Various - Touched By Silence (The Compilation)

Touched: 2019

As I was poking about HIA's extended Discoggian network, I stumbled upon a new entry within their compilation contributions, this here Touched By Silence. B-Theory, is that a new track? I never recalled seeing such a title from ye' olden days. And gosh, look at the killer's row of talent on this twenty-one tracker! The Orb, Lorenzo Montanà, Gabriel Le Mar, Si Matthews, David Morely, Richard H. Kirk... Ooh, Dub Tractor! I remember him from that Ambient Ibiza CD!

Honey, if you think this digi-comp is something, you should see the eleven CD box-set from which this sprung. Full-length outings from FSOL, Autumn Of Communion, Mick Chillage, Scanner, and many more who've been at this ambient techno game for many years. When Touched does a charity drive for Macmillan Cancer Support, they don't mess around.

So the purpose of this compilation is straight-forward enough. Let's get into some musical details then, should the good cause and sweet assortment of artists not be enticing enough. Oh, and in case you feel you're missing out on that aforementioned FSOL action, fret not, for the opening track from Apertures is a collaboration between Brian Dougans and Ross Baker. They apparently have an album in the works, but Lord Discogs has yet to list anything, nor did I spot anything on the FSOL website. It's a moody modern classical piece with echoing pianos and shimmering psychedelics. Tickle me intrigued.

Okay, the acts I do know. HIA is here, and B-Theory... actually sounds like something that might have been released on B12's Firescope print? I mean, both come from a similar heritage, but I'm missing the playful dub of vintage Bobby Bird. The Orb's cut sounds like it could have been on a Youth-contributing album. David Morley's Vertical System does the cascading Berlin-School synth thing. Si Matthews' Nocture does more a chill, pastoral ambient techno thing. Lorenzo does his bleepy, skittery-rhythm thing in Hola Morning. Le Mar goes almost full world beat with Ingo Ito in When The Trees Are Gone. And Dub Tractor's Blo Rlx One is rather Balaeric and dubby, while Mr. H. Kirk's Dereliction is almost experimental, an utterly empty piece with sparse sounds and effects. A weird addition to a compilation filled with mostly pleasant ambient tones, though not unexpected from the Cabaret Voiltaire member.

And if there's anything I have to quibble about Touched By Silence, it's the wild variance in tracks, including how quiet some go compared to others. Yes, even for a supposed assortment of downtempo artists. For instance, The Orb's upbeat dub-house cut is track three, and surrounded by several beatless, blissful ones. Other rhythm-heavy tracks break up the pure ambience along the way, but not in a fashion that seems conducive to a flowing playthrough, rather half-haphazardly sequenced. Heck, many tracks here could be cappers on a regular release.

Again, that's just a quibble, and doesn't really detract from the whole. There's plenty to enjoy from this compilation, even if the Random button seems turned on.

Banco de Gaia - Big Men Cry

Mammoth Records: 1997

Though I place Big Men Cry at the tippy-top of Banco de Gaia albums, if I were to recommend a record for a first-timer, this would be, like, second-to-last. For this is an album that doesn't so much represent Banco as a whole, but rather the bleeding edge of what Banco is capable of.

Even by Last Train To Lhasa, it was clear the classic ambient dub and progressive house style Toby made hay from was tiring out, needing a whole second disc to indulge himself away from dance music's rules. Possibly emboldened by the 'live' nature of those sessions, plus needing to 'evolve or die' in the rapidly mutating scene that was '90s electronica', Toby decided it was time to get the old band back together. Or start up a new band. Get more live instruments into his gigs, is what I'm saying.

And to do that, his approach to songcraft had to completely change, allowing for more freeform flow in his jams than relying on standard acid house loops and samples. Oh, there was still that too, but tracks Drippy and Drunk As A Monk feel far looser than Banco tunes of old, adaptable to musicians playing them rather than being reliant on machines. Meanwhile, Celestine tries the same trick with ambient dub, but despite some wonderful saxophone tooting from Pink Floyd alum Dick Parry, is still a bit stiff compared to the other two. Marks would iron out those kinks in follow-up albums though, and hasn't looked back since.

Still, that wasn't enough to shake Toby out of the doldrums he was feeling around this time. So down he was that he made one of his all-time saddest songs in the titular track, all forlorn strings and beautifully weepy melodies, never again so bare heart-wrenching emotions put to song. Sometimes though, even nakedly laying out one's soul isn't enough. Sometimes you need to escape everything, even if it's One Billion Miles Out, the great beyond and grandeur of the cosmos, unsullied by the hand of man. Banco had ventured into the cosmic realm before, but never in such a manner that you fear its unfathomable desolation.

Yet your gaze settles upon a lone star freighter, quietly drifting in the emptiness, its cargo unknown as it moves through the interstellar medium. Eventually it pulls into Starstation Earth for refuelling and a greasy meal, a real dive of a 'trucker's stop', your only company some droids and a sad-sack singing old country croons from a jukebox. Can't stay admiring the scenery though, as it's back to the stars, taking off at hyperspeed and disappearing into the great beyond before Toby quite literally closes the gate on the album (have I mentioned all the pronounced field recordings yet?).

Banco's music has always been quite 'visual', but Big Men Cry is downright cinematic compared to his larger body of work, pulling you into other worlds well beyond your crusty dance floors. It's emotional escapism music at its finest.

Various - Balance 010: Jimmy Van M (Original TC Review)

EQ Recordings: 2006

(2020 Update:
Wow, doing 2020 updates now... that's crazy. Ahem..

Jimmy and Chris Fortier were pretty much my favorite 2nd tier prog house/trance jocks, so it's funny that their triple-CD offerings for the Balance series ended up having opposite effects on me. Whereas I only liked and returned to CD3 of Fortier's set, I've never returned to CD3 of Jimmy's set (and vice-versa with the other discs). However, whereas I've come around to Fortier's other mixes, re-listening to CD3 here only reaffirms just how much these prog-house guys struggled finding their way in the wave of minimal's trendy dominance.

Still, credit due to Mr. van M, paving the way for all those future Balance releases where eclecticism was celebrated. True, it got a little out of hand, such that the series felt obligated to return to more traditional DJ mix CD outings, but... eh, we'll get there when we get there. For now, I'll simply admit having serious bias to these mixes over the others, in that half the track selection here could have come from my own collection of music.)

IN BRIEF: A mix for electronic music fans by an electronic music fan.

Jimmy Van M is one of those DJs who, despite being in the business for several years, never quite moved beyond underground darling status. While often tapped by Sasha and Digweed to be their warm-up act on tours, his profile has consistently remained stuck in the trenches of clubland while the superstars grab the spotlight.

Still, Jimmy earned him a loyal following that has given him the freedom to explore DJing avenues some would consider counter-productive to creating a larger profile. Take his first official DJ mix. When Ministry Of Sound tapped him for the debut American version of their popular Trance Nation series, ol’ M delivered to them a trance set that was a far cry from the style UK runner Ferry Corsten was compiling. It was, as the old schoolers of the time termed it, “proper trance”, a prog trance set that could have given the heavyweights a run for their money. Of course, for a series known for its epic anthems, this just wouldn’t do and it wasn’t the best way to make a first impression on the masses. Small surprise the follow-up Trance Nation America featured Corsten clone George Acosta and Top 40 favorite ATB.

Perhaps going against the grain was the point though. Jimmy’s style hints at being a music lover first and a DJ second, and the constraint often imposed on DJs by major labels would definitely be unappealing. It seems the Balance series has come along and offered him the freedom of a mix he desires.

So what we have here is an eclectic collection of music spanning nearly two decades, all arranged into three differing discs. Anyone with a passing familiarity with electronic music should recognize a number of these tracks - heck, even steady readers of this website will notice a few (Bill Laswell, Boards Of Canada, Peter Benisch, and others scattered about). Given the amount of time covered, Balance 010 may look like a Back To Mine or Choice collection rather than a current DJ mix, but Jimmy’s arrangement is silky smooth. Tracks sometimes separated by a decade flow together with remarkable skill. As for the details of each disc, they display very unique personalities which fit their tempos.

The most diverse of the lot is the Downtempo Mix. Sets like this one are tricky to pull off, in that the listener’s attention can easily wander when listening to chill music. And even if the strength of individual tracks keeps it from becoming wallpaper muzak, a downtempo set can still lack cohesion if one tries to compile it like a typical dance set; this is music meant to chill out to. So what Jimmy has done here is created a set that dwells on one style for a bit, then moves onto a different style through a bridging bit of ambiance. Dubby world music, psychedelic chill, loungy acid jazz, and avant garde pop all have moments to hold the stage. Because each segment typically runs for only a couple tracks before an ambient interlude leaves it behind, the tempos on this disc wildly vary, which greatly helps keep your attention to see where the mix will take you next. Listening to M’s arrangement of these songs is like floating along a dreamy river where, just when you feel like you’ve gotten a handle on the scenery around you, the landscape morphs into something unexpected yet fits with what came before.

In case the loose nature of the Downtempo Mix has you fearing the others are going to be like that, worry not: the Midtempo Mix tightens things up considerably.

Oh, not all at once, mind you. The opening bit of the second disc displays the same amount of genre-jumping as the first, going from Miles Tilmann’s intelligent techno offerings into something more ethereal and organic for a couple tracks afterwards (including the haunting oldie Blue Bell Knoll from Cocteau Twins - now there’s something unexpected in a ‘dance’ mix!). Jimmy returns us to the intelligent techno after this diversion, although it isn’t the glitchy noise-fest the term IDM has become associated with. Most of it is the mellow grooving sort that would often be found on plenty of ambient techno compilations from the early '90s. Heck, Aphex Twin’s Delphium was on such compilations. There’s a fair deal of newer material within this lot though, including some super-rare material from Adam Johnson: the bottom-heavy track Kriegspiel is definitely a highlight here.

Towards the end of the Midtempo Mix, Jimmy smoothly moves us from the techno into territory he’s more known for: prog house. There’s only a few tracks to gorge on here, but each easily fits the within the mix’s dark, groovy futuristic theme. Also, one might find playing the full fifteen minutes of Underworld’s remix of Cool Kids Of Death cheeky, but given the fact the track manages to hold your interest for the duration is a testament to that group’s songcraft prowess.

And now the third disc. The Uptempo Mix... well, uptempo when compared to the other two. The BPM doesn’t get much higher than the mid-130s, which, for a DJ known mostly for prog house, is about par for the course.

Here, Jimmy keeps things current. Every track is from the year 2006 and not a moment earlier. Because this is more of a representation of what you might hear at a club rather than something for at home, this mix doesn’t display anywhere near the diversity of the other two. The quick and easy lump term for it would probably be (cringe) ‘minimal,’ but aside from a few early tracks, M remains within tech house’s territory... and prog house, I guess, since that genre’s been borrowing elements of tech and minimal lately. Ah, hell. Since there’s generous influences from many other styles of music lurking in this tech house mix (trance, tribal, acid, electro), let’s just call this style “...Except-The-Kitchen-Sink House.” Or, like so many others, minimal tech-house. Argh! I’m going bleary eyed with all these adjectives! Anyhow, this is mostly tech house with prog influences, and despite having the Uptempo header, is quite low-key in its delivery. Things do groove along nicely for the most part and there’s a good acid peak-out moments in the middle courtesy of Tom Pooks’ Docker, but as with much of this kind of music, it makes better sense on the dancefloor or while doing something active than sitting back at home.

The particulars out of the way, I suppose I should answer the big question: is this edition of the Balance series worth your money if you happen to own a number of these tracks elsewhere. The strength of Jimmy’s mix (any good DJ’s, really) is in taking tracks dedicated trainspotters are familiar with and putting them into a set where they can take on a new context. Hell, I never would have imagined Delphium would have worked as a perfect segue into prog house, yet M pulls it off with ease here (as just one example of many available). However, the Uptempo Mix doesn’t quite live up the expectations set out by the first two, so Balance 010 doesn’t get the super high marks a top notch DJ mix would normally earn.

In spite of this, Jimmy’s offering for the Balance series is a worthy pick up for electronic music lovers. The first two discs will easily remind you why you fell in love with this music in the first place, and the third is a decent bonus to groove on.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic, 2006. All rights reserved.

Various - Backspin: A Six Degrees Ten Year Anniversary Project (Original TC Review)

Six Degrees: 2007

(2019 Update:
I wonder if 2007 Sykonee would have been so critical of gatekeeping if he'd known that electronic music would blow up to the degree it did half a decade later? My larger point in the pre-amble ramble was pop music needn't be so shunned by the techno underground, but considering the sort of obnoxious bilge that did break through into America - not to mention the usual slop constantly hitting it high in European charts - my wish for a little more acceptance of popular sounds shouldn't have been taken upon a monkey's paw. And was kind of a moot point anyway where this compilation was concerned. Yeah, the original artists being covered here were generally chart toppers, but the selected songs for covering were hardly their biggest hits. Heck, some of them may not have charted at all.

Also, I'd love to see this concept revisited. Would be interesting to see what the current generation of wordly musicians consider their influences of the past three decades.)


IN BRIEF: The old is new again.

Before I start, I feel I should warn you the following review contains musical philosophizing. If you haven’t the time to indulge in my pseudo-intellectual rambling, then here’s the bottom line regarding this release: it’s good. Really good. Check it out. You won’t regret it!

Alright then? Let’s get into it.

Electronic music, for the most part, is typically regarded as non-mainstream. Aside from brief bursts of trendy pop dance hitting the airwaves, most of it is only enjoyed by a select few (in America, anyway). As a result, a sense of pretentiousness has been bred in its fans. The pursuit of underground purity permeates many scenes, even those who could very easily have crossed over had some events been different. This has led to an outright dismissal of anything with a hint of pop. The assumption is if it’s catchy, it must have been manufactured for a wider audience, thus no longer credible within the realms of the indie. What a load of bull.

Granted, a great deal of pop music is manufactured, with the sole intention of placing in the charts as high on street date as possible. But believing every song that does is ridiculous. Fact is plenty of musicians can hit upon a good song the general public enjoys and, with just the right amount of promotion, become a hit. In this age of Everything-Available-All-The-Time, a single spreading through the internet can secure success far better and credibly than thousands of PR dollars pumped into the industry.

Alas, the gut reaction of scensters to ignore good songs that become popular persists. So here’s an intriguing question: what if these popular songs hadn’t made it, and had initially been performed by obscure indie names like Ojos de Brujo or The Real Tuesday Weld? Would such folk enjoy them in that context then?

Okay, okay. This isn’t really the premise behind Six Degrees Records' new compilation. In actual fact, Backspin is a ten year anniversary project for the eclectic label. However, rather than rounding up a bunch of their biggest hits, Six Degrees instead got members of their roster to do covers of their influential songs. But in doing so, it does raise that question, doesn’t it?

Well, maybe not. Perhaps I was the only one to even think of it. It was something that crossed my mind when I saw songs on here originally written by names like Abba and The Beach Boys. Credible names to a degree, sure, but frankly often dismissed by the underground.

Anyhoo, that’s all beside the point. What matters here is whether these cover versions are worth your attention. In a word, yes.

In more than a word, the mark of a good cover is to take a familiar song and make it your own while still honoring what made the original an enduring tune to begin with. And here Backspin certainly succeeds.

Many of the producers here stick to the original arrangements for the most part, but often throwing their own sound into the mix. So Bob Marely’s Get Up Stand Up turns into a fun bit of latin music courtesy of Ojos de Brujo, Herbie Hancock’s Rockit gets organically jazz-housed up by dZihan & Kamien, and MIDIval PunditZ crank the orchestral arrangements up on Led Zeppelin’s Four Sticks.

Elsewhere though, songs are given completely different re-imaginings. For instance, who’d have ever thought the ABBA italo-ballad The Day Before You Came could have been interpreted as a kind of smokey lounge tune sung by a guy probably wearing a beret? The Real Tuesday Weld did.

Of course, there are plenty of other examples I could dwell on, but part of the fun in this compilation is discovering what surprises these musicians throw at you. Here’s a few tidbits that caught my interest:

- Shrift’s take on God Only Knows really turns this tune into a weepy. The original was so bouncy that I had never even considered the lyrics could be this depressing.

- Toby Marks (Banco de Gaia) seems to still be having fun with his vocoder.

- Spirits In The Material World has notoriously been known to be a difficult song to cover, as the arrangements are deceptively complicated. Good on Karsh Kale to have a go.

- Los Mocosos’ cumbia go at The Bed’s Too Big Without You is a hoot!

So a wrap up then? Backspin is a lot of fun, period. While the wide range of musical types may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the fact they wrap familiar pop in these unique styles should keep even the least adventurous intrigued. Seek it out and get reacquainted with old standbys.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007 All rights reserved

Various - Back To Mine: Danny Tenaglia

DMC/Ultra Records: 1999/2000

The concept of the chill-out compilation had never been more fashionable as the last century drew to a close, but something was missing from it truly taking off to the next level. It was all well and good for labels to curate a clutch of tracks for after hours, but who were these label heads, really? Just some anonymous office folks, right? Well, no, not always, but when the major prints started getting their fingers into the clubbing culture pot, you couldn't help but glance at the proliferation of faceless DJ mixes sideways. Say what you will about Global Underground over-hyping their jocks, they at least gave the impression you were getting a particular individual's take on what they enjoyed out of dance music.

So the thinking went with Back To Mine, a chance to put some superstar DJ power behind a fresh new chill-out brand. And sure, give these popular club jocks a chance to share some of the overlooked gems deep in their crates, the tunes they'd never get to rinse in a regular outing. Well, not unless Sasha & Digweed's original concept for Northern Exposure hadn't been so quickly abandoned.

The first couple entries in this new series featured Nick Warren and Dave Seaman. No, Back To Mine wasn't financed by Global Underground, why do you ask? It wasn't long before these CDs were getting domestic releases in my half of the globe, so when I spotted the third volume helmed by Danny Tenaglia, I snatched that up post-haste. Finally, a DJ mix I could show off to my peers wherein all that downtempo stuff I'd buy is now officially proper-cool!

Kinda' hard to pull that off when your opening track is from The Gentle People though. For sure, I like it, and Danny makes a very compelling case for why he likes it in the liner notes. And besides, isn't Back To Mine all about showing off the tunes you like in favour of what's deemed cool or not? Absolutely! Still, unless you're completely in on the fondue, The Gentle People are a hard sell no matter the context. At least Mr. Tenaglia gives us his own jazzy, deep groover Loft In Paradise a couple tracks after.

Yeah, for a supposed 'chill-out' collection, Danny's Back To Mine is rather upbeat overall. Nothing relaxing about Bang The Party's Bang Bang You're Mine, while Ce Ce Peniston's Keep On Walkin' is a right peppy little number, as Ce Ce's tunes typically were. Elsewhere, Crescendo's Cairo takes the CD down a surprising, dusty world-beat road, but given the number of Latin and gospel influences in this set, why not some Arabian sounds too?

Despite not really keeping with the after-hours theme, Tenaglia's Back To Mine remains a nifty collection of tunes he'd likely never have a chance of rinsing out in the usual clubbing environments. Does make me wonder though, if he ever sneaked a couple in during Hour Seventeen of one of those twenty-hour marathon sets.

Harlequins Enigma - Brooding Brains In Vain

self released: 2019

(a Patreon Request from Åge Riisnes)

I don't dig very far into the realm of New Age music, almost entirely due to my early explorations of the genre didn't impress me much. Sure, you had the Kitaros and the Vangeliseses of the scene, but such artists have expansive works crossing multiple genres throughout their careers. No, I'm talking the 'real' stuff, which you'd find on lonesome tapes in spiritual healing shops on a counter beside faith crystals and aromatherapy tinctures. Very under-produced, is what I'm getting at, and while one could admire the punkish hustle in getting such music out on the market, my ears simply weren't having it, needing something a little more polished (dubby?) to do the business for me.

What's kinda' remarkable about such early, primitive music efforts in New Age is how even that found itself something of a retro revival, right down its aesthetic and means of distribution. Yeah, that whole vaporwave thing, but I'm talkin' digital store fronts and streaming services opening the floodgates for every manner of hopeful producer gaining wider audiences.

Still, just putting your stuff out on the internet and expecting results is ludicrous without some hustle. If your chosen music scene is as long and storied as New Age, it's gonna' take a fair amount of hustle to get noticed in an overstuffed market. And this here Harlequins Enigma sure has been on a hustling spree this past decade, getting his music out on streaming services while working whatever connections he has in the music business to get some top-tier collaborations underneath his belt, all the while remaining completely independent. I'm talkin' Vangelis, Kitaro, Schulze, Jarre, Mode, 'Werk, Amos! At least, that's what a number of Discoggian credits say. I don't know the extent of how these collaborations went down.

Oh, I guess I should also mention Harlequins Enigma's hustle has even gone to such lengths as to pay me Patreon money for a review. Wasn't that known as 'payola', back in the day? Only if I had nothing but insincere praise for the music, and y'all know I'd never do that, right?

Brooding Brains In Vain is a compilation of older Harlequins Enigma music, mostly cribbing music from such albums like Lyra, Heartbeat, Stargazer, and Octagon Volume 1 – Phase 7. Some of it's serviceable New Age music done in an old-school way (oh man, can I tell whenever Kitaro's muse is about), some of it sounds like it could have used more time in the mixdown process, and some of it left me scratching my head (are those... brostep belches in The Tattering Norm?).

What really threw me for a loop, though, was the track sequencing. For some reason, Åge put everything into alphabetical order, creating more than a couple wonky transitions between tracks. I at first thought I'd somehow downloaded the album incorrectly, but nope, it's like that on the Bandcamp page too. What sort of silly goose makes a track sequence in alphabetical order?

Single Gun Theory - Flow, River Of My Soul

Nettwerk: 1994

(a Patreon Request from Omskbird)

There was a small window in the development of my musical tastes where this album would have been brilliant to me. It was right around the point when the sounds of Enya, Enigma and Deep Forest were failing me, but I hadn't yet caught onto whatever 'underground' ethno-pop beats options existed. When I was exploring compilations like Pure Moods and Escapes for new artists to check out. When I came into contact with another Nettwerk album released the same year as this that I thought among the most amazing things I ever heard, Delerium's Semantic Spaces. It was a small window of time, is what I'm saying.

Interestingly, Delerium was also my introduction to Single Gun Theory. Or rather, to Jacqui Hunt of Single Gun Theory, as featured in the lead single to the album Karma, Euphoria (Firefly). And yes, again, that was the lead single, not Silence featuring another Nettwerk artist on vocals (you know who). I didn't know much about Single Gun Theory, only what the Karma-hype blurbs told me, of them being Australian, a staple on Nettwerk since the label's earliest days, and having some musical ties to the Dead Can Dance wave of '80s ethereal synth-pop. I'll take the PR's word for it.

In any event, I'm not surprised the Delerium boys wanted to work with Jacqui Hunt, because boy does she ever carry the musical load in this group. Granted, part of that is thanks to the layers of ethereal effects on her voice. Whenever she's singing about fractured relationships or global issues or metaphysical existence though, you stand up and take notice, more than willing to be swept away in the thick layers of treated vocals. Which is good, as the backing music is only passable at best.

Pete and Kath do everything they can to make these tunes sound rich and dynamic, but the production chops just aren't there. It's clear their global travels heavily inspired them, with all manner of ethnic chants and exotic instruments finding their way into their tunes. And I do give props for them bringing in actual musicians for the showcases of tabla, tambura, cello, and such.

Unfortunately, they don't do much to distinguish their sampling as integral parts of the songs they craft, many of them presented with a big, flashing sign shouting “I'm a sample!” between moments of Jacqui's singing. Geez, it's even noticeable in their rhythms, not even trying to hide how obvious some of their breaks sampling is. It's fine using well-worn beats and all, but do something interesting with them to make them your own, otherwise I'm gonna' think of better examples of their use elsewhere. I could give them a pass on their previous albums, but by 1994, such production was coming off rather dated fast.

Ironically, the best example of the sort of music Single Gun Theory was trying to make here comes care of Delerium's Euphoria (Firefly). Remarkable what a couple years and better producers can accomplish, eh?

ACE TRACKS: January 2019

Bandcamp has turned into one hell of a drug. There I go, browsing Discogs for artist information, and notice there's a Bandcamp link. I follow that link, and lo', said artist not only has a few items for sale, but shares a label with similar artists. But oh no, it looks like some albums have already sold out, and if I'm not swift, I may miss out on some of these other items that look so appetizing. I better buy a bunch of them, even if there isn't a bulk-buy discount; helps with the shipping cost over time, right? And wouldn't you know it, I get automatically added to a mailing list, thus consistently informing me when another hit of new music becomes available. How handy, reminding me so I don't subconsciously forget.

I swear though, because of Bandcamp, my music collection has ballooned to a size it never would have even if local music shops still existed. For sure the 'ease of access' factor plays into that, but not even my Amazon binges yielded such a bounty of music as Bandcamp has. I typically use Amazon to get things I specifically want, whereas Bandcamp has served as an exploratory resource, discovery artists and labels I wouldn't have otherwise, except for those times I randomly browsed a traditional store (say, A&B Sound, Virgin Megastore, or HMV). It's this perfect combo of A&B Sound and Amazon that Bandcamp has become for yours truly, providing an insidious, insatiable hit of music consuming endorphins that... well, hasn't made me broke or anything. Sure have difficulty exercising self-control though. With that sobering thought, here's the ACE TRACKS of January 2019.


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Alter Ego - Alter Ego
Aira Mitsuki - C.O.P.Y.
Tiga - American Gigolo
The Oak Ridge Boys - American Harmony
Loop Guru - Amrita (...All These And The Japanese Soup Warriors)
Divination - Ambient Dub, Volume II: Dead Slow
Various - Ambient Auras: Diverse Dimensions In Ambient Dub
Various - Ambient Dub: Futuristic Techno Dub & Electronic Roots
Various - Ambient Dub Volume 1: The Big Chill
Various - Ambient Dub Volume 2: Earthjuice
Various - Ambient Dub Volume 3: Aqua
Various - Ambient Ibiza

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 14%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Bogdan Raczynski or Death Grips, whichever catches you off guard first.

Whoa, been a while since I had one of these playlists, where half the stuff I covered isn't on Spotify. Not that I'm surprised, quite a bit of this coming from the early '90s, and existing in legal limbo as original labels have long since folded. And to be fair, some of the big hits from these albums have also appeared on other Ace Tracks playlists (ie: the electroclash hits as found on American Gigolo), so it'd be redundant of me to re-include them here. No, let's stick to the jams I haven't added to my Spotify library yet.

With so few tunes to work with, I played around the track order some, creating more a proper flowing listening experience rather than a lazy alphabetical order. Well, no, not really. I just felt like hearing three Alrights in a row was too silly.

Loop Guru - Amrita (...All These And The Japanese Soup Warriors) (2019 Update)

North South: 1995

(click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

It's been over half a decade since I last talked up Loop Guru, and I still haven't gathered any more of their albums. Not that they're super-hard to find or anything, most going for a tidy pop on the Amazon market now, but something keeps me from finally diving into their domain proper-like. Trepidation, that's it. A worry that they just won't live up to whatever expectation I have on them, even with the limited amount of exposure I've thus far provided myself. Wait, how is that even an excuse now? Most of their albums are also on Spotify (though not this one, oddly), so if I want to hear them to confirm my unfounded fears, I can at any time. No, there must be something else, something buried deep in my subconscious that's holding me back. I wonder what it is?

Actually, I think I know: no matter what, I will never recapture the feeling I had when I first heard Amrita. It's not a terribly significant event, but it's a vivid moment, furiously flashing across my memory membranes every time I hear Diwana or Often Again. It was a few months after I'd moved out on my own into Vancouver, and I'd just gotten this CD on one of my trips to an A&B Sound (RIP), intended for a TranceCritic review because why not.

Sometime in the wee minutes past midnight and feeling the buzz of a smoked bowl, I got the munchies and decided to walk the five blocks to a 7/11 for some snackables. As I'm strolling in the clear spring evening, the swinging tribal sounds of Loop Guru playing from my discman, I come to a startling revelation: I'm honestly and truly free, the boundless opportunities of bachelorhood open before me. I'm living in my own apartment, doing recreational drugs when I want without worry of neighbours or roommates, going for strolls in the middle of the night with nary a care or concern of where I wander, in a city I hadn't even dreamed to live in but a few years past. And this all dawned upon me while listening to this album. Now, I'm not saying it wouldn't have occurred to me if I hadn't been playing Amrita at the time, but I cannot deny something about the music here made everything click right in that moment.

And without a doubt, there is a freeing jubilation in Amrita, the sort of tribal exuberance that makes you want to kick off your shoes and dance up a dust storm in the sandy floors of an outdoor party. Yeah, Papasus and Fumi show their dubbier, chill side too, but damn, those drums in Gianyar! That chant in Yayli! That flute in Diwana! That rhythm in Sun! Can you blame me for being hesitant in exploring Loop Guru's discography further? How could anything else they do top such ebullience?

(sorry, that seems like the sort of cheeky word they'd use in liner notes)

Various - Ambient Dub, Volume 3: Aqua

Beyond: 1993

Back in my teenage years, I knew Beyond's Ambient Dub series existed (Banco de Gaia showed his compilation contributions on his original website), but didn't think I'd find it. They seemed so old, the years '92-'93 ancient history from where I sat in '97. Plus, they came from all the way in the UK, so what hopes could a kid in the hinterlands of Canuckistan have? Surprisingly good chances, apparently, as on one of my trips to Vancouver, I saw Ambient Dub, Volume 3: Aqua sitting in a shop. Holy cow, who cares if it was over thirty bones (and Toby Marks felt it was weaker than the first two), I had to buy it then and there! And wouldn't you know it, that same music shop (Bassix, one of the greatest vinyl stores in the Lower Mainland ever) was able to order me a copy of The Big Chill too! Sa-weet! No luck on that Earthjuice though.

Of course, like Earthjuice, Aqua has fallen out of my regular rotation for the fact I've gathered most of the tunes on here after the fact. Heck, some of them I already had, such as Original Rockers' Mecca Of Space and Banco de Gaia's Sheesha, both not exactly tunes I highly rated compared to their other material. Then there's the lone HIA contribution of Delta, a charming bleep-hop tune in its own right, but vastly outshone by Pentatonik's rub, which I'd already heard on Ambient Auras. A Postive Life's Hypnosystem is also here, though in an earlier, simpler form compared to its album counterpart. I used to prefer this original version, but as time's gone on, it now sounds rather basic and boring to my ears; praise album-orientated updating, I guess.

The Groove Corporation finally get their chance to shine in this series, their reggae dub-house Roots Controller treading territory Leftfield made their domain. Still, having finally gotten the actual album that tune appears on, means one less reason to play this CD now. The only item from the Ambient Dub regular players that remains exclusive here is Original Rockers' The Satsuma Nightmare rub on Banco de Gaia's Desert Wind. Even that isn't much to get fussed about though, essentially a dubby stripping of the original which is good for a little shoulder shuffle, but not much else.

Still, three tracks do save Aqua from complete listening neglect. Another Fine Day makes his Ambient Dub debut with the exclusive Wild Spirit Of Song, showing off Mr. Green's playful use of unique instruments and sample manipulation. Digital Jesus ups the tempo some into a brisk, almost tribal-trance outing in Menali Encounter, and Insanity Sect show off their ear for the low-ridin' potential of ambient dub. Oh, and Groove Corporation do a Balearic house thing in Your Heart, which sounds nothing like regular G.Corp, or anything else in this series for that matter. A very odd addition, though what was G.Corp to do, wait a few years for Ambient Ibiza to release it?

Various - Ambient Dub, Volume 1: The Big Chill

Beyond: 1992

Finally, after many years and hundreds (thousands?) of name-drops, I've come to the grand-daddy of all chill-out compilations, Beyond's Ambient Dub, Volume 1: The Big Chill. Before this, you had The Orb, Enigma, The KLF's Chill Out, and precious little else receiving much exposure, compilations of the stuff just not dreamt of. Heck, even those artists were relegated to 'top chart hits' CDs rather than anything aimed at mentally gassed punters. And while the industry was likely primed to cash-in on this lucrative sub-scene of post-partying, Beyond got there before most, thus credited with making 'ambient dub' a thing.

What made The Big Chill so brilliant at the time was how its fully aware of what was generating buzz for home-listening options in electronic music, offering its own take on each of them. The lightly jazz-n-hop vibe acts like Massive Attack and Nightmares On Wax were doing? Here's the Original Rockers, then, serving up a slice of Sexy Selector, but way deeper in the Jamaican dub. Or maybe the playful house-dub of The Orb is more to your liking. Then 21st Century Aura will hook you up with Disorientation, including a cheeky preacher sample running throughout (“witchcraft!”).

Eh, you prefer world beat? Here's a promising up-and-comer name Banco De Gaia then, sending you on a dusty caravan through the Desert Wind. Ah, it was actually that erotic Enigma stylee you were after. I'm sure G.O.L.'s Angelica In Delirium has you covered with church bells, chants, and Antonia Reiner's seductive poetry. No, no, it's that future leaning sound you crave, more in line with bleep and ambient techno as found on the first Artificial Intelligence. Fair enough, and Alphanex's Planet Hoskins serves that up in spades (or is that hearts?).

I think that touches on all the prominent movements in downtempo and chill-out music of the time. Oh, I guess there was Real Ambient too, and wouldn't you know it, Mimoid even inches in that territory, with the two-parter track Tree Of The Sun, Tree Of The Moon. The first half has a crunchy bouncy beat, that “you make me feel so good” sample, and dripping water (my dad quipped it was Chinese Water Torture when it played out on its own), but the second-half is essentially beatless, save a little acid bassline. There's also sweeping synths, whale calls, and dubbed-out sci-fi sounds, making it sound as though you're soaring through the cosmos. Quite a brilliant bit of dub production really, a spell better than Mimoid's other offering of Strawberry, which features an insistently annoying, distracting loop of “okay, let's do it” throughout its runtime. That's the only dud track on here though.

Banco's Soufie, HIA's Ketamine Entity (d'at bass!), and the proto trip-hop of 21st Century Aura's Something Started round out the rest, and a great rounding out it is. If you ever wanted to know why ambient dub became such a trendy thing in the early '90s, The Big Chill is all the evidence you need.

Divination - Ambient Dub Volume 1

Subharmonic: 1993

Holy cow, another ambient dub collection that isn't the seminal Ambient Dub series from Beyond? Just how many ambient dub collections are there? Uh, not that many more, I'm sure. Like, after learning AudioGalaxy was a thing, I scoured the app for “ambient dub” because of course I would, and aside from a ton of Bill Laswell music, didn't find much else. Most prominent of the bassist's offerings were his 'ambient dub translations' of Bob Marley tunes, but these Divination albums came first. Just shortly after Beyond's offerings, in fact, practically concurrently. Coincidence, mayhaps?

Eh, if I'm willing to offer a theory (and I am!), Beyond released their first volume of ambient dub, and Laswell heard it. As a jazz purist though, he was unimpressed by the musicianship involved, so the O.G. jazz-dub dude took it upon himself to show these newer cats how it's done, bringing in a bunch of his pals for some sessions on what he feels is Proper Ambient Dub, none of this pseudo downtempo raver comedown nonsense. Wow, who'd have that something as micro-niche as ambient dub could have a rivalry!

Well, that's a fun theory, though you'd have to ask Mr. Laswell himself whether it's accurate or not. Heck, given his relentless output, I wonder if he even remembers the original inspiration for these Divination albums. Maybe he just needed some fresh material to launch his new Subharmonic label, and since 'ambient dub' was a trending tag in the early '90s, figured it would help sell his stuff better. The truth is out there, somewhere in the ether between echoing bass tones!

Speaking of aliens, yes, this is the same Divination that appeared on that Alien Ambient Galaxy compilation, with two tracks from here appearing there (among the Elsewheres): Errata and Delta. As pieces of pure minimalist ambient dub, they're neat compositions, but more as interludes in this album, most tracks surprisingly upbeat for a record billing itself as 'ambient dub' (oh no, it's happening again!).

Opener Divination One has a chill groove going for it, with Laswell's bass tones guiding us along, and suits the concept of ambient dub nicely. Follow-up twelve-minute long Seven Heavens, however, has quite the thumping techno beat, interspersed with long, synthy ambient breakdowns, and why is the low-end of the mixdown so overcranked? I know Laswell's a bassist and all, but everything sounds so muddy here. Meanwhile, the back half of the album trends closer to the domain of world beat, with ethnic wailing (some samples, but original chants from Liu Sola too), tabla drumming, and burbling sonics. Ooh, and I think I heard some of Buckethead's guitar work in there too, though as with everything else, is mostly buried under muddy bass.

There's some interesting ideas here, but if this was meant to be an opening salvo on Laswell's part in doing Proper Ambient Dub, he was still a bit off from creating something refined and long-lasting. See his Sacred System releases for such a take.

Enigma - Age Of Loneliness

Virgin: 1994

This was kinda'-sorta' Enigma's lead single going into their second LP, The Cross Of Changes, though existing as Carly's Song at that point. And as it was produced between albums, it sounds more like a left-over from MCMXC a.D., utilizing all the musical tricks Michael Cretu turned into a global smash on such tracks like Sadeness and Mea Culpa: ethnic vocal sample, woodwinds, Sandra's whispery voice, heavy sexy rhythms. Not quite at his Return To Innocence stage, then, but what can you expect for something made specifically for the Sharon Stone erotic thriller Sliver?

In fact, Mr. Cretu was approached to score the whole movie. Makes sense, as his music – or more specifically, knock-offs of Sadeness - had been popping up in many Skinemax films throughout the early '90s. As Sliver was the hotly anticipated follow-up to Sharon Stone's star-making turn in Basic Instinct, an appropriately sexy-sounding soundtrack was required, so why not get the real deal? However, Cretu was already moving on from that sound, getting more in touch with the New Age side of his muse – less sensuality, more spirituality. He still offered up a song, Carly's Song (Carly was the name of Stone's character), and even had an artsy erotic music video made for it with Stone lip-syncing the lyrics. The movie critically bombed though, leaving that single a quirky footnote in the Enigma canon.

Fast forward a year, The Cross Of Changes comes out, and rather than letting Carly's Song sit fallow, Cretu gave it some light retouches, turning it into Age Of Loneliness for the album. There must have been enough buzz surrounding the track as heard there, for it was re-released as the third single from the album, and given a whole new video in support. This time, something MTV friendly, wide shots of a sepia Manhattan with superimposed people floating in water, as though hovering about a myriad of urban locales. I've had dreams like that.

As for the single itself, there's only two items of note, including Cretu's own clubby remix of the track. Though he has dabbled in uptempo tunes, we generally don't think of Enigma as a dancefloor friendly act, but the Enigmatic Club Mix offers a convincing argument in that favour. While not doing anything progressive house acts of the day hadn't already covered, it suitably grooves along while letting all the familiar elements play about as necessary. Plus, those beeps heard throughout are Morse Code for “I love you”, which is such a clever musical Easter Egg, I'm stunned we don't hear that gimmick more often.

But the reason folks from 'the underground' were interested in this single was the Jam & Spoon Remix. Aww, yeah, the original trance tastemakers, having a go at one of the most Enigma-tic tracks in Enigma's early career! This is gonna' be... uh, super chill, apparently. It's basically the same song, just stripped down, with a weird, soft, drippy rhythm. Gotta' give credit for subverting expectations, I guess.

Rapoon - Vernal Crossing Revisited

Staalplaat/Zoharum: 1994/2013

As I continuously marvel at our modern marvels of finding and gathering all forms of music, I wonder if I'd have had any hope at all of finding Rapoon's Vernal Crossing back in the day. Like, I barely even knew who the chap was, my only reference point a lone track on a Hypnotic compilation called Ambient Rituals. Still, such recognition was enough for me to nab a copy of any artist album if I so happened upon them in the Vancouver music shops: compilations were very handy in the discovery process of music hunting.

So let's assume Rapoon's Vernal Crossing somehow crossed the Atlantic Ocean, crossed the North America continent, and crossed every distributor's hands to end up on a shelf that I just so might have happened to cross paths with. What section of the store would it even be filed under? Not the 'Electronica' one, that's for sure, the music within far too tribal and 'ethnic' to rub shoulders with house and techno CDs. The 'World Music' section then, but man, there's something far removed from any sort of reality in Rapoon's music, hardly fitting in with the likes of [endless name-drop session of culturally influential musicians abroad]. Heck, it could very well have migrated to a New Age corner, what with the meditative qualities lurking in the endlessly looping chants and rhythms coupled with hypnotizing pad work. Maybe it'd have ended up in the 'Industrial' section, if the music clerk was savvy enough to know of Rapoon's Zoviet France background.

And even if I had found it, what on Earth would I have made of it? For sure the world beat dork in me would be intrigued by all the chanting and drumming, but this stuff is on an entirely different plane of existence compared to what I was familiar with (Banco de Gaia, Deep Forest, etc.). It's, dare I say, erotic, opening track The Same River Once creating an atmosphere of primal jubilation and haunting ecstasy, a celebration of the coming season of fertility. Makes me want to strip naked and dance in the spring sunshine with someone of the Wiccan faith.

What gives all these tracks an other-worldly edge is the same dusty, dubby filter Robin Storey used throughout Zoviet France's run. Best I can describe is as though you're watching a grainy, black-and-white documentary, a short film repeatedly flickering against a stone wall in the claustrophobic dark. You recognize elements of human culture, especially those involved in ancient rituals predating anything the West has conceived, but it doesn't seem real, more like a fever dream of what once was.

Vernal Crossing was apparently the album that got folks noticing Rapoon on a unique wavelength when it came to ethno-ambient, such that it received a 2013 remake from the man himself. While it certainly captures his recent, more polished songcraft, there's still something entrancing about the primitive, dubby looping going on in the original. Feels like a more appropriate vibe, given the subject matter.

Cygna - Opus Ena

iT Records/Ultimae Records: 2011/2014

I thought to myself, here's another digital-only item from Ultimae Records, a part of their push to expand into that market along the likes of Lars Leonhard and all those Nuit Hypnotique #4 releases. I may as well round out that part of my Ultimae collection with this single, thought I, since I'm splurging a little, Opus Ena truly sporting one of the most eye-catching pieces of cover art the label's ever offered – such a lush, deep blue.

It was honestly only after I played it back that I realized this Cygna release was, in fact, of album length, not an EP like those Leonhard releases. Which was fine – more music to enjoy and all – but found it strange that Ultimae would release an LP as a digital-only item. Then I recently discovered that Opus Ena had, in fact, already been released on CD a few years prior on ultra-obscure Greek label iT Records, and that this Ultimae version was a reissue. Oh man, that directly flies in the face of my “don't buy digital if CD is available” mantra, but how was I to know? Save the odd Ultimae compilation track, I'd never heard of Cygna before, so had no hope of stumbling across Opus ένα (Symphonic Ambient Works) without a deep Discoggian dive. I don't feel tricked or anything, but man, I've a rep' to maintain here. It's not my fault! It's not my fault...

Cygna is Mario Sammut, and was part of that Grecian talent raid Ultimae did that included such names like MikTek and Ambientium. Cygna first appeared with Aes Dana's label on the final Fahrenheit Project compilation, and popped up here and there along the way. Lord Discogs doesn't have much other material from him however, and though his Flash website features an exhaustively detailed biography, there hasn't been any updates for a few years now, much less anything uploaded to his Soundcloud. It would seem Mr. Sammut has put Cygna on hiatus, though watch him put out another album within the next few months, effectively making my statement instantly dated. Happens a lot.

Given Ultimae's general move towards minimalist, dubby downtempo and techno in this period, Opus Ena is quite an outlier, sounding more like the label's earlier forays into widescreen downtempo and world beat. Mario likes his traditional classical instruments, see, showing little fear throwing in acoustic guitars, woodwinds, chants, orchestral strings, ethnic drumming, the works. Reminds me quite a bit of Asura whenever he got his Hollywood Historical Epic score on, though Cygna goes for a more mysterious vibe compared to Asura's opulence in such compositions.

The seven tracks are densely packed with instrumentation, with each featuring something unique in the lead. Caucasus is rhythm heavy, while Euclidean Subspace let the synths take charge. Ada is mostly on that guitar 'n strings stylee, while Oubliée Et Perdue goes minimalist with pianos and string drones. Ah, there had to be something jiving with the nu-Ultimae in this album.

Ott - Fairchildren

Ottsonic Music: 2015

Ott (no relation to NHL player Steve Ott) reminds me of that super-dependable rock band that can always churn out quality music that tickles my earholes just right, but for whatever reason never inspires me to dig deeper and further, much less wax the hyperbolic purple as I dance to his architecture. What rock bands, you ask? Oh, geez, put me on the spot, why don't you? Like, I kinda' wanna' say Coldplay, the most traditional of all milquetoast name-drops, but there's better options. Maybe The Strokes, or The Killers. Yeah, let's go with that: Ott is The Killers of psy-dub.

I liked Skylon a great deal, still have it in the regular rotation. and when Ott reissued his discography on his own print, you bet I snagged up a copy of his debut Blumenkraft. For some reason though, I was only mildly interested in hearing a follow-up. Maybe I was feeling psy-dub burn-out at the time, coming across too many artists that were only emulating the style Ott and Shpongle had popularized. I needed a little absence from it, and boy-howdy did Ultimae and Altar provide a good excuse to do so. Ott also appeared in need of a little diversification in his songcraft, but when I heard he chose to go the road of dubstep, I promptly 'NOPE'd on Mir, and didn't look back. Which was stupid, of course, but you cannot begin to appreciate just how over-saturated dubstep had become in the year 2011, especially in my hub of the world. Just... brutal...

But time has passed, as has the dubstep fad, and when I heard his fourth album Fairchildren being hailed as more a return to the tasty sonic soup that made his first two records such standouts, I had no problem diving back into the Ott fold. Erm, and it seems he's found himself a new toy to tinker with in glitch hop. I don't mind the stuff, but God can it ever grate when a producer overdoes it with the random sample wankery, which Ott succumbs to in Harwell Dekatron. So much directionless wibble – I need my wibble to have some momentum, y'know (Eat Static does the wibble good).

That's just one track of eight though, and aside from brief dabbling in Ship Is Not A Child, things don't go that wonk anywhere else on Fairchildren. Instead, we get bouncy psy-dub rhythms, cavernous dub echoes, vocals and instruments played, plucked, and plundered from lands far and wide, with just enough fun, wibbly, trippy effects keeping things cruising the psychedelic avenue to the dawn's morning light. Or through the afternoon heat on the beach. I've only seen Ott live in the latter setting.

And yet, I actually find myself just as dumbfounded in talking this music up in any specific detail. It's an Ott album, and if you know your Ott music, you know exactly what what you're gonna' hear. Won't deny it's that consistency I slapped my hard-earned bones down for though.

Banco de Gaia - 10 Years (Remixed) (Original TC Review)

Disco Gecko: 2003

(2018 Update:
No, I don't have the actual 10 Years compilation from Mr. Marks. I did, at first. I mean, all those classic Banco tunes, plus assorted rarities like the Jack Dangers rub of How Much Reality Can You Take and the Insect Intelligence version of Amber, gathered onto two discs and all. Of course I got myself that! Then I loaned it out to a friend. Never got it back, though to be fair, I didn't push him to return it either. It's not like it was difficult to 'get' the rare offerings again anyway (most of these can be found on the Rewritten Histories collections now), so I was fine letting 10 Years slide from my coffers. I may be a major Banco fan, but I'm not a completist ...he says while reposting a review for a 'completist only' compilation.

This review is pretty rambly for one of my latter-years TC efforts, probably 33% longer than it needs to be. It's like, whenever I got the chance to talk up Banco at TranceCritic, I didn't hold back one iota. The other reviews I wrote for the website - Maya and Farewell Ferengistan - were absolute behemoths in word count. Thank God for self-imposed word count, though I'm oh-so tempted to break that rule whenever I get around to Big Men Cry.)

IN BRIEF: Ten years of tour mates.

For good and ill, the remix album has become an undeniable part of dance music’s legacy. It’s reached a point where they are not only expected, but even counted upon in some circles. I’ve seen several bemoan a lacklustre album-proper only to follow such sentiments thinking “hopefully the remixes will make this better.” Trance alone has several albums packaged with an additional remix disc, not to mention the endless follow-up remix discs for the bigger releases. Despite some of the positives that come with the endeavor - the odd time a remix actually does an original better, or rounding up rare and obscure remixes into a single package - far too often these CDs are cynical, quick money-grabs, milking an artist’s music for every potential penny. Ultimately though, remix albums for electronic music share the same status live albums from rock bands do: potentially interesting, sometimes brilliant, but usually skippable.

This is what makes a remix CD for Banco de Gaia even more peculiar. Toby Marks has consistently shied away from cheap commercial gains, so you really can’t take 10 Years: Remixed as such. On the other hand, it’s not like there's been a plethora of remixes of Banco tunes over the years, most of which are done by Marks himself. Despite some notable names being given the re-rub task (Oliver Lieb, Speedy J, Jack Dangers), the trend has been Banco de Gaia does the best remixes of Banco de Gaia. However, those were already included on the 10 Years proper album.

Which brings us back to 10 Years: Remixed - specifically, what exactly is this release all about? I suppose doing a remix album is justifiable when it’s in conjunction with a retrospective album, but Marks knew full well there weren’t enough in his back catalog for a proper CD. If such is the case, then how about brand new remixes of a bunch of classic Banco tunes? Sounds good to me, only there’s a catch: instead of hiring out big names or scene mainstays, Marks got in touch with a bunch of his musical associates from over the years and gave them carte blanche to go wild. And if you’ve followed his musical career, you’d know the man from the World Bank has had some wildly eclectic associates, though with more of a leaning towards the global-fusion dance beat (obviously).

I guess what I’m trying to say here is only hard-line fans of Banco de Gaia are going to get much out of this release ; par for the course when it comes to remix albums anyway. If you’ve read this far, then you’re obviously a fan (or incredibly curious), so let me tell you what to expect from 10 Years: Remixed.

First, the familiar. Even here at TC, names such as Eat Static, Loop Guru, and HIA (The Higher Intelligence Agency) have crossed paths (er, mainly because of a certain reviewer’s affinity for a certain producer who’s been tied to them), and as such the groups bring their trademark sounds to the tracks they got to remix. HIA turns the obscure proto psy-dub gem Soufie into a clicky ambient-techno piece, Loop Guru ramp up the ethno-dub styling of Sakarya, and Eat Static gives Lai Lah the psy-trance business, but also throws in a bunch of other samples Marks has used in other tracks (I Love Baby Cheesy, Kuos, etc.).

Meanwhile, other psychedelic and dancehall dub mainstays like Temple Of Sound, Zion Train, Dreadzone, Asian Dub Foundation, Future Loop Foundation, and Transglobal Underground lend their hand, with various results. Some are quite the reworkings, such as Temple Of Sound turning Drunk As A Monk from a kind of prog-rock stomp into a brisk neurofunk excursion; or Dreadzone giving the incredibly somber vocal version of Glove Puppet some rhythmic spring (Jennifer Folker still sounds gloriously tragic though). On the other hand, not much is gained or lost in Future Loop Foundation adding dreamy Balearic tones to Celestine, while Zion Train seems at a loss as to what to do with Shanti, providing a brief and rather generic techno -dub tune in the process (honestly, though, would anyone be able to top Marks’ brilliant Black Mountain Mix?); and what exactly is going on in Obsidian? Transglobal Underground’s stomp-dub go at Amber is ace though.

Now, the obscure and unknowns. Well, 100th Monkey isn’t exactly obscure - it's long-time Banco collaborator Andy Guthrie - but certainly not a name you’ll immediately connect with. Since he’s been familiar with Marks’ work over the years, it’s unsurprising he gives Sunspot a great remix - and it’s also a mash-up with Qurna! Elsewhere on the CD, old school industrial group Perfume Tree - here known as Veloce - does a respectable deep-trance rub of Heliopolis, which rates around the Shanti remix in terms of usefulness. It’s the hopelessly obscure Carbomb that brings us the most ‘leftfield’ cut, turning Drippy into a kind of thrash-metal thing - has to be heard to be believed, even more so that it actually works!

*whew* That’s quite the eye-full for the hardcore Banco fan, I must admit, but given the eclecticism and seemingly random order of all these remixes, it could not be glossed over. Well, it could, but that’s not what we here at TC are about. Where am I going with this? Oh, right… 10 Years: Remixed. There’s a few quality remixes here - see below for which - but this CD’s mostly a ‘completists only’ deal. Although it’s interesting to hear different versions, it’s primarily going to be Banco fans that will appreciate them.

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

Various - (~)

(~): 2000

TRACK LIST:
1. Delerium - Heaven's Earth
2. S.E.T.I. - Mare Crisium
3. One Dove - Transient Truth
4. Bindu - Light At Heart
5. Deep Forest - Twosome
6. Influx - Dreamscape
7. Lore Carson & Graeme Revell - Fall In The Light
8. Banco de Gaia - Touching The Void
9. Banco de Gaia - 144K?
10. Rhythm Method - Goa: Season Of The Monsoon
11. Young American Primitive - Expanding
12. Pentatonik - Movements: Part 2

This was my first attempt at an actual DJ mix CD, and boy howdy did I ever go gonzo with its presentation. Fancy fonts, super-slick paper, pretentious liner notes, plus multiple copies to hand out to friends and family. For I had a tool in my (roommate's) possession that would allow me to craft a collection of music on par with the Northern Exposures and Global Undergrounds of the world: a cracked copy of ProTools! Of course, I didn't know much about the software to do a whole heck of a lot with it, but it was enough to make long, lengthy mixes such as I'd never been capable of in my way early efforts with live CD mixing (before turntable mimicking jog wheels were much of a thing).

As I've not become some expert, famed creator of globally recognized mix CDs, this obviously didn't turn out as I'd envisioned. A glance at the track list is a good indication why. The idea was to tell a story, with each track a distinct chapter, alternating between uplifting and melancholic moods. In trying to appeal to two audiences (friends and family), however, I left both confused and uninterested with my effort.

The obscure, underground ambient techno sounds from S.E.T.I., One Dove, Influx, and Young American Primitive was too unfamiliar for the family folk, while my peers were disappointed by the inclusion of so many 'poppy' offerings from Delerium, Deep Forest, Lore Carson, and Bindu. Maybe it wasn't such a hot idea to sequence them in an “up-down-up-down” fashion. Maybe it would have worked if I'd had a larger library of music at my disposal. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

So while some choices are naff (really, Year 2000 Sykonee, two songs in a row from The Magical Sounds Of Banco de Gaia?), there are a couple clever moments too. I'll defend the mix between Twosome and Dreamscape to the day I die, plus that hard cut from Goa: Season Of The Monsoon into Expanding works great after teasing the YAP cut throughout Rhythm Method's build. And since my copy of the Strange Days soundtrack was lost in the Great Pawning Of 2002, this remains my only outlet in hearing that lovely tune Fall In The Light that closed the movie out. Holy cow, was that ever a great soundtrack. I should buy it again. Can't be more than a couple dimes on the used market these days.

Banco de Gaia - You Are Here

Six Degrees Records: 2004

You Are Here is Banco de Gaia's worst album.

I was tempted to just leave it there, move on, and eat up self-imposed word count with discussions of puppies, or kittens, or puptens, or kitpies (surely merging all that adorableness will result in something uber-adorable!). Besides, while it's fun to tear into utter crap EDM or banal trance bollocks now and then, it's lame getting hyper-critical like some edgelord YouTuber at my age, especially if it's with regard to an artist I actually like. But then I got wondering, why do I dislike You Are Here so much? While I enjoy most of Toby Marks' music, even I cannot deny he's thrown up a few dud tracks along the way, stuff that doesn't move my mojo in favour of his mint material. This album though, so much of it just feels regrettably off to my ears, such that I need to unpack this, understand why I rank it so low in Banco's discography.

Where to begin? How about the thing that's immediately noticeable and casts a shiny, slick, sucky sheen on everything: the mixdown. You know how there's a difference between a rock album from the '70s, and one from the '80s, in that the latter often sounds flatter and stripped of analogue warmth? That's what it's like listening to You Are Here compared to every other Banco album. Dear Lord, but does it ever sound digitally flat to me, as though the soul of Marks' music is completely absent. So many bass textures are DOA (glaringly so on Waking Up In Waco and Not In My Name), that it makes sitting through them a cringing chore. This, from a musician who can have you hanging on every second in a half-hour-plus excursion through Kincajou! Even Marks must have realized this digital mastering wasn't working for him, as he went back to an analogue mixdown in his follow-up Farewell Ferengistan, with much improved results.

That leads me to my second point: I can never remember how the back-end of this album goes. After the radical tonal shifts between the twelve-minutes long, slow blues-jazz croon of Gray Over Gray, into the cheeky pop-house romp of Tongue In Chic, the remaining three tracks of You Are Here always and utterly evaporate from memory, sometimes even right after they've played. This is the only Banco album where that happens to me! No matter their quality, every tune on every other album sticks in my brain meat, but Not In My Name, We Are Here, and Still Life? Fifteen years on, and still nada despite many attempts.

Then there's the heavy-handed political sloganeering (even for a Banco album), the genre dalliances that never led to future explorations, and that initial nagging dread that, after 10 Years, Banco de Gaia might have nothing left in the creative tank. Thankfully, You Are Here proved more an aberration than a trend, so I'll end on a positive note: Zeus No Like Techno remains good stupid fun.

Astral Waves - Genesis

Altar Records: 2017

Once again, I picked up the latest Astral Waves album without realizing it's DJ Zen's main production alias. I don't think I even checked who the artist was, just perusing through some of Altar Records' recent output, and picking up whatever caught my eye. “Ooh, that one with the dragon looks cool, and this one, it has a final boss of a jRPG, or maybe a Dr. Strange nemesis. Sure, I'll give it a shot. Eh, a new Asura as well? Ah, the cover's just a bunch of high air. Pass for now.” It's been a couple years since his last effort though, and while festival DJing, compilation compiling, studio mastering, and label management undoubtedly keeps Mr. Descoutieras a busy boy, he's gotta' scratch that music-making itch like any of his peers.

Still, I wonder if he really had the time to explore his muse. Genesis isn't so much a new album of new material, as it's an assortment of original productions, plus 'reworkings' of Altar tunes from other producers. No, not remixes, as the inlay doesn't tag the original artists beyond “W+P” credits. Far as I can tell, these are intended to be regarded as Astral Waves tracks, like a cover, or a 're-genesis', I guess. It's not SuryaDemaH's Ashura, but Astral Waves' Ashura II. It's not Alwoods' Rain Of Shooting Stars, but Astral Waves' Rain Of Shooting Stars II. It's not AstroPilot & Astral Waves' Inflation Eternelle, but Astral Waves' Inflation Eternelle II. Huh, why not call it Inflation Eternelle (Astral Waves Version). It's what was done with Dimitriy's take on the tune that appeared on the Fall compilation. I dunno', just seems a tad dodgy presenting these tunes as such, but I'm sure they all gave DJ Zen their blessing.

This is all just niggling-picking though. The music itself is surprisingly diverse and different from what I typically expect out of an Altar record. Gabriel intended this as something of a challenge, making sure each cut was significantly unique from each other so nothing comes off samey throughout (an issue of his last album, in fact). There's also a heavier emphasis on tribal vibes, sections of Genesis coming off like a '90s world beat album, though with modern production chops (can't escape that over-compressed, plastic rhythm).

So you get an extended version of an oldie DJ Zen psy-chill tune of I Believe, redubbed The Believer, now with added vocals from New Age chanter Patrick Bernard. Ashura II chugs along at a crisp pace while digitally chopping up its Indian influences. La Danse du Feu gets in on that Native pow-wow chanting and howling, and follow-up La Danse de L'Eau ups the tempo with drumming and live fluting from Aeolia Project. Then you have your prog-psy numbers (Optimistica II, Rain Of Shooting Stars II, Les Liens du Sang (Profondita Remix)), and a right progressive trance stomper in Inflation Eternelle II. Man, is it wrong that both versions of this AstroPilot collab' get an Ace Tracks nod? Does it matter?