Andrew Heath - Flux

Disco Gecko: 2015

Never thought I'd become an Andrew Heath fan. I was curious enough to check out his first album on Disco Gecko, if only to find out why Toby Marks would have tapped the ambient composer as the first outside artist on his label. Yet while The Silent Cartographer was a pleasant little trip through minimalist piano diddling, it wasn't the sort of music I saw myself exploring any further. There's only so much ambient I can take in, and my flag leans more towards the padded synths and dubby atmospherics than indulging the nuances of tonal harmony. Besides, I’m already hearting a Heath, and that dark, brooding Simon chap might be the jealous sort.

Then a super-mega 20th Anniversary Last Train To Lhasa bundle came out. I’ll get to details about that release at the appropriate time, but one of the surprising highlights from the package was Andrew Heath’s remix of China. It took an already mellow slice of ambient dub and led it down his minimalist tonal harmony path. For a song set in a region where such music has been practiced in perfected for ages, it makes so much blissful sense that I get the super Zen feels from it. This, mind you, from a guy who’s only remix credit is this one track! What makes it such a standout, however, is again just how different Andrew Heath’s style is compared to the remixers surrounding him, music that brings to mind art displays or quiet times in a Japanese rock garden, not groovy nights outdoors surrounded by ravers and hippies.

That was enough to keep an eye out for anything else Heath might release, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s got a fresh LP barely a year after his last, Flux. The liner notes states this music was inspired by time spent gazing at lights in the northern latitudes of his homeland Cotswolds, England. That description alone already marks this album as something quite ‘British in the meadowlands’, though you’d have to ask a resident of the realm whether that’s apt.

Flux is music almost as an abstraction, ample uses of field recordings, harmonic bell tones, and soft ethereal pads making up the bulk. Mr. Heath does let his lingering piano notes guide things along, and occasional synthy woodwinds pop in and out, but they’re far from a driving force in these tracks. Really, there’s not much drive at all, each piece content to remain relatively static for their duration (around an average of eight to ten minutes in length). It barely even sounds like compositions end or begin, as though you’re lazily floating down a creek through pastoral villages and windmill hovels. A couple pure piano pieces do break up the mood (The Darkening, Fragment on the digital version), and Ghost Box has a discordant thing going for it, but for the most part, Flux is an ambient album best served for the stillest of activities. Find a patio and watch clouds for an hour, or something.

ASC - Fervent Dream

Silent Season: 2015

No one could have predicted ASC would have five ambient albums under his belt by now. One, two perhaps, as even his earliest drum ‘n’ bass productions often found Mr. Clements exploring the open spaces between his rhythms (including his second LP, Open Spaces). Comes our current decade and his jungle rhythms were stripped down to their basic, minimalist components. When he released The Light That Burns Twice As Bright on Silent Season, drum kits were jettisoned altogether. So, a most natural evolution for ASC as a producer, and having gotten that proper ambient album out of his system, surely he’d get back to future takes on drum ‘n’ bass. Oh, you have more than one, Mr. Clements? Just how many of these were you planning on? As many as Silent Season keeps releasing, huh. Fair enough, but aren’t you worried you’re gonna’ start getting pigeonholed as just another ambient drone guy? There’s so many of those, so very many.

Whatever. If he keeps putting out quality albums like this, Mr. Clements can make a dozen ASC ambient LPs. Might not make them as special in the long run, but ‘tis better for the connoisseur to have plenty of good releases than a scant few collectables. Because believe you me, Fervent Dream is the sort of CD that only dedicated fans of the genre will invest their time in. I personally feel Time Heals All is thus far the best ASC ambient album (much space!) and this one isn’t toppling that position. But I still likes me some droning ambient passages, and can listen to this stuff in its many variations, permutations, and transmigrations. I’m always intrigued by the paths composers take their synths and pads, hearing which ways they layer their timbre and utilize their harmonic progressions. It’s like being a Jazz Guy, except instead of hearing musicians playing all the notes, I enjoy looong stretches of a couple notes.

While ASC’s previous Silent Season albums were more about Mr. Clements exploring his ambient muse, Fervent Dream seems custom made for the label. The little PR blurb talks of dreaming in the thick of the woods. Coupled with a CD featuring droning calm with the sound of wind through leaves and rain pelting moss-covered roots, it’s about as West Coast an image as you’re likely to imagine.

Unsurprisingly, this is another spacious collection of ambient, though with enough encroaching drone to feel as though you’re being crowded by tall trees. There isn’t much in the way of melody, though tracks like Epsilon Dream, Sullen Lament, and Ritual Of Light do contain brighter pieces of evolving pads piercing the thick layers of synths, dub, and field recordings. The main feature though, is the twenty-minute long Promises To Keep at the end. It’s mostly another drone piece, with a few electronic note pulses ebbing in and out. Other elements like rainfall, static dub, and heavenly pads emerge before a requisite lengthy fade out. Kinda’ encapsulates the whole of Fervent Dream, really.

Various - Fall

Altar Records: 2015

We now return to Altar Records' current running compilation series, The Seasons! But wait, three of you cry, how can we be doing Fall already, when there's still a Summer CD out there? Did I not get that one too for continuity's sake? I did indeed, but even continuity must give way to arbitrary blogging rules. Both were acquired during that long-ass trip through the latter half of 'S' albums, which technically put Summer into the backlog queue. And now alphabetical stipulation states that Fall must come before Summer, despite making none of the thematic sense. Yeah, I could have just lumped Summer in with all those other 'S' CDs, but if I can't honor my own rules, what honor can I give in life? What price is my honor? (twenty bucks American, cold hard cash)

I can't say I was waiting with bated, chilly breath for this one though. Spring was cool, and Summer was fun (spoiler!). In the end though, it's still Altar Records we're dealing with, and if my sojourn through their Elements series proved anything, it's that headmaster DJ Zen maintains a consistent style with the artists he taps. Even glancing at the track list once again finds plenty of familiar names from the Altar roster: AstroPilot, Alwoods, E-Mantra, Astral Waves, Asura, Terra Nine, Tentura, Cabeiri, and so on. I approve of all this, of course, but picking up Altar compilations has quickly become a case of comforting familiarity, a high standard of prog psy and psy chill with very few surprises along the way. As it goes with most genre niche labels anyway.

And I'm repeating my Altar Records caveat again, aren’t I. And the only reason I could possibly be providing such redundant information at this point is pretext, a set-up for a... 'fall' of expectations! Eh? Eh? Come on, give it up, don't leave me hangin'. Alright...

So the surprise with Fall comes with how much raw acid there is on this CD. The first few tracks don’t hint at such a turn; Cabeiri, Alwoods, and E-Mantra (plus bonus Tentura on the digital version) doing as Altar typically does. Mindphoria (aka: Mindsphere; aka: Ali Akgun) then does the unexpected in starting his track (also called Fall) with some pleasant classical piano diddling. Huh. Then a funky acid bassline comes in with a New Beat groove and are we still listening to an Altar compilation? There’s some spacey zaps and synths, but the focus soon turns to chunky old-school goa acid, as does next track Stay In Meditation from Azriel. I’d expect such sounds from bonus track Farewell, Beloved Sunshine, since that’s Khetzal’s schtick, but even AstroPilot and Astral Waves gets in on that acid with their collaboration Inflation Eternelle. Meanwhile, third bonus The Heart Of The Matter from Terra Nine has me feeling the ancient System 7 mojo, and closer Rise Of The Earth Keepers from Innerself goes full New Age sap. Ack, a trip within Fall. Nonetheless, a surprising, solid compilation.

ACE TRACKS: November 2012

We’re nearly at the end of these back-tracking ACE TRACKS Playlists. It’s weird realizing that the music I was playing and reviews I was writing was done over three years ago now, enough time that I’m actually having faded recollection of the month. Like, as though it was a distant part of my past, not unlike my TranceCritic writing days. The music I was covering seems so innocent too, still going through my old collection of trusty favorites and stand-bys, having no clue of the splurging I’d undertake that’d bloat out my library to the four digit realm. About a dozen CDs have since been added within this block alone, and that’s just narrowly missing out that Pete Namlook tribute box set. Back then I had no idea labels like Silent Season, Altar, or Psychonavigation even existed! That November also marked the point I realized I could keep writing at a near-daily clip, though with a signficant chunk being some of my all-time favorite albums, it’s not surprising I was feeling the mojo then. It’s also a big ol’ ACE TRACKS Playlist, so let’s get to ‘er.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Pete Namlook - The Definitive Ambient Collection: Volume 2
Deep Forest - Deep Forest
Dillinja - Cybotron
Djen Ajakan Shean - Crows Heading For Point Break
Roc Raida - Crossfaderz: A Turntablist’s Throwdown!!
Quadrophonia - Cozmic Jam

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 12%
Percentage Of Rock: 19%
Most “WTF?” Track: Fear Factory - Pisschrist (that title, tho’!)

Full albums from Future Sound Of London, Pink Floyd, and Spicelab are a must. A bunch of Fear Factory, a pile of progressive trance, a little techno, psy, and world beat thrown in for good measure. Oh, and that last little bit of Bone Thugs working its way in too. Man, did I ever look like the Bone Thugs fanboy in those early months. Little did anyone know my hip-hop allegiance lay with the Wu-Tang Clan (plus whatever Del was up to). All in all, this is a fun, varied month’s worth of music, another reason why I likely sped through those CDs so fast. Couldn’t wait to hear the next one again!

AuroraX - Evolutionary Voyage

Altar Records: 2015

Thank God, Vishnu, Clupxtergh, and sanity that Lord Discogs isn't the only source of data on some artists. If that were the case, I'd be hooped on the bare-bones entry for AuroraX, his lone entry being this new album on Altar Records. Maybe he has contributed tracks to a digital compilation or four, but unless such labels have dedicated chroniclers submitting releases to the Lord That Knows All, Discogs couldn't give much of a care. This is especially troubling for musicians who've been making their name with Soundcloud, a streaming format that goes unrecognized by Discogs as anything official. And for good reason too, as any ol' chap or chappette could upload something and claim it worthy of the Lord's attention. We need some barriers to His Domain, some standards and practices implemented. Hard copies, yes. Soft copies, maybe. Edible copies, definitely not.

AuroraX has been building his base through Soundcloud, but I don’t bother with that site anymore, so I’m out of the loop there. Lord Discogs provided a Facebook link through an ‘alias’, Desislav Georgiev, but it’s all in Eastern bloc typeface so not much help there either. Fortunately, the Bandcamp page for Evolutionary Voyage has proven somewhat helpful. AuroraX hails from Bulgaria, and his real name is (surprise) Desislav Georgiev. The rest of the blurb goes into some hilariously over-the-top descriptions for his music, capping off with “AuroraX brings a fresh perspective to the meaning of universal consciousness.” Ugh, that’s a bit much for my bullshit detector to take, but I must have bought what the PR was selling, because I’ve obviously bought the CD as well.

I honestly didn’t know what I was getting with Evolutionary Voyage. Some idea, sure; this is Altar Records we’re dealing with, and they’ve cultivated quite the catalogue of psy-leaning music. Whether this album was prog-psy or psy-chill or space ambient though, I hadn’t a clue. I kinda’ figured something like AstroPilot, and I was right. In fact, I was correct about any other guess I could have made too, because for plus and minus, this sounds very much like an Altar Records album.

AuroraX is a fine producer, of that there’s no doubt, and quite mesmerizing in his compositions with tracks evolving and morphing as they play out. Sometimes they do the slow prog thing (Anima’s Dream, Navigations, Inner), other tracks will gradually build into a brisk pace (Project Voyager, Spatial Contemplation, Stars And Rising Tides), and the remaining two opt for pure psy-chill space bliss (Tales Of The Particles, Lifetime Satellite). Yeah, only eight tracks on here, but there’s plenty going on in them to get your Altar staples fix. I just wish I could recommend this as something more than that.

My only criticism is I didn’t hear a clear style I’d identify as AuroraX’ own, Evolutionary Voyage coming off like an amalgamation of other artists on this label. Maybe he just needs some more development, but if not, it’s not so bad being the Altar Voltron.

King Midas Sound, Fennesz - Edition 1

Ninja Tune: 2015

It took The Bug several years to release new music after his critical smash, London Zoo, but the man behind The Bug, Kevin Martin, did keep busy with other projects. Feeling the itch for something with a little more soul, he hooked up with downtempo jazz crooner Roger Robinson to form King Midas Sound. The resulting album, Waiting For You..., provided a fresh spin on urban soul, mixing The Bug’s grit with a traditionally smooth style of music. Throw in a few additional vocals from dubstep vocalist Kiki Hitomi, and you’ve got something akin to a Massive Attack record for the grime generation. Then the project went on hiatus, Mr. Martin’s time consumed by touring, not to mention the pressure of doing that eventual London Zoo follow-up.

Well, that’s all done and dusted now, so ol’ Kevin got to reconvene with Mr. Robinson for another kick at the King Midas can. Instead of simply retreading their first album though, they wanted to push their concept of dub ‘n’ soul as far as they could, to creatively challenge themselves as well as the expectations of their audiences. Thus, the Editions series, where the duo invites a like-minded producer into the studio for a session and sees what come may. Mr. Martin states he has four such albums planned, but kicking this off is guitar fuzz and experimental glitch producer Christian Fennesz. You might remember him such albums like Hotel Paral.lel, Music For An Isolation Tank, AUN – The Beginning And The End Of All Things, plus forty seven degrees 56' 37" minus sixteen degrees 51' 08", and Venice. Yeah, he’s the sort that would have been comfy on Mille Plateaux, if he wasn’t already releasing much of his music on the ‘arty’ label, Touch.

Right from the outset of Edition 1, the Fennesz influence is apparent. Throughout opener Mysteries, droning pulses melt into static dub while Robinson’s vocals float through the fuzz as calm strings glide throughout. Second cut On My Mind finds a beat and Kiki on the vocals, which brings it a little closer to the first Kind Midas Sound album, but there’s still ample ambient static fuzz making it distinct to Fennesz’ style. Third composition Waves goes for a bleak bit of beatless music, moody soul oozing from the edges before morphing into a lengthy stretch of pure wide-screen ambient. Loving Or Leaving is the closest we get to something for the grime heads (trap hi-hats!), and even that’s impossibly cavernous in its dub.

Really, droning ambient dominates much of Edition 1, some tracks like closer Our Love and thirteen-plus minute Above Water forgoing vocals altogether. Even the few remaining tracks that utilize Roger and Kiki treat their words as just another instrument of sonic layering. It makes that second Instrumental CD seem redundant at first glance, though the absence of vocals is apparent in the tracks that did still center on them. Who’d have thought they’re crucial components on an album of thick ambient and soulful dub.

Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst

DreamWorks Records: 1996

The Golden Age Of Hip-Hop was over, and one of the premier groups to usher in that era, Ultramagnetic MC’s, were heading their separate ways. Kool Keith, whom you most definitely know from The Prodigy’s Fat OF The Land, was the likeliest of the group to have a successful solo career, and he’s done that in spades, clubs, and diamond-encrusted hearts. He’s released album after album after album, running through numerous aliases in doing so, and has earned him the reputation of one of the hardest working MC’s of the last two decades. This, despite some serious issues of quality control, especially with a preponderance of crude sex raps that’d make even Luke of 2 Live Crew ask what the cheese. It all had to start somewhere though, and that was with his most critically hailed alias, Dr. Octagon.

While hip-hop’s flush with quirky personas, this one has to rank up there with the most bizarre. See, he’s not some clichéd ‘doctor of lyricism’ or the like; rather, Dr. Octagon is half mad scientist, half time traveling extra-terrestrial (he comes from the planet Jupiter), and half kink scene gynecologist. This provides Keith a setting where horrorcore, nerdcore, and porno raps all cross paths, with an emphasis on tongue-twisting vocabulary that’s equal parts humorous and perverse. When he says he’s gonna’ dissect rectums, treat your chimpanzee acne and moosebumps, and prescribe a treatment of Pepsi cola, Pepto Bismal, bugs, and pop rocks, you can’t be sure if he’s utterly insane, or has fun screwing about the operating room (between sessions of screwing patients in the operating room). Elsewhere, his assistant Uncle Gerbik is a half shark half alligator half man, and over two centuries old. Clearly Dr. Octagonecologyst is an album firmly planted in cheek, probably sewed there with satin threads and rubber needles.

So Kool Keith had something unique going for him here, but what gave Dr. Octagon a quick cult following was the production of Dan The Automator and turntable scratching of DJ Q-Bert (just coming off a string of DMC Championship victories with Mixmaster Mike). Yep, Dr. Octagonecologyst is basically a proto Deltron 3030. Hell, the first track is titled 3000, and sounds like it uses the bleeps from Pierre Henry’s Psyché Rock as a scratch sample among the super-spliffed vibes. Many of the beats are stripped back to a trip-hop haze with old timey French pop loops, serving the macabre tone with a dose of brevity throughout. Man, no wonder Mo Wax wanted in on this.

For all the critical adoration Dr. Octagon generated though, Kook Keith wasn’t the biggest fan of the project, practically ending it right after. He’s actually ‘killed’ the alias multiple times with another persona, Dr. Dooom, and efforts to revitalize him have failed to manifest much of note. Perhaps it’s as it should be, a one-off project that generated underground buzz, but retaining street cred by never overstaying its welcome. Dr. Octagon has operated on all the nether regions he ever will.

Derek Carr - The Digital Space Race

Psychonavigation Records: 2008

Derek Carr isn't super-obscure like some of these Psychonavigation folks are. He has some half-dozen records to his name in the early ‘00s, though mostly jumped from label to label in doing so. By the time he found a semi-permanent home with the Ireland print, he’d already released two albums on another Ireland print, Nice & Nasty Records. And his self-released debut single, Copperbeech EP, is apparently something of a rare collectible for ‘Irish techno by way of Detroit’ enthusiasts, because this is also apparently a scene. That actually has me wondering if Derek Carr is actually his real name. I mean, I can only assume it is so, but Lord Discogs doesn’t have any bio on the guy, and anyone also making Detroit techno with a name like that can’t be a coincidence. Okay, it can, but c’mon, really? Are folks with that combination of syllables just destined to make music of a similar sound? The Techno Gods are weird.

In case it hasn’t become obvious by now, Derek Carr makes minimal gabber; and by ‘minimal gabber’, I of course mean Detroit techno. Its more ‘space age’ than the genre typically goes, The Digital Space Race at times coming off like early Apollo material. Openers Horizons and Butterfly could have found an easy home on those seminal ambient techno compilations, while Letters and Grassy Plains fears no pianos being coupled with their soft electro breaks. Elsewhere, the future funk is present and correct with tracks like 678, Departed Emotion, and Home, while Mr. Carr indulges with a little spritely indulgences with Juvenile and Sis. Plus, can’t neglect the strict ambient cuts, the short Dilated Beyond Belief (hilarious title!) serving as an intermission of sorts, and Surrounded By Nature taking us out in good ol’ space drone fashion.

Um, that’s The Digital Space Race all summed up then, isn’t it. If you’ve ever heard retro Detroit techno, you’ve heard this album, and Mr. Carr isn’t in any sort of hurry to shake the foundations. The tunes are all nice and arranged well enough, but they don’t leap out in any significant way either. Not even the strictly old school production is much of a unique selling point. Novel perhaps, especially for a 2008 release, but this is Derek Carr’s preferred style of music making, and far from the only chap around doing it. Yet I’m hesitant to call The Digital Space Race something silly like ‘recycled’, ‘rote’, or ‘retro to a fault’, because it most definitely is not that either. It may sound sprung from suburban Detroit in the year 1994, but futurism will never age.

As for Carr, he’s put out a couple more albums on Psychonavigation since this one, but more interestingly recently released another single on Trident. This was the ‘print’ he set up to self-release his first single, which I guess he dusted off to put out another EP through Bandcamp. Now wouldn’t that be something, seeing a re-issue of the old Copperbeach EP too.

Various - Digiseeds: Compiled By Ambientium

Ultimae Records: 2015

It took nearly the entirety of 2015, but Ultimae finally released some new music. Okay, they had a single or two earlier in the year, even taking their first bold steps into the vinyl market, but it wasn't until the autumn months we saw anything for us foolish CD collectors. Not that I blame the label for a downturn, taking their time in digitally re-issuing older material for an ever increasing streaming market. Ah well, at least I still had Altar tiding me over.

Ultimae also appears to have spent this fallow year scoping their 'panoramic music' scene for new blood, inviting wandering ambient and chill talents into their fold. Ambientium, or Lubomir Cvrk to the Czech Republic Bureau Of Ambienting, hasn’t released much in his half-decade of music making, but has garnered a respectable cult following in that time. Mostly self-releasing his own material, he’s had a smattering of tracks appear on compilations from Kahvi Collective and Mindsrping Music in recent years, which was apparently enough for Ultimae to come knocking. That, and a few folks were making comparisons between the two as far back as Ambientium’s first album, Fractal Philosophy. Taking a quick listen to it, and oh... oh my! I’m getting some serious Distant System vibes off that album. Hard copy now, please!

Digiseeds, on the other hand, sounds nothing like Distant System (or Androcell, or any other Tyler Smith project). Rather, it’s a new concept compilation series from Ultimae, with Ambientium handling the helm in its first outing. Not sure if it’s Mr. Cvrk’s own series to do with as he pleases, or if it will feature a rotating guest of compilers; heck, I don’t even know if there will be a follow-up, as Ultimae’s had some difficulty in getting any new series going since Fahrenheit Project ended. Hoping for the latter though, especially if they turn out as good as this CD has.

Yeah, yeah, me saying an Ultimae release is good is like calling water wet. I can’t help it that they keep releasing mint material. Ambientium has gathered a remarkable collection of calming music here, where tones, textures, and timbre float through wide open sonic spaces. Its mood music for the mind and soul, best enjoyed on gray morning afters for a little uplifting of the spirit (probably). There’s familiar names in Lars Leonhard and Martin Nonstatic (trust me, he’ll be familiar soon enough) to utter unknowns like Mandrax and Synapsia (lone Lord Discogs entries!). There’s space ambient with One Arc Degree’s Seven Years Of Summer and Ambientium’s Heartbeat, to dubbier glitch with Ocoeur’s Outside and Cloower Wooma’s Human Disease. Mandrax’s Melting has a twee toybox piano melody that has me thinking it’d make for a nice life insurance commercial, and State Azure’s Vertigo has a little old-school sequencers going for it with the dubbed-out textures.

And thus another solid collection from Ultimae. Almost worth the whole year to hear some. Not so long until the next though, eh?

Eat Static - Dead Planet

Mesmobeat: 2015

I was wondering if Eat Static would ever release another album, then ol' Merv goes and gives us a double-album. No wonder he took so long then, and a good idea too. His last foray into the LP domain saw two CDs released as well, though on separate labels focusing on completely different styles. It was a neat idea to feature an exclusively downtempo album for Interchill, but it’d probably be a hard-sell twice. Folks come to Eat Static for the tear-out psy with the crazy cybernetic leads and pulpy sci-fi samples; the few mellow moments under the stoner sun are best served as respites.

Well nothing doing for Dead Planet, once again splitting the Eat Static stylee up between two discs, uptempo stuff on the titular CD, and a chill offering in the second tray titled Human Upgrade. Interestingly, this has been released on Mesmobeat, the label Eat Static set-up for themselves after Planet Dog died, and been in semi-limbo for the past half-decade. What, did no one else want to give this double-LP a chance?

Dead Planet kicks off with another System 7 pairing, tickling all those old-school goa trance triggers in my head. It pretty much goes for the twisted full-on stuff from there though (with one obligatory mint d’n’b leaning cut with Ringlefinch), tracks evolving in dark-psy fashion before unleashing a spacey bit for the climax. It’s all well-produced, but as with so much modern psy-trance, hasn’t evolved much in the past decade, and the same is true for Eat Static’s take on the sound, sci-fi quirks aside. And yet, it’s better than Merv’s dip into other music here. Dragon’s Breath is a frightfully dull tech-plodder, while In All Worlds with Robert Smith is a fine track on a cyberpunk soundtrack, but way out of place here. And Odious Odium sounds like it’s building up to a hideously obnoxious brostep drop (clap builds! glitch-bends!), then does an awesome one-eighty into spaced-out tear-out psy (that low-end!). That’s the Eat Static I love!

Human Upgrade meanwhile... holy cow, where did this album come from? As the chiller side of Eat Static, I was expecting some psy-dub rubs, or maybe a throwback cut that might have appeared on the old Planet Dog compilations. And the first few tracks do offer this, even getting Robbert Heynen of the former Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia in with Near Future Myth (dear Lord, such expansive sonics!). The back-end of CD2 then grows more ethnic, orchestrated, and wordly with the beats. There were hints of this sound on Back To Earth, but ol’ Merv’s taken things to another level here, sounding like latter-era Juno Reactor in some parts. I know I said hearing Eat Static without the quirkiness feels off, but if lush production like this is what we can also expect, I’m all for it.

Dead Planet as a whole is quite a bit to take in, but is well worth the investment for followers of the alien nation.