Porya Hatami & Darren McClure - In-Between Spaces

...txt: 2015

You'd think after a dozen years of doing this, I'd know how to avoid the aftermath. Indeed, I've done everything in the How To Avoid Post-Festival Flu handbook, and yet I still get hit with some bout of sickness after coming home from Shambhala. To be fair, the dusty farm environment makes it a challenge even under the best conditions. Not only do you have some twenty thousand souls kicking up dirt, but also all the cow-patty particulates that populate the pasture year-round. Wearing a handkerchief or bandana for cover helps, and I even take things a step further with medical masks when I know I'll be working in a super-heavy dust area for a while (those parking lots get it bad). Throw in the killer combo of extreme temperature changes (oh God, the heat this year!), and all around tom-foolery and chicanery that comes with any music festival, no matter how 'responsible' one remains, and yeah, it's no surprise folks come away from them feelin' the flu, even veterans who should know better. Or maybe I just get an allergic reaction to the being back in the rat-race so soon after a week out. Yeah, let's go with that instead!

So coming back, feeling down with the sickness, but still having to drag my sagging ass to work, you can forgive my lack brain power for a brief while following Shamb's. Getting the ol' writing juices flowing again sometimes takes a little effort, a little inspiration, a little kick in the cerebellum-butt. On the other hand, it's nice to ease back into things with a little sonic fluff, musical cotton-candy that doesn't require much in the way of actual analysis and critique, an album where I can spend the bulk of a review waxing on about anecdotal bull before getting into the meat 'n grits of the CD. Yes, this here In-Between Spaces from Porya Hatami and Darren McClure will do nicely.

I've gone over Mr. Hatami's work a fair deal now, and you might remember Mr. McClure from such collaborative projects like Memex. I honestly forgot he was a part of that though, and I wrote the review of that album with Lee Norris only a year ago! For a brief refresher, Darren's something of an abstract ambient journeyman, and possibly came into association with Porya either via their time spent in Japan, or their works released through Inner Ocean Records (because I gotta' give Canadian labels all attention they can get).

In-Between Spaces is a modest little collection of ambient pieces, only five tracks long, ranging from seven to twelve minutes in length. It's all very minimalist with soft, glitchy effects and static fuzz warping distant pianos, pads and field recordings. At points, I'm surprised just how natural some of these effects sound. Like, is that actual rain fall in Summer Rain, or treated static? Sends me into sweet, soothing calm of mental contentment, either way, as does the rest of In-Between Spaces. Mmm, recovery sleep...

Gridlock - Formless

Hymen Records: 2003

Man, talk about a coincidence, two straight album requests featuring breaks cribbed from the IDM camps! Though as this isn't a Patreon request, I can't give a specific shout-out to the requester. Sorry, Philoi. (wait...)

More to the point, this was requested as a bit of book-keeping from the TranceCritic days, an item covered by one of the website's other writers that could use a dusting off for our current clime's. Thing is, I don't recall this crossing our path, nor do I have a back-up of said supposed review. Granted, I don't have every item we published, and this one could have possibly slipped through the cracks, but I'm fairly certain if something this obscure had made it into the TC archives (and my back-ups), I'd have remembered it.

Back to the coincidence, Gridlock wasn't an actual breaks act like Tipper. Rather, they hail from the industrial camps, early adopters of the aggrotech scene (aka: when industrial discovered big-beat ...kinda'). Basically, a lot of noisy beats, angry shouting, with occasional moments of respite in dark ambient dirges. As time went on though, to two Mikes behind the project (Cadoo and Wells) drifted away from the industrial abrasiveness, their music becoming something more common among the IDM camps. They still kept the glitchy, harsh rhythms, but you could find that among breakcore or drill n' bass anyway. What pulled their music into a completely different scene, however, was just how nicely melodic it had all come, none of the menace and macabre of industrial remaining.

Formless was their final album, and serves as a nice capper of their transition from their bleak, early work. The beats are still all crunchy and glitchy and noisy, but so often coupled with charming melodies and pleasing ambient timbre that you almost forget there's a mechanical racket going on in support. What's nice about these beats is they never overwhelm the songcraft, over-indulging with fancy effects to the detriment of whatever musical ideas Gridlock performs. While this is hardly a new idea in the realms of IDM, I haven't heard it done quite the way Gridlock does here. Mind, it's not like I've gone super deep-diving into the realms of IDM, and there are still plenty of moments that have me thinking mid-'90s Aphex Twin (because it always comes back to him in this scene, doesn't it?). For the most part though, Gridlock have found a lane for themselves, and ride it with skill and finesse.

In fact, they stick to that lane so diligently, it kinda' hampers the overall album. Formless is fifteen tracks long, some short interstitial doodles, others breaching the nine-minute mark. Most, however, hover around four-to-six minutes, and while they all sound fine, there's also a noticeable lack of sonic variety too. Industrial beats, ambient techno melodies, and that's about it for the duration. I'm never bored by what I hear, but I cannot deny the mind drifting a little towards album end too. Annoying when the grey matter does that.

The Future Sound Of London - Environment 6.5

fsoldigital.com: 2016

So Environment Six had its moments, but didn’t gel terribly well as an LP experience. And dammit, is it so unfair of me to want that? The Future Sound Of London made their mark in the ‘90s as one of the few electronic music producers who could successfully release fully-formed albums. We know it’s within Cobain and Dougans’ ability to do so, and though the Environments series has flitted with loose themes thus far, I can’t see an abandonment of it in favor of total freeform music making doing them many favors. With the simultaneous release of 6.5, also featuring a whopping twenty-three tracks, I worried we were in for another lengthy dive into the duo’s erratic muses.

Instead, we’re greeted with one of the biggest opening salvos FSOL have ever committed to record. Axis Of Rotation serves as a brief effects-heavy intro, a suggested orchestral melody emerging. It then melds into a thudding tribal rhythm in Solid Earth, where the same melody plays out in a haunting, subdued fashion. Wait, I should call that melody a leitmotif, because FSOL bring it back way down in track fifteen, The Day The Poles Shifted, and as a grand opus at that. Holy cow, does Environment 6.5 have an honest-to-God concept behind it?

I’d say so. For one, the tracks all flow much better together compared to Six, moments of calm and tranquility explored for stretches before easing along to tunes more brisk and experimental. If a number of these tracks started out as unrelated sonic sketches, FSOL tweaked and twisted them to fit whatever theme holds everything together. Even that, so often vague and obtuse in prior Environments, comes off more concrete than before. For sure explorations of ruined civilizations is well-tread territory where these guys are concerned, but with 6.5, I feel as though I’m directly involved in this musical trek rather than being an outside observer of events. This undoubtedly sounds awfully wanky, but the journey takes you through dark, underground passages, past dwellings both ancient yet futuristic, finally emerging into a new dawn as the surface finally recovers from its cataclysm (by force of nature than anything manmade, it seems).

Individual tracks, then. How do they all come off? Oh, the usual sort of FSOL eclecticism. Anacro Rhythm: far East psychedelia. Opal Light: noir ambient dub. Dark Seed: chipper braindance acid. I Dream In Viral Blue: widescreen jazz-fusion. Ain’t Gonna Lie: far flung ambient techno. Emmissions Of Light: dubby ambient glitch. Strange Allure: pure ambience with bubbling weirdness. There’s more, of course, but gotta’ save some surprises for y’all.

Why this wasn’t the Environment Six Prime album, I haven’t a clue. It’s so much better, Actual Six coming off like the b-side companion an album titled 6.5 should sound like. In fact, I’d rank this one on par with their ‘90s material, if for nothing else than that Axis Of Rotation leitmotif remains stuck in my head. Can’t say the same of most other Environment pieces.

The Future Sound Of London - Environment Six

fsoldigital.com: 2016

It should have marked a triumphant return to electronic music media. Instead, Environment Five, The Future Sound of London’s first full album of original material since the ‘90s, was met with another indifferent shrug. For sure a few of the UK’s more prestigious rags scoped it out, in the process allowing some nostalgic look-backs to groundbreaking rave era Dougans and Corbain material. Having exhausted that angle, however, and FSOL failing to deliver the Instant Modern Classic such folks assumed was in the works, most music journals moved on, Environment Five joining Boards Of Canada’s Tomorrow’s Harvest in the Over-Hyped Return bin (when can we add Random Access Memory to the pile?).

Thus it is with as little fanfare as possible that we return to this series a couple years later. Seriously, I saw no PR leading up to Environment Six, the only hype apparently a Facebook posting. I only found out about it by chance, checking their website for details regarding another side-project, Blackhill Transmitter. Then lo’, there it was, not one, but two new Environment albums. Well geez, better snatch those up post-haste. Surely folks will be buzzing about these soon enough (nope).

At twenty-three tracks, Environment Six looks daunting, but less than half of these break the three-minute mark, only one passing six minutes. Not that this is anything new, FSOL long known for their sonic doodles and half-formed musical ideas, such pieces serving as interludes, transitionals, or experimental indulgences that could never form Proper Tunes. And we generally allow it as they often serve a greater thematic whole within the context of their albums. Even these Environments, as loosely defined as they are, still adhere to some conceptual structure. This one though, I dunno – there’s more random meandering than ever here.

It starts out fine enough, the first few tracks reasonable lengths and exploring the usual future sounds Cobain and Dougans so often do - Polarize does the epic post-apocalypse thing, Mountain Path a meditative ambient thing, Thought Pattern a minimalist ambient techno thing. Elsewhere, Lichaen takes the tried-and-tested psychedelia path, Sol 7 goes all dubby glitch, Symphony For Halia provides a haunting, static-dub vibe straight out of Ultimae’s textbook, Plausibility opts for pure orchestral psychedelia, Yut Moik comes off like a long-lost track from Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series, and Leak Stereo 70 does a brisk, micro future-funk jam.

A nifty assortment of FSOL tunes, all said, though little thematically linking them together. Matters aren’t helped that tons of disjointed sonic doodles are littered amongst as individual tracks, seldom letting anything stick in your brain before quickly moving onto the next wayward muse FSOL follows. An ultra-short synth-arp tease in Seq/-9 is especially egregious. The final couple tracks - Meanders and Solace - are decent closers, but fail to sum Environment Six in any meaningful way. I don’t have much problem with ‘music for its own sake’, but it’s nice having some cohesive reason to sit down and take a full album in.

Solar Fields - Until We Meet The Sky

Ultimae Records: 2011

Though Random Friday is technically the last album Solar Fields released on Ultimae (odds n’ sods Origin # 02 notwithstanding), Until We Meet The Sky feels like the final one we got to hear Mr. Birgersson strut his stuff as only he can. Holy cow, that was over half a decade ago now, and as the label that Aes Dana built continues is steady journey into the realms of minimalist dub and downtempo glitch, I’ve grown ever more inconsolable that we may never hear such lush, unabashedly uplifting sonics as Solar Fields so often provided. C’mon, Magnus, when can we hear some new music? We all jonesing for a Solar Fields fix, yo’.

When this album first came out in 2011, I found it a reasonable, pleasant LP with enough enjoyable Solar Fields attributes, but not as strong overall as some of his previous efforts. The talking point surrounding Until We Meet was it was ol’ Magnus branching out from the psy side of things and into ‘shoegaze’ territory, the sort of chill-out that Ulrich Schnauss had long made his domain. There’d been hints of this style in Solar Fields’ palette, a gradual transition from Ultimae’s preferred psy-chill excursions as the years moved along. Six albums deep and with the label moving on in general, it seems only appropriate to finally indulge in a sound well outside one’s comfort zone.

The biggest difference in Until We Meet The Sky from previous Solar Fields albums is its recurring themes - specifically a simple piano melody that pops up every so often throughout. For one thing, we’ve seldom heard any piano from Magnus, much less as a leitmotif. He even indulges himself further in Sombrero, first playing it out as though in a grand cathedral, then distorting it to the point the track starts sounding rather like a Boards Of Canada offering.

Another noticeable tweaking of the Solar Fields LP form is the arrangement of tunes, giving us a more traditional ‘journey’ than his other works. Almost the entire first half of this album is beatless, exploring soothing meditative ambient, minimalist field recordings, and the like, with only the barest of beats coming and going. I won’t deny this can come off a tad tedious and meandering, especially compared to Solar Fields records that paced its uptempo and downtime moments more spaciously. Yet when he does unleash those vintage, massive, uplifting tunes towards the end for a couple grand finales (Night Traffic City, the titular cut), it all feels like one long build to a well-deserved climax.

Still, Until We Meet The Sky does take a while before getting a move on, which can turn away those who aren’t so patient. And unfortunately, the crescendo isn’t so effective out of context. Solar Fields practically demands you to take this album in as a whole, and for some that may not be enough. Given the dearth of such music on Ultimae of late though, what the hey, I’ll take it.

Aes Dana Featuring MikTek - Far & Off

Ultimae Records: 2016

It’s been a while since the Ultimae ranks were active in any significant way. Between 2014-15, there were but three albums and three compilations. Wedged among them though, were also about a half-dozen EPs, three of which being Aes Dana collaborations with MikTek. If you don’t recall, he’s that new-hotness Greek producer that signed with Ultimae, released an album, and has appeared on nearly every compilation from them since. With such a roll-out for Mr. Aikaterinis, you’d think another album was promptly in the works following Elsewhere, but it’s been over three years since. And Far & Off isn’t a new MikTek album either; rather we’re dealing with a compilation of those three singles, from which Aes Dana gets the main credit, and MikTek has a featuring credit. What, couldn’t they have come up with a collaborative alias, like H.U.V.A. Network with Solar Fields? Say, whatever happened to that project anyhow? And Solar Fields in general, for that matter? It’s been so long since we’ve heard from Magnus, so very, very long…

So, those three records – literally, Aes Dana’s work with MikTek also Ultimae’s first foray into vinyl production - titled Cut., Alkaline, and The Unexpected Hours. These were released one per year, the final one coming out just this year with Far & Off shortly after. Talk about your long game, though given the glacial rate these were made, I wonder if Mr. Villuis had his mind focused on other business (those remasters!). Or maybe tales of backlogged vinyl pressing plants are as dire as I’ve heard. Hey, man, I know having such wonderfully mastered music available on the Black Crack format is super sexy and all, but it’s not that important. Besides, FLAC and DVD remains the superior audio source. Not that I should talk, mind you, remaining perfectly content with CDs ‘til the day I die.

Alright, enough dodging, pivoting, and tangenting. Let’s get to the music on Far & Off. Short review: there’s barely any music on Far & Off. Aes Dana and MikTek have crafted such minimalist dub techno and ambient drone here, I honestly feel like I’m listening to rice crackers. They’re absolutely delicious rice crackers, heady sub-bass tones, whispy piano chords, and even a little dalliance into glitchy-click microfunk rhythms, but still leaving me feeling rather empty after consuming them. Which Vincent claims is the intent, so aces on the execution, I guess.

I get the sense Aes Dana specifically made these tracks with the highest-end playback available, as I easily get lost in the vast, spacious sound design these tracks provide when playing them on my Senns. On anything else however, there’s barely anything there. Even cranking my main stereo (which, given thin-walled apartment living, is only adequate) didn’t provide much sonic depth, to say nothing of my laughable computer speakers. Hearing a few of these at a time, as proper singles, is probably enough; not for a full LP’s worth of run time when so little sticks to the mind after.

Lorenzo Montanà - Leema Hactus

Psychonavigation Records: 2014

Part two of Lorenzo Montanà’s trilogy on Psychonavigation Records, all released within a three years span of each other. As if that wasn’t enough, he put out another album on Carpe Sonum Records the same year this came out, to say nothing of two additional 2015 LPs alongside the final chapter of Trilogy, Vari Chromo. Does this guy just keep stockpiling music all the live long day? And have I already rhetorically asked this question in a previous review? Feels like I have, but I’m too lazy to hop in my time machine and ask January 2016 Sykonee if he’s written a similar query in Black Ivy or Serpe. In any case, we’re definitely getting a right-proper crash course in Mr. Montanà’s music these past few months.

If you’ve been following these Lorenzo reviews since the beginning, you might have noticed a pattern emerge in the quality of albums. Black Ivy was interesting, but unfocused, while Serpe was a splendid improvement. Eilatix, however, felt like a step back, so that must mean Leema Hactus springs back with the goods, right? Yeah, it does, but come on; you can’t seriously buy this line of logic? It’s too small a sample size to form any accurate model, and I’d be rightfully roasted by crusading statisticians on social media for peddling such pseudo analytics in the form of a music review. Whoops, getting sidetracked as always!

Leema Hactus is another great album from Mr. Montanà, taking the dynamic songcraft shown in Serpe and expanding upon it even further. There’s ample ambient techno, dubby pad work, clicky-glitch rhythms ranging from brisk tempos to subdued chillers, and gentle-sweet melodies throughout, some of which are among the best I’ve heard from Lorenzo. Greenlift will utterly melt your heart, I tell you what; like hearing a melancholy fairy lullaby as fireflies dance in twilight.

Most of Leema Hactus has an undercurrent of gardens, what with tracks titles like Conflict Garden, Emerald, Hynogreen, Greenlift, and Dew Flow. The cover art doesn’t hurt in selling that notion either, though I do wonder what the album’s title means. I searched about the Googles for it, and very little came up. ‘Leema’ is apparently a lady’s name, kind of like how Peru’s capital, Lima, is a name. ‘Hactus’ may be a name as well, but when Mr. Montanà’s album eats up the first twenty search returns, I’ve very little to go on. One day, maybe I’ll try that ‘journalist’ thing of asking the producers questions for my answers. Conjecture though, it’s much funner.

Anything else? There’s a dubstep track in here, the track Dew Flow. Well, one of those half-step breaks that the genre abused, to the point you can’t help but expect a horrible wub-wub accompanying it. Lorenzo don’t do that though, instead serving up gracious, delicate melodies as he’s wont to do in this album. Chillstep, you say? No it’s, um, ambient techno, with a fresh rhythm to your standard trip-hop steps. Yeah, that’ll do.

Lorenzo Montanà - Serpe

Fax +49-69/450464/Psychonavigation Records: 2011/2015

Somewhere during all those Labyrinth session with Pete Namlook, Lorenzo Montanà found the time to release a second solo effort on Fax +49-69/450464 called Serpe. With but a two year turnaround from his previous debut of Black Ivy, not to mention the six full-lengths released in the past three years, I'm getting the feeling ol' Lorenzo's one of those 'studio sluts'. You know the sort, spending endless days and nights huddled behind consoles and computers, synths and hardware, plus a few assorted 'real' instruments like guitars or glockenspiels. But hey, sometimes you just feel that creative pulse, propelling you from project to project in perpetuity. Though let’s not get ahead of ourselves; Mr. Montanà’s not any sort of Merzbow type. He, y’know, actually makes albums with a consistent theme to them, and all.

Yeah, I mentioned a problem with his first one was that it was missing that key ‘album’ flow, that it came off as little more than a collection of nicely produced, unconnected tracks. That point still stands (it’s only been a month since I made it), but that time spent jamming away in labyrinths with The Namlookian One must have helped refine Lorenzo’s craft, as Serpe is a marked improvement over Black Ivy. For one thing, there’s an actual theme to this album, each track title the name of a different sort of snake from the world abroad. I suppose Black Ivy had a loose plant theme going for it too, but much like the music on that LP, it wasn’t consistent.

Consistency, yes, that’s what Serpe’s got going for it. Every track maintains a running tone throughout, of moody, mysterious ambient techno with splashes of clicky glitch. While by no means an unique assortment of sounds at his disposal, Mr. Montanà comes off most comfortable working within this template, giving him the more freedom to write music fitting this concept than concern himself with technical aspects. I mean, the titualar opener sounds like an actual opener, an atmospheric little number with a stirring synth refrain and soft percussion nestled under washed-out white noise field effects, treated guitar plucking riffing off it for a brief portion before giving way to distant explosions. I’m not sure what this has to do with snakes, exactly, but tickle me intrigued for what comes next.

From there Serpe does the easy-cool build as most solid albums do. The next few tracks stick to the downtempo side of things, a groovy little number in Elaps Harlequin followed by a spritely chill piece in Dugite, while Mamushi features another lovely subdued melody within its stark dub ambient realm. As per course, the second half of Serpe ups the tempo some, Agkistrodon getting almost downright trance at points, though ol’ Lorenzo sure doesn’t hold back his fondness for the skittery side of IDM rhythms in Elaphe and Habu. Final two tracks Acrochordidae and Demansia go wide-screen in their production, and I’m left wondering how Mr. Montanà hasn’t ended up on Ultimae yet.

Lorenzo Montanà - Black Ivy

Fax +49-69/450464/Psychonavigation Records: 2009/2015

For a chap who’s relatively flown under the radar, Lorenzo Montanà’s built up quite the remarkable discography for himself. He got his break releasing this particular album back in Fax +49-69/450464’s waning days, but more impressively released five LPs titled Labyrinth with Pete Namlook. Meanwhile, Mr. Montanà found the time to release a second full-length, Serpe, on the label before they were forced to shut doors following Mr. Kaulmann’s untimely death. This all happened within the span of three years! I know the Namlookian One could draw several sessions out of well-known musicians (Klaus Schulz, Move D, Bill Laswell, etc.) but it’s damn cool he continued doing it even with new cats on the scene too. He must have had quite the synergy going with ol’ Lorenzo to rattle off so much music with him in such a short amount of time.

When Fax+ folded, Mr. Montanà migrated over to Psychonavigation Records, where he continues releasing albums at an impressive clip. Somehow they rescued his two solo releases from legal limbo as a 2CD reissue, which is technically what I’m reviewing here now. But Black Ivy is a ‘B’ album, while Serpe is an ‘S’ album, so part two of this double release will have to wait a month (really).

So now that I’ve namedropped a couple labels and producers with clearly recognizable music styles (Psychonavigation is recognizable on this blog now, yes?), that saves me some word count in describing Mr. Montanà’s work here. Because this is some difficult stuff to detail, believe you me. Not that Black Ivy is over-produced with micro-edits and the like, his forays into clicky minimalism quite tasteful and easy to take in - it kinda’ rests in the Venn diagram where classic ambient techno ends and modern IDM starts. His rhythms run the range from jazzy skitters (Erasing You, Kirkuk Lake, Misteries Of Nature) to downtempo click-glitch (Insect Invasion, Haliaras) to steady techno pulse (Sap 2, Dionaea, Black Ivy). Everything’s coupled with lush melodic pieces, usually melancholic and nicely wide-screened for an optimal listening experience. Not that I’d expect less from someone who made multi-channel albums with Namlook.

Despite these nice things said about Black Ivy, you’ve undoubtedly detected a hint of apathy with my words above. Two points of contention then. First, though this is a 2009 release, for some reason I keep thinking it’s from much earlier, say 2001-ish. The mild glitch production does keep it firmly current, but the ideas have me thinking material from a decade earlier. Did Mr. Montanà have a ton of stored, unreleased material before debuting with this?

It’d explain my other quibble with Black Ivy, in that this album doesn’t feel like an album-LP, just a collection of finely crafted tracks. Certainly nothing wrong with that, and I’d be amazed if ol’ Lorenzo knocked it out of the park on his first go. It’s a debut that shows tons of future promise in his career, just in need of some refinement with the format.

Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (Original TC Review)

Warp Records: 1996

(2015 Update:
Oh God, there's such a glaring hole in this review, a critical piece of information I left out. Or forgot. Or didn't bother researching for some lazy reason. Richard D. James Album is officially the first album Richard D. James produced using soft-synths as his primary music hardware, which should be totally obvious by the tonal shift in these tracks. The tickity-tack sounds, cut-up rhythms, micro-sliced sampling, and braindance glitch is common for compositions by way of computer trickery, of which this album his filled with. His prior work, still on analog gear, is more straight-forward in their arrangements, though filled with their own sonic oddities because it's Aphex. Even if that distinction is obvious though, it's an important piece of RDJA's make-up, an essential piece of music journalism I neglected.

Speaking of, man does this review ever read like a stock 'music journalism' piece. I guess that's sorta' good, in that in TranceCritic's late run we were finally coming off polished and professional. Can't say I like reading it now though, much of it feeling functional while sandpapering personality off. Probably didn't like it much then either, at least on a subconscious level. Two year hiatus was nigh.)


IN BRIEF: Aphex-Pusher? Or Square-Twin?

After so many years of being an eccentric pioneer, the perpetually creepy-grinning Richard D. James suddenly was not. Rather, he started following the lead of another eccentric pioneer, Tom Jenkinson. Legend goes James was so impressed by then-unknown Jenkinson’s live show that he quickly signed him to his Rephlex label and released the first Squarepusher album. Then, James himself went and started making tracks with similar aesthetics, where frenetic jazz-fusion rhythms were thrown into a mixing bowl of real-world noises and samples for use in sound banks.

For the Aphex Twin moniker, this was quite new. Granted, there were dabblings here and there (most famously Didgeridoo), but James had carved out his name with gritty drill’n’bass beats, strange yet lovely ambient textures, and, most famously, unique sounds that only he seemed able to create –which is no surprise since the Cornwall native's hobby was gleefully dissecting and experimenting with equipment like some kind of evil vivisectionist. Why would a guy who made a career of sounding like no one else suddenly make music that potentially did (and would when others followed his and Squarepusher's lead)?

Well, aside from the aforementioned Jenkinson influence, fact of the matter was electronic music in general was in transition in the mid-90s, and James was no exception. As a part of the old guard of rave musicians and partiers, he, like so many others, found himself at a crossroad once the original rave scene finally crumbled into separate niches: either find a way to become highly successful in the music industry, or retreat the other way to satisfy the muse. If this album is anything to go by, his initial gut reaction was to retreat – let the other guys (Orbital, Prodigy, et al) have their mainstream. Ironically, the Aphex moniker too would see mainstream success, thanks in huge part to a series of Chris Cunningham videos, but that came later.

Back to the album at hand, it isn’t nearly as over-indulgent as you might expect from the likes of James. It is, however, somewhat jarring on first listen, if for no reason than opening track 4 has some of the tinniest, blunt percs offered from any Aphex Twin tune. Sure, the melody is charming enough, but where are those trademark big crunchy beats, eh? Not here, my friends, and nowhere on this album either. The early-90s Aphex Twin has moved on.

Fingerbib aside, the first half of Richard D. James is probably going to sound like a bunch of glitchy, abrasive, noisy nonsense for those uninitiated to IDM’s more screwy, intense drum programmers. Granted, we’ve had over a decade to get accustomed to such screwbars and nutballs (Venetians Snares, Bogdan Racyzinski, to just name-drop a couple we’ve already covered [at TranceCritic]), but way back in ye’ old 1996, this was some radical sounding stuff. Poor folks were coming into this album looking for more ambient bliss like Blue Calx or drill’n’bass delights like Come As You Mean To Go On, and instead get bizarre metallic clanging in Peek 8245yadayada or contortions of modem dial-up squawks in Carn Marth. You could still hear some of those old Aphex tropes littered about - the melodies James came up with, no matter how distorted or buried they got, still sounded great - but you had to give this album repeated listens to actually get it. Aphex Twin had always been a bit challenging in that regard, but he at least could be counted on cuts that you could easily digest in one sitting. Not so much here though.

Moving on to the second half in short time, James leaves behind most of the harsh sounds in favor of cute’n’cuddly silliness. Result: something far more accessible for those untrained IDM ears out there, and a good load of giddy adulation at the cleverness of it all from the rest. For instance, the brilliantly titled To Cure A Weakling Child splices together pieces of children singing along with infantile melodies (and, of course, intense clippity-cloppity skitter-beats), creating something that’s ridiculously twee, yet very disconcerting whenever James goes into a ‘drum solo’. Yellow Calx aside (which has more in common with older Aphex material due to the synthy backing melodies), Richard D. James wraps up on such silly charming sentiments, even going so far as to include a slide whistle in the final track. It does work wonderfully in a track like Girl/Boy Song, bringing nutty grins to your face in spite of the frenetic drum work, but is simply wacked in Logan Rock Witch, which seems to be James messing around with a bunch of left over samples.

Whatever the case, Richard D. James Album is definitely one of those Must Have releases for connoisseurs of IDM. Along with Squarepusher, it set a precedent for the future direction of this wildly eclectic genre, as several others began following suite and diving off the deep end with such experimental albums (unfortunately to ever-increasing patience-trying results).

For the rest, though, I can sense a little trepidation, especially considering the short running time (finishing out at just under thirty-three minutes). Frankly - and I know this point has been hotly contested over the years - this isn’t the best starting point for Aphex Twin material. Actually, I’m not even sure which album would be, but Richard D. James Album definitely is not it. Due to the very short running times of most of these tracks, the album comes across more like a collection of jingles than songs; great jingles, mind, but jingles nonetheless.

Unless you’re already well versed in IDM sample-skitter-step, I’d hold off on this album until you’ve already taken in one or two Aphex Twin releases. You will eventually enjoy Richard D. James - if not for the eccentric attributes, then for discovering the warmth underneath the eccentric attributes - but at least this way you’ll soften that initial “WTF?” blow to your ears.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2009. © All rights reserved.

Aes Dana - Pollen

Ultimae Records: 2012

Man, another Aes Dana album? How many have I already reviewed? Wait, only two up to now? It sure feels like more than that, though perhaps it's due to frequent appearances on Ultimae's other releases (collaborations, compilation tracks). Such is the benefit of running your own label I guess, though in Mr. Villuis' case, I suspect it’s more a case of enjoying working with the roster than any sort of ego. He's like the new Pete Namlook! Even physical copies of his label's older releases have grown exceptionally rare, demanding high prices on the trader's market. Well, okay, maybe not.

Pollen is Aes Dana's most recent album, coming out when he and Magnus Birgensson (Solar Fields) were aiming for a little uptempo action in their musical output. Then they discovered Miktek, and everyone turned dour and grey. Either that, or these past few years are an attempt at capturing a traditional raver narrative – the exhilarating, high-paced night of prog-psy dancing, followed by a lengthy comedown into dub techno and ambient's sketchy Sunday embrace. If so, what a daring, brilliant, and genius thing to do, turning one's label into an ongoing musical story, the sort of thing any journalist, critic, or blogger would eagerly look forward to writing about! Of course, the odds of this being so are negative five-percent, so I'll drop the absurdity (for now...).

Here's the point where I struggle describing how Aes Dana's sound doesn't stand out the same way the other Ultimae producers do. That, despite enjoying the downtempo glitch of opener Jetlag Corporation and slowbeat dub techno of Borderline, little ever quite sticks in my head where- Wait a minute! Is that a Roland 909 I hear in Conditioned? Holy cow, it is – you just can’t hide those distinct kicks and claps, even with the Ultimae Mixdown™ in full effect. To my recollection, the label’s never used that drum machine, and nor would they either, the house and techno that serves it best simply not part of their manifesto. And I’m not kidding when I said this is Aes Dana at his briskest, follow-up tracks Tree.Some and A Carmine Day some of the highest BPM tunes I’ve heard on any of his albums.

The back-half of Pollen finds Mr. Villuis going to his trusty standard of chill-out music by way of gothic and industrial influence, though even here something new’s been added. Well, new for the time this came out, as all the dub techno stylization became a running theme for the label since. For an initial foray into the sound, however, he accommodates himself quite well, especially so the final, lengthy cut, Low Tide Explorations - calming drone ambience with splashes of soothing field recordings and occasional rhythmic jolts.

For once, I’m happy to report an Aes Dana album has made a memorable impression on me. The fresh ideas from ol’ Vincent here has given us one of his best albums in years. Oh Roland 909, is there no magic you can’t do?

Various - Passages: Framed By Nova

Ultimae Records: 2014

Mr. Nova – or Massimo Terranova, if you want to get fancy with him – first became involved with Ultimae about a decade ago, though not in any capacity most would notice. He often serves as the label’s PR man, and does the DJ circuit when called upon, deferring the limelight to producers and other folks about the Lyon offices. Occasionally he’s contributed a compilation or two to the Ultimae library, though unlike Mahiane, hasn’t settled upon any specific theme. The first was titled Albedo, the second Imaginary Friends, and this most recent one is called Passages. So… the reflective lights of ghosts will take us places? Yeah, no. These are all self-contained CDs, singular compilations that I guess Ultimae is obligated to put out at least once per year now that Fahrenheit Project is tripping the light retired.

Or maybe Nova just wanted his say on Ultimae’s ‘gray period’ before they moved on to another phase. At least, I’m assuming the label’s moving on from it soon, as their last couple releases have been quite colourful in comparison to most of 2013’s output. As Passages came out earlier in 2014, it would make a fitting conclusion to this chapter in Ultimae’s history – like, taking a passage from where they were to where they’re going, yes? I’ll stop worming significance into the title now.

So this CD has the usual assortment of familiar and outside talent making up the track list. James Murray pops back up, as does Lars Leonhard, Cygna and Cell, giving a rub on his Connect.Ohm project. Aes Dana naturally contributes, and it couldn’t be a ‘gray period’ Ultimae compilation without music from Miktek and Fingers In The Noise. Murya, who appeared on the prior Nova collection Imaginary Friends, gets a new track in, while Max Million pops up too. I haven’t seen the names Brando Lupi, Martin Nonstatic, or Zinovia before, but Lord Discogs tells me they’re raising talents modern chill's growing list of producers.

Right, the actual music. There’s little surprising on Passages, if I’m honest, but all of it remains totally class as Ultimae continuously is wont to do. The general style Nova’s curated here is minimalist, dubby ambient techno, with touches of modern classical piano and orchestral flourishes for good measure. It isn’t as pretentious as I’ve probably made it sound. I guess it wouldn’t help matters if I added ‘glitch’ to that description too? I mean, what else can I call Cygna’s Whitin? That rhythm is so restrained and clicky, it’d make Mille Plateaux say, “yo, beef that bass”; lovely cinematic swells, though.

The highest praise I can give Passages is, should you somehow have ignored Ultimae for this long (a near-impossibility if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, but bear with me), this is a good jumping-on point. It doesn’t tell their whole story, but effectively portrays the sound they’ve cultivated their last couple years. I’d expect nothing less from their resident PR man.

ACE TRACKS: July 2014

Okay, this is going to be easier/harder than I expected. Easier, in that putting together these Monthly Playlists is a snap on Spotify Deezer; harder, because it presents a backlog problem. Additionally, between fading memories of what music was reviewed a given month, and the fact some tracks aren’t even on Spotify Deezer (the hyperbole misled me!), I feel proper write-ups for these Playlists are necessary, a condition that will make for obscene posts should I save them all for end of month updates here. No, this won’t do. Instead, I’ll post them as I finish each one, however long that takes.

Also of note: the Playlists will include the tracks that aren’t on Spotify Deezer (yet, if ever), at least in a viewable fashion at the website itself. I’ve been able to do this by syncing Spotify Deezer with the harddrive where I store my CD rips and digital albums, which plays the tracks fine from the app running on my computer, but not so much elsewhere. I’ll make a list of what’s missing in each Playlist post, but hopefully some will make their way onto the service in the future. If not, well, you can always stop by my pad (!!) if you must hear these Playlists in full. BYOB, tho’.

That sorted, let’s get into ACE TRACKS: August 2014! Oh wait, I was off that month. Nothing to post then.

Haha, okay, for realsies, here’s ACE TRACKS: July 2014!


Link to full tracklist at Deezer.

Missing Albums:
Open Canvas - Nomadic Impression (Found!)
Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure, Westcoast Edition, & Expeditions
Fun Factory - Nonstop! The Album (Found!)
Masta Killa - No Said Date (Found!)
Lab 4 - None Of Us Are Saints
The TOPAZ sets

Amount Of Hip-Hop: 15%
Amount Of Neil Young: 0%
Obligatory “WTF?” Track: Squarepusher - Paradise Garage

Between the Northern Exposure series, Tiësto’s Nyana, plus a pair of Nokturnel Mix CDs from Topaz and assorted others, July was dominated by progressive house and trance. I’ve used the original un-mixed tracks wherever I could, and also threw in a couple culled from the mixes themselves if they could stand on their own (I’ll be doing this with all DJ mix releases going forward). Unfortunately, little from the early Northern Exposures were found. For that matter, I’m surprised Ministry Of Sound releases are absent. Maybe only UK Spotify Deezer has them? (wait, are there regional differences?).

Ametsub - The Nothings Of The North

Mille Plateaux: 2010

Mille Plateaux’s had many starts and stops since the label first emerged two decades ago, its latest (and seemingly last) perhaps the most disappointing. Glitch music was turning into a commercially viable force, and here was one of the genre’s Godfather labels returning in 2010. Nor was this just a small relaunch offloading and redistributing back-catalog, oh no. They were signing new artists and even setting up sub-labels, perhaps creating a new musical empire within the realms of minimalistic experimentation that would put Mille Plateaux’s former glory years to shame! Or not.

Sadly, the label ceased releasing material in but a year’s worth of operation, and Mille Plateaux’s website still hasn’t been updated since 2010. Maybe it couldn’t compete with all the free laptop ambient-glitch material clogging up the interwebs? Whatever the case, the initial hope the label could grow again was kicked off with this particular album, Ametsub’s The Nothings Of The North.

Ametsub himself is a minor enigma, even with three albums to his name (this one being his second). Japanese in origin, no name is provided on the broken-English bio at his homepage, though he’s toured enough to earn a few associative namedrops in it (Actress, Apparat, Plaid, Floating Points). If Nothings Of The North is anything to go by, it's small wonder Mille Plateaux would have tapped him for their 2010 relaunch, the music here very much in the 'jazz-click' and 'micro-hop' aesthetic you'd associate with impossibly stuffy conceptual experimentation.

Already backing out that door, are you? Can't blame you, the above descriptors appealing only to the most egg-headed musical sorts. Honestly, I felt the same way when I first heard this as a promo, my patience for glitch-click minimalist techno already stretched to its breaking point. Something kept me from deleting it after that initial listen though, a subtle warmth lurking underneath it all. Ametsub's approach reminds me a lot of early Akufen, where ear-wormy patterns emerge with a couple repeated plays. Also, there's none of the dry sterility that marks so much experimental glitch, in fact a strange bit of warmth permeating throughout. Chalk it up to Ametsub's ear for rhythm, things playing mostly on the downbeat that wouldn't be too out of place on Ninja Tune in an alternate universe where Amon Tobin performed at art museums.

The Nothings Of The North is an odd one, but then what would you have expected from a Mille Plateaux album? Not a 'morning after' LP, that's for sure, but this one sure does the trick I've found, 66 encapsulating this perfectly. It starts all sketchy with constrictive field-recordings, like being stuck in a savanna tree as a wildebeest stampede thunders all around you (ooh, such a headache...). All you want is to curl inside, retreating from the harsh elements outside. Yet, you brave the sunlight, and the song erupts in a rapturous, overbearing synth wash, nearly numbing your senses into submission. You come away feeling refreshed, vitalized, the previous paranoia miraculously cleansed away. Or something.

Lodsb - lazer.eyes.love

Force Intel: 2011

When pioneering glitch 'n experimental label Mille Plateaux relaunched in the late '00s, it was swamped by several up-and-comers’ promos looking to join the roster. I mean, when you're new to that scene and hoping to gain prestige, what better way to do so than having a Mille catalogue number attached to your work? Turns out though, some of these promos sent in weren’t weird enough for ol’ Plateaux, but would serve as fine examples of ‘classic’ IDM (bleepy ambient techno, scattershot breaks, etc.). If only there was a label that promoted the stuff still. Since Warp went all shoegaze though, I guess a whole new label was required, hence Mille offshoot Force Intel coming into its brief existence.

So this Lodsb fella' got to release a debut album on the 'net label. The Lord That Knows All apparently knows very little about who's behind the moniker. There isn't even a name assigned to his Discogs page, despite two albums to his credit. Heck, the only reason I know Lodsb is of the male persuasion is because there's a picture of him on his Last.fm profile - still no name, though. Curse those IDM wonks making research difficult.

lazer.eyes.love primarily falls into the breakcore side of IDM, so if you’re a fan of Venetian Snares and the like, this is a good bet for you to download (it was only available as a digital album). The opener, Analogue Arcade, is rather mellow for this stuff, even settling on a pleasant house beat while glitchy harmonics weave in and out. Yeah, you aren’t getting much more of that beat on this release. Second cut Eve lets loose with the cacophonic rhythms, then things go down Squarepusher’s frenetic jazzy acid avenue for a few tracks after. In fact, the next number of tracks all kind of blend together, so short as they are and sharing similar aesthetics, if not actual musical content. It can get to be a bit much though, so thank God Lodsb cuts it back by track six (Bubblegum Hypothesis, if you’re wondering, but it’s not like IDM song titles are meant to make a lick of sense).

Apparently Lodsb has a background in orchestral music study too, which becomes apparent on tracks like Deer Ride, Juno, Rubiq, and Zebra, where arrangements are cut up to form whole new compositions. Heck, Deer Ride forgoes any spastic breaks altogether, and if there is any glitch trickery at play, it sure doesn’t make itself known, sounding as seamless as though Lodsb was conducting a one-hundred-twenty string section himself. Mind, it seems every IDM wonk has to show off his classical capabilities in such a manner, but it’s nice to have such music break up the breakcore on albums like this one.

Of course, music such as this remains incredibly niche, and if even the popular names in this scene hold little interest for you, I doubt lazer.eyes.love will sway your opinion on it. Cool as a curioso, but not much else.

Various - Fahrenheit Project - Part Six

Ultimae Records: 2006/2008

What else could Ultimae do? Half a decade after emerging from the hinterlands of psy chill obscurity, the label was riding an astounding wave of musical success. Their tactic of interspersing albums from their roster with the Fahrenheit Project series probably could have been milked to this day, but that's boring. Nay, by the time Part 6 of this series came, changes were afoot, and perhaps sadly, this would be the last of the Fahrenheit Projects for some time.

Such changes included: launching new compilation-mix series such as Oxycanta and Albedo; heavier emphasis on artist albums; and, most crucially, signing more talent to Ultimae. For a label known for an almost glacial rate of releasing material, such a jump in activity was going to show a little initial strain. Those new series didn't last long, as the increased LP output – almost all which were ace – overshadowed many of them. Why bother, said the fans, with the compilations when much of the best material was on the albums? Fahrenheit Project succeeded because it was as much a sneak preview of such albums as it was a roster showcase, so it was in Ultimae's favour to offer their best material for the series. With names like Solar Fields, H.U.V.A. Network, and Carbon Based Lifeforms practically selling themselves to the faithful now, the Fahrenheit format was no longer required.

So it's in this transitional period we find Part 6. Again, regular Ultimae acts all show up, with a few outside contributors sprinkled about. Still, a notable difference rears its head compared the last few entries, in that there's a lack of CBL. Sync24 does offer one track, mind, but as the duo was working on their sophomore effort, it's possible they didn't have time for Fahrenheit this time out. Maybe Ultimae should have called in Asura? No, wait, he was working on a new album too.

At only nine tracks, this is the shortest of the series, and to be blunt, it isn’t anywhere near as good as the prior two. Granted, those were lofty peaks, but one can’t help but be disappointed they couldn’t maintain at a plateau instead of take a stumble. As with Part 3, the lack of diversity hurts, most of the artists sticking to tried-and-tested psy chill tropes. The production remains top notch of course, but track flow is serviceable at best, everything melding into the same psy-glitch-ambient-downtempo soup Ultimae’s known for.

One of the few surprising developments, however, comes midway, and care of Solar Fields. Instead of offering his typical brand of chill-out, he dives headfirst into the realms of prog psy on Levitate. He’d dabbled in the vicinity of that sound before, but always in a ‘slow trance’ fashion. This tune, though, is incredibly brisk, especially for Fahrenheit Project. It must have garnered him a good response, as his following album, Earthshine, was loaded with the stuff, such that even fans of regular ol’ trance took notice.

And then Ultimae’s exposure truly took off.

Various - Fahrenheit Project - Part Five

Ultimae Records: 2005/2008

Five editions of Fahrenheit Project deep, it's safe to say Ultimae had found a formula that worked. Fresh material from their regular roster, a few contributions from outside sources, and an excellent mix of mellow trance, ambient techno, and cinematic chill keeping the music varied and interesting. Oh, and release it after a fallow year, a handy tactic in building anticipation for the next entry in the series.

By 2005, however, the need to take it a step further must have been on their minds. Mostly fuelled by the popularity of Israeli full-on and Swedish prog psy, the psy scene was enjoying a resurgence of interest, and those into the downtempo side of things were cluing into the label's potential. The buzz generated by their early material had grown into a steady murmur now, but Ultimae had long been a cut above their musical peers, so it's not like they had to up the ante. Besides, Fahrenheit, Part 4 was such a good compilation, I doubt anyone expected them to top that one. Could they even top it?

They fucking smashed it.

For one thing, Ultimae noticed psy's changing trends, and capably found a footing within the realms of prog psy. Not that the label was adverse in dabbling with an upbeat tempo, but it was mostly a sort of 'slow trance' style they were comfortable with. Here, Aes Dana's Purple and Solar Field's Water Silence could easily find DJ set duty with any of the Iboga or Spiral Trax offerings of that year (though probably better suited early in such a set). Wedged among those two are the returning Jaïa and Aural Planet, each providing a different tone of psy dub, keeping variety high and class.

At the other end of the spectrum (and CD) lurks the other Ultimae regulars in Carbon Based Lifeforms (including two solo outings from CBL member Sync24), and Hol Baumann. The former’s sound often skewed in ambient techno’s favor, but even that was seeing changes with the trendy emergence of minimal, drone, and glitch by the mid-‘00s. Following suit, they along with Hol explore such music to great effect. Heck, Baumann’s Final could have made for an excellent capper with strong drum programming and guitar strums complementing the glitch, but Sync24’s suitably named ‘Epilogue Edit’ of Wake takes us out in fine fashion.

And then there’s the middle section! Holy cow, it’s the best string of music I’ve heard out of all these Fahrenheit Projects, no small feat considering how strong the track arrangement usually is. Processing Lights from H.U.V.A. Network is a lush piece of ethereal chill, then Cell somehow outdoes that with his own haunting Blue Embers. Joining them is prog psy vet Marius Katz, bringing a touch of actual ambient techno funk to the proceedings, and sounding not a touch out of place in the process. How he do that!?

Okay, that’s enough enthusiastic rambling from me. If you can only get one Fahrenheit Project, Part 5’s the one. Trust.