro. And what's this Krystian Shek As Usual, dropping some Ultimae Records' dub techno vibes into the electro party? Hmm, I've seen that name a bunch on Carpe Sonum Records. May need to investigate further. Does he have any CDs with blue cover art?

021025 proves mixing things up yields positive results. Granted, this CD may be a bit too chill if you prefer your electro body jackin', but I'll take variety over over-reliant repetition any day.

Various - 016020

Intellitronic Bubble: 2021

Well, that didn't take long. Not that it's a bad thing, per se, I just felt the Intellitronic Bubble showcase could stand to see more artist diversity as the editions carried on. Yet here we are in the fourth edition, 016020, and we're right back with familiar names as featured in the first two. And, as such, we're right back to leaning more into the ambient techno side of electro than the pure robot fetishism as heard on 011015. Then again, I couldn't help but quibble that that CD was almost too dedicated to the mechanical menace aesthetic, so what do I know? Always gotta' find something to pick nits about, always.

I suppose that's how many electronic music labels shake out though: a core set of artists that keep the print afloat, with sprinklings of outside talent given their chance to shine. I got so used to ambient and IDM prints featuring a wide variety of producers, I just assumed the same would be true of any of Lee Norris' joints. And who knows, maybe that will come to pass with Intellitronic Bubble as well, but I'm having some doubts. It simply may be the nature of these particular genres, electro rather insular within its core scenes, versus the near free-for-all ambient and dub techno seems to enjoy online.

So returning names for the fourth round-up of Intellitronic Bubble releases include Futuregrapher (of course), _Nyquist, G-Prod, ReKaB, and Mr. Norris operating under Metamatics (what, no Norken?). Lloyd Stellar and Konerytmi also return, providing the more twee, synth-poppy side of electro, while Mick Chillage comes back as... Mick Chillage? Wait, don't tell me his dedicated electro alias The Shape is moth-balled? That's the whole reason for having a genre-specific handle!

Since we're well versed in all these artists' style, let's focus on the new additions. There's The Droid and Info, about as generic of electro aliases as it gets, which Lord Discogs confirms with these being the fifth and tenth such instance of such aliases, respectably. They're also solid electro numbers, the latter getting a little more Detroit-melodic, if that's any way to describe techno. Same can be said for Dokun's Build Boards, which is actually Darren McClure (add another from the extended Lee Norris metaverse). More anonymous is Mr. Signout, his bass-heavy Unknown giving us some proper trunk-rattling representation. Bound By Endogamy is a name I feel like I've seen, but their Discogs data is skint. Regardless, enjoy their way experimental slice of broken-beat techno with Mir Laine.

The track that really turned my head was closer Signal Flows Back from Komarebi. You know that brand of Balearic-leaning future garage most associate with Bicep these days? Think that, but with an electro sheen. Now that's the genre exploration vital for an upstart label!

So once again, another compilation with little to dislike, but hard to give heaping praise upon either. It's all solid stuff, and enjoyable while played – it just won't convince the unconverted machine lovers either.

Various - 011015

Intellitronic Bubble: 2020

Jumping into the next of this label's compilation showcases, and almost immediately I know I'm in for a different outing. Compared to the last couple CDs in this series, I only recognize a handful of artists on 011015: G-Prod, MO-DU, _Nyquist, and Futuregrapher. I think I've seen Hidden People about as well, but this is my first direct exposure to the project. Everyone else though, completely new to my eyes and ears, with a few relatively new to many others' as well. At least, when this first came out, three years ago.

For instance, the chap who kicks off 011015, Lloyd Stellar. Lord Discogs states this here track is among his earliest items ever released, though he'd been making techno as Tramtunnel for a couple years prior. He's had a modest career of activity since, but far as the wider electro 2020 market was concerned, this was his breakout. Or he'd been burbling in SoundCloud obscurity for a decade earlier, and no one's bothered to upload that discography data to Discogs yet. I'll bet on the former being the case. Regardless, his track is titled Destory Him, My Robots, and while it's definitely not a cover of the Anthony Rother track of the same name, it's a suitably gnarly slice of electro just the same.

And yeah, we're fully in electro's domain once more – it is Intellitronic Bubble's breaded butter, after all – but something about this clutch of tracks feels stiffer. Like, the artists involved are stricter adherents of the robot manifesto compared to the group out of the first two CDs. Which makes sense, since a lot of those artists were coming in from more of an ambient techno and IDM route. If you want your retro-techno and electro label to truly go all-in on it though, you gotta' get yourself some musicians who's made it their style since day one. I think they done did that here with 011015, for better and worse.

Yeah, the bass is booming, the rhythms are robotic, the computers sing and whirl, and it's all properly dope. It kinda' gets samey after a while though. Like, remember that Electro Compendium data-dump I covered over a decade ago? It's a bit rather like that, but without the overwhelming desire to succumb to the machine within.

Anyhow, here's a few tracks that break the robo-mode dominating 011015. The prolific Kirill Junolainen, operating as Konerytmi, gets rather twerpy and twee in an ol' school Suction Records sort of way. Carbinax' In My Other Life gets real retro-Detroit, offering up a track that sounds like what Strings Of Life should sound like with decent piano and drum samples. So much bass in Astrobee's Junk Technology; just... so much. Rob Belleville's 406 Lucy Avenue is a nice, little chill electro number, and couldn't be more obvious about his inspiration if he tried. And finally, Daveeth brings the acid bass action in Utan Við Sig. Ooh, that's what this compilation needed: moar base aciiieeed!

Various - 006010

Intellitronic Bubble: 2020

Brace yourself, one more 'discography dive' is coming. Did I buy another box-set? Purchase a package deal? Acquire a collection of discounted compact discs? Nah, the truth is rather mundane. Some may recall me covering an Intellitronic Bubble compilation called 001005, essentially a label showcase of their first five singles released on vinyl. They never stopped making them, each subsequent CD coming out after an additional five new EPs, and I never stopped collecting them. Only thing is, because they remain numerically titled, they got slotted into my alphabetical queue way back at the top of it, patiently waiting until I finally looped around. That time has now come, and, well, I gathered up five more since then. Seems appropriate.

As 006010 gathers up the then-latest five EPs out of Intellitronic Bubble, it doesn't have much new compared to the first set. Which I guess makes sense for a young label still relying on trusted, familiar names hanging out within the same circles as Lee Norris and Árni Grétar. It takes time for a retro-leaning electro and techno label to make enough of a name for itself such that it lures in other producers looking to contribute. Yet with the print pushing out wax at about two releases a month, not to mention all those double-album items for a spell there, the early roster was a little skint with fresh faces. Don't come into 006010 expecting much different than 001005, is what I'm saying. And hey, if you're all the more down for an extra round of their tasty electro and Detroitism, all the better.

As with the first, the second kicks off with a Milieu track, and it's... much lighter and twee? Wow, this is some real synth-pop chipper vibe going on here, a rather bit like some of the stuff I heard out of Solvent's label. Well, whatever, ReKab (with Mihail P on the rub) once again brings the follow-up, and Is This The Year is as pure a slice of vintage Detroit techno as you could ever hope to hear in the current decade Elsewhere, _Nyquist brings his touch of ambient techno to the electro party, Devroka brings the shoulder-shakin' electro, and G-Prod drops two ultra-deep space-bass tunes. You already knew that though, what with me having recently covered their albums.

All the others, then, what do we get? Black Data's Wireless Connection reminds me of that turn-of-the-millennium strain of stripped, sleazy electro, though I'm hesitant to lump it into the actual electroclash camps. 01Cerulean's Icy is, well, definitely icy, in a bouncy, acidy sort of way. I can't help but sense a little Drexciya inspiration from Orang Volante's Planktro (it's the title, yo'!), while Scape One's Different Worlds, Same Stories keeps up firmly in the outer atmosphere of sky-craft cruisin'.

While I'd recommend getting both, if you have to only get one, I think 006010 the stronger collection of tunes. Everyone involved feels more assured in what Intellitronic Bubble's manifesto will entail at this point.

Tracing Xircles - Xenolith

Blue Hour: 2022

Not too much to dig into with this EP. The particulars are already mostly covered elsewhere on this blog, the names behind this moniker and all that. Well, half of it at least, as Tracing Xircles is a collaboration between Blue Hour head-honcho, erm, Blue Hour. Luke Standing, that is. The other goes by A-JX on Bandcamp, but Lord Discogs lists him as Simon Pilkington (also: AJ-X ...which is it!?). There isn't much else on him within the Discoggian tomes, so can't help you there.

In any event, the two paired up half a decade ago for a debut EP titled Gaia's Requiem. As befitting a record with that sort of name, it's a rather chill affair, but as this was still Blue Hour's early years (the label and the artist!), some exploratory works are allowed. By the time the two reconvened for a second record, Air Lock, they got back to the spacey techno pulse that defined much of Blue Hour's work. And when I finally stumbled upon this label, they had just put out their third EP, this here Xenolith. Not a bad run at all, but it's apparently gotten even better, landing a record on the Candy Mountain print, helmed by one-time Ostgut Ton favourite Steffi. She actually has a lot of little labels, including various Dollys. Becoming a regular Ellen Allien, that lass is – notch another artist I've overlooked for far too long.

Anyhow, this EP. The kick-off is also the titular cut, and almost immediately you're gonna' get transported back to the '90s with its big, brash broken beats. The echoing piano and sinewy synths don't hurt either, basically mixing and matching a lot of early rave and trance sounds into something of a New Beat soup, but done in an electro way. All with that ultra-beefy modern production, keeping things sounding as current as possible. If you turned down the gains, muffled the sounds, and flattened the dynamics... yeah, I could imagine this appearing on some long-lost Music Man Records B-side. Sounding 'modern-retro' has been one of Blue Hours' appealing traits though – it's why I started scoping them out, after all – so no surprises here.

Xenolith is about as 'pretty' as this EP gets, however, as follow-up Surface Level gets down to some serious electro business. Nothing too fancy with this one, just a steady thudding breakbeat, menacing robot sounds, and ominous backing synths. Blindspot gets a little fancier in its beatcraft, opting for something more skippity and post-dubsteppy. Future-shock electro menace vibes are still in full effect though.

But enough of that, how about some acid breakcore for a finish? Closed Circuit is definitely that, or at least treading as close to the realms of acid breakcore without actually going full tilt. I don't know if the Blue Hour faithful are really down for that. Or maybe they are, the label having multiple examples of the stuff scattered about. Still gotta' get on digging into more releases, I do.

The Shape - Waveshape Fiction

Anodize/Intellitronic Bubble: 2014/2020

This is the second half of the double album that included _Nyquist's Sonic Periapsis, the fun little gimmick from Intellitronic Bubble of including two completely separate LPs for the price of one. I guess this makes the official first one of these I've completed? Like sure, I've technically done that with the double deal of Skua Atlantic's Atlantic Fusion and Devroka's Processor Overlord, but only by happenstance of already reviewing the Databloem version of Atlantic Fusion. As for the second half of the release containing G-Prod's Space Time's Bubbles LP, that won't be for quite a while yet.

As a side note, why did the label abandon this concept after just a handful of releases in 2020? I get Lee and Árni focusing more on the vinyl side of things, CDs relegated to compilations. This was such a cool idea though, luring in potential new audiences with such plumb deals. Or maybe that's all it was ever intended to be, some nifty CD deals getting folks through the door, keeping them after for the real highlights of all those lathe cut records. Not a bad marketing strategy, nosiree, but man, I cannot deny hoping they make a small return to these 2-for-1 releases as well. They've been handy in nabbing re-released hard copies of some real obscure stuff. Why yes The Shape's Waveshape Fiction is one such item.

Though the alias may be obscure and easily forgotten, the man behind it most definitely is not, as this is another in a great number of Mick Chillage projects. Actually, check that: Mr. Gainsford doesn't really have that many outside his main one – it just feels that way because I keep running into them. Heck, this is the second time I have within these Intellitronic Bubble bundles alone (he's one-half of Skua Atlantic, in case you forgot). I wanted to make a 'Bill Laswell quip' here, but it seems inappropriate, so I'll let it slide.

Anyhow, I hear why Mick adopted a one-off alias for this record, as it's nothing like his usual Chillage tuneage. He was well into his Pixels phase with Anodize that same year (to say nothing of the sublime work coming out on Carpe Sonum Records), putting the unapologetic retro-electro of Waveshape Fiction well out of sorts from his discography. Heck, I'm surprised this even appeared on Anodize, though I haven't had much chance to properly dig into that label. Burned too bright too fast, sadly.

After the album kicks off with the more chill Stranger Than Fiction, we're thrust head-first into second-wave electro – think vintage Anthony Rother and Boris Divider, with a tad less menace. Super dope if you can't get enough of the stuff, but little in the way of surprises either. Mick handles the genre quite well, with a few earworms scattered about the broken robot rhythms and futureshock synths. Still, I get the sense this was more of a fun lark on Mr. Gainsford's part than any serious exploration of the genre.

Stimulus Timbre - Unfolding Cycles

...txt: 2020

Surprisingly not an album released on Glacial Movements, though you'd be forgiven for thinking so. It's not like frozen landscapes is something ...txt has made its breaded butter over the years. Come to think of it, there's precious little of such cover art in their catalogue. Maybe that lonesome dude fly fishing in the the worst imaginable weather on The Angling Loser's Arena Of Apprehension? Or the foggy harbour of Motionfield's A Clear Horizon? Ooh, I know! The beauty shot of Saturn, with Titan in the foreground, on Autumn Of Communion's Polydeuces! Being in such high orbit around the seventh planet is about as cold a region you could possibly hang out at. Eh? The Rorschach image of a space nebula on Ishqmatics' Spacebound? Oh, that's not a real place, silly.

But yes, the only reason I picked this up was of yet another alluring photograph of Earth polar regions – if I discover someone interesting in the process, all the more better for it. That someone is Keith Farrugia, who seems to have gained some plaudits in recent years for several electro and acid records as Sound Synthesis and Acid Synthesis. Before all that, however, he was making his way in the world of electronic music as Stimulus Timbre, releasing a handful of dubby chill-out and psychedelic downbeat albums on Cosmicleaf Records. He even got a track on one of those gargantuan charity compilations from Touched, which I assume is how he came into contact with Lee Norris. And just about everyone else in the scene, come to think of it (over four-hundred tracks on it!).

That all seems beside the point though, as Unfolding Cycles is unlike anything else I've sampled from Mr. Farrugia's discography. Rather, for his debut on ...txt, he opted for nothing less than an ol' school Berlin-School magnum opus! Or at least, as close to an approximation of one. Some of his chosen synths and pads are just too lush sounding to have been created in the '70s. Other sections though, like the basic electro rhythms scattered about, or the sequencer pulses, come right from the big book of Jarre and Schulze.

Also in classic tradition, Unfolding Cycles basically plays out like one long piece, each track an evolution upon what came before. That doesn't mean the tempo or tension continuously climbs, as there are definite peaks and valleys. Themes and harmonies are often returned to, however, such that you'll swear you've heard some melodic piece being reinterpreted with slightly differing synths down the line. Which makes sense, as Keith intended this album to be something of a 'day in the life' journey, sunrise and sunset book-ending the experience. There's a clear expression of awe as we carry through, yet is never oversold in opulent sentiment.

The digital version has each track individually indexed, but this really is best enjoyed as a single, seamless mix. Which is also available as a bonus digital option, if getting the CD is too much a hassle, yo'.