The Future Sound Of London - Dead Cities

Virgin: 1996

A true magnum opus from The Future Sound Of London. Opinion tends to divide over which of their albums is their absolute best (Lifeforms? One of the latter Environments? The Isness... no.) but in terms of cinematic narratives via expansive soundscapes, Dead Cities is hard to beat. It helps that it’s one of their only albums to have a definitive theme right from the outset in the title. What’s exactly dead about these cities? Might that creepy guy on the cover and the stark artwork surrounding him be a clue? Dive right in, noble listener, and discover for yourself.

It’s probably not thought of much nigh fifteen years on, but Dead Cities was bold for its time. Backed by Virgin’s megabucks and promotion, The FSOL were being counted on to help propagate the ‘electronica’ surge. Undoubtedly the ‘artier’ group of a roster that included The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, and Massive Attack, they were given relative free reign on Lifeforms and ISDN. Lacking a proper hit though, it wouldn’t surprise me if Virgin started tapping their feet while leering over The FSOL’s shoulder as 1996 drew near. Well then, here’s a track that’s all ‘big beaty’ for ya’, We Have Explosive. Hell, you can even use it as the main theme for that futuristic racing video game you’re tied to if you like. Now let us get back to our studio, thank you very much. Well, maybe.

Here’s the thing about the rockin’ Explosive, and nearly any cut off Dead Cities: as standalone pieces of music, they’re all solid offerings. Even some of their transitional interludes were good enough to earn titles (somewhere, in that mess of a tracklist on the back). Variety comes in spades, tons of genres, sub-genres, and sonic experiments finding their way in bits and pieces that it’d take a 2,000 word review to detail it all (look at one of the old ones floating around TranceCritic for proof!). Scattershot IDM breaks. Bubbling ambience. Sampledelic psychedelia. Desolate opera, charming cyber-folk, lounge jazz, and piano noodling. 303s and 808s. Cheeky hidden metal.

Cool, then. Good tracks, download the best ones and all that, right? Nah, what makes Dead Cities a cut above is how the whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts. Whether The FSOL had an intended vision or allowed the listener to come up with their own, each track details another piece of their post-apocalyptic narrative. Hell, We Have Explosive, a tune that, as an obvious ‘electronica’ single should not have fit at all, serves as an inciting cataclysm to the whole enterprise (following it with such a beautiful, mournful somber piece in Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me perfectly sells it too). I’ve often imagined the latter half of the album as a chronicle of the survivors discovering remnants of civilization deep underwater but personal interpretations will vary. Take a listen for yourself and let me know what springs forth from your imagination!

Eat Static - De-Classified

Solstice Music Europe: 2007

I hated this when I first heard it, so much that I exiled it from my “To Review” list at TranceCritic, allowing it to collect dust on an MP3 disc off in a corner. I couldn't bring myself to slam one of the most unique psy acts I'd enjoyed, and perhaps a part of me couldn’t believe their career had come to this. I didn't even care about the music, it was how it all sounded! That... that... plastic production that so much psy of the mid-00s came out with, and now an elder statesman of that scene, the ever awesome Eat Static, had succumbed to it. And to top it all off, a full-on track! Now they're bandwagon jumpers too? No, this just won't do. I deny De-Classified's existence!

Of course, I was a moronic douche-nob. There were tracks I recall liking on that initial playthrough, but because I stubbornly dismissed the album outright, I never gave it a second chance until recently, where I discovered there's a lot of kick-ass music to be had here.

Not that this is Eat Static's best work. The production does come off plastic and fresh ideas are few, the duo having explored most of all they can the decade prior. That don't matter though, as Eat Static going through the motions outclasses nearly any other psy act into touch.

I may not enjoy the sheen this album comes in, but I cannot deny the space it provides all these fun, quirky sounds Eat Static throws into their tunes. Everything comes in crystal clear, and those soaring space melodies have seldom sounded more brilliant than they do in Trantaloid, Brassneck, and Tractor Beam. Oh, speaking of Tractor Beam, holy shit, does this song rock! Eat Static's dabbled in jungle before with great results, but this cut stands tall and proud with anything they’ve ever done. Why the hell did I overlook this before? God, was I an idiot.

Even within De-Classified's limited ‘for the party’ scope, their alien mojo is in as fine of form as ever. Strong hooks courtesy of Visitors and Trantaloid; fun downtempo funk in Invaders and Panchama; groove-heavy psy freakouts in Deadly Amphibian and Brassneck; even that full-on track (Sin-Quest) is good. I'd still put albums like Abduction and Science Of The Gods as better overall CDs, but De-Classified has enough going for it that any casual fan of latter-day psy should give it a shot.

One problem though: this thing's hard to come by, at least at reasonable prices. It’s rare to find used copies under the $20 mark, much less a brand new one. There’s MP3 versions, but something tells me the old Eat Static mark’s gonna want his physical copy. To that end, unless you happen upon a deal, De-Classified isn’t worth that much investment. Seeing as how this remains their last proper full-length though, it’d be unfortunate if it goes disregarded due to scarcity (rather than stupid ignorance in my case).

Spicelab - A Day On Our Planet

Harthouse America: 1995

I got this shortly after my Dark Hearts 1 experience, the familiar Harthouse logo and Lieb production credits assuring me this was a can’t miss album. Well no, it was actually the charming 90s CG cover art that drew me in, thereby allowing the above to do the rest when I flipped it over. Something seemed off though. Only four tracks? My relatively young experience with trance music couldn’t fathom it, most prior bought compilations and albums holding at least ten to twelve cuts. Okay, these were long songs, averaging between fifteen and twenty minutes each, but I’d never heard trance music of such length before. How could it be done?

Intros, that’s it. Extended ambient soundscapes building atmosphere before proper rhythms and melodies hit. And don’t execute just one single musical idea either, expand upon it, then change things up midway through, creating different parts and sections like a prog rock opus. Don’t forget those outros either. And should you feel inclined to take an odd tangent, by all means go for it! There, fifteen minutes easily taken care of.

I recall reading that Oliver Lieb considered his Spicelab alias an outlet for experiments, even when staying within the confines of whatever sound typified hard electronic music of the time. This coming out during the first wave of trance, there’s definitely an undercurrent of sci-fi delights and spacey melody, coming up strong in up-front hooks on Falling and We Have Spice. On the other half of the album, hard tech-edged and electro sounds dominate, anything resembling a hook often shunted to the side except at key points - vintage voice pads at the climax of A Day On Our Planet and orchestral stabs at the end of Planet Spice. Throughout it all, nothing feels superfluous, though sometimes Lieb does take his sweet time getting to the point.

Oh, and beats? Seeing as how the first two cuts are straight-forward enough, the rhythms tend to be functional, but ‘functional Lieb beats’ outclasses many, so that’s fine here. Things get wonky on the back-half, with an odd pattern in A Day On Our Planet that somehow remains 4/4, and tougher techno dominating Planet Spice. Of course, anyone familiar with his forays into blistering tech-trance under the L.S.G. or S.O.L. monikers won’t be that thrown off, but it’s definitely enough to make these tunes a challenge for the doe-eyed trancecracker discovering Spicelab.

A Day On Our Planet is worth your time and pennies if you’re looking for trance that dares to break with convention, as there’s been scant little like this released after. Why is that, exactly? Techno and house are still releasing twenty minute long tracks, even though they’re often nothing more than slowly evolving loops. Come on, trance producers, let’s see more attempts at tunes breaking the fifteen minute barrier. I know there’s a few of you out there with the production chops, the musical ingenuity, and the gargantuan ball sacks to make it happen.

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon

Capitol Records: 1973

One of two Pink Floyd albums you're supposed to have even if you're not much of a Pink Floyd fan. Hell, it's one of about a dozen rock albums you're supposed to have even if you're not much of a rock music fan. I do likes me some rockin' and some rollin', but the Floyds never hooked me, which is odd considering how much of a Banco de Gaia fanboy I am. Maybe I'll fall sway to their mopey, trippy charms some day.

You don't need to digest their discography to enjoy Dark Side Of The Moon though. This is a very good record, great, classic even. Don't take my word for it, just ask every single rock publication that has ever existed ever. Or if you don't believe me, throw on your local classic rock station to hear it for yourself. Chances are you'll hear almost all of it throughout the course of a day, maybe even the whole thing if you happen across a Pink Floyd tribute hour.

Still, this is an electronic music blog (most of the time), so I suppose I should mention some of the electronic things on this album. There's On The Run, the bloopy synth-effects second track that every young raver hears for the first time and thinks, “Holy shit, Pink Floyd could do that!? Maybe there's a remix of it!” And then they find said remix, which is nothing more than a 909 kick added or something equally lame, coming away disappointed by the wasted potential. Not that I was such a young raver, mind, but I did come across a few who thought they'd stumbled upon something revolutionary when discovering some white label bootleg of On The Run (Added Kick Mix).

Fortunately, there’re better remix efforts of Dark Side Of The Moon over the years, including Dub Side Of The Moon by the Easy Star All-Stars that got a lot of positive press at the time. I don't have that one, nor am I inclined to hear it if I'm honest. I like dub and I like Dark Side, but not at the same time, which is funny considering the studio trickery occurring in this album could be considered dub music as well.

Y’know, if I’m being honest about that, I’ll be honest about this: I wasn’t in the mood to hear Dark Side right now. It’s music that lets you savour a strong mope, best enjoyed on gray, wet, miserable, morning-after days that folks claim perfectly captures England’s stiff upper lip. I was in a good mood, dammit. The sky was blue and full of sun. I got new music in the mail. A lab mark I thought would bomb came back a near perfect. My back didn’t hurt. I had ice in my glass. Cheers, Mr. Pink & His Floyds, for ruining my day. Why do I have this again? Oh yeah, because I’m supposed to have it.

Alright, the music’s good too, great, classic even.

Afrika Bambaataa - Dark Matter Moving At The Speed Of Light (2012 Update)

Tommy Boy: 2004

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.)

It’s time for a confession. I knew about Afrika Bambaataa within my first year of enjoying 'techno', even heard a couple tracks. I didn't know who he was though, until nearly three years later, and even then I had no idea of his legacy. I can only claim pre-internet teenage ignorance, but far as I was concerned, ol' Bam' was responsible for such euro-dance hits like Feel The Vibe and Feeling Irie, thus he was a euro-dance guy, but not as successful as major players like 2 Unlimited, Haddaway, or Culture Beat. Hang your head in shame, teenage Sykonee. Hang it low.

No doubt, that contributed to me covering Dark Matter Moving At The Speed Of Light for TranceCritic, as I hoped whatever trancecracker readers we acquired at the time would learn something about the Godfather Of Hip-Hop (a.k.a.: the Amen Ra Of Universal Hip-Hop Culture; a.k.a.: the Father Of The Electro Funk Sound; a.k.a.: the Grand Poobah Of Funky Vox; a.k.a.: the...). Sadly, it was one of my early stupid-long reviews, so who knows if my goal was achieved.

Where does this leave us now, nearing a decade on? Limbo, I guess. Make no mistake, this is still a solid album, even if the back-end drags, but it came out when crunk reigned supreme. The positive party vibe of Bambaataa’s music couldn’t cut it against the raw, sloppy aggression from Lil’ Jon’s factory. The other side of club culture didn’t pick up on this either. Only Metal got played out, though I suspect it was DJs making use of an updated version of a Gary Numan classic.

No matter what he does in the twilight of his career, Bambaataa’s legacy will remain intact. Cuts like Planet Rock and Looking For The Perfect Beat are guaranteed to play out for several years to come (hopefully without any silly trend-whoring remixes along the way). It’s just a shame his last proper album failed to carry on his resurgence brought about in the late 90s, when everything about its execution dictated it should have.

Or... I dunno. If folks won’t throw some love for Dark Matter, how about his euro-dance years? Yes, yes! Oh come on, how can you resist such goofy hoover fun like Pupunanny? What, you prefer that UB40 collaboration? An old roommate had that on vinyl. I wasn’t even tempted to hear it. Yeah, working with Fort Knox Five in recent years was definitely the wiser choice for ol’ Bam’s résumé. And of course there was Leftfield, James Brown, Uberzone, Adamski, Westbam, Black Devil Disco Club (no, not Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), several others...

Okay, ol’ Bam’s done good for himself. Do yourself good too and check this album out if you haven’t already.

Various - Dark Hearts 2: A Harthouse Compilation

Harthouse America: 1995

I knew this existed for as long as I knew Dark Hearts 1 existed, as they both appeared on the 'dark trance' list I recently reminisced about. Unlike the first volume though, this turned into quite the elusive little CD to find. It probably didn't have to be, as a search on Amazon likely would have located a cheap used copy if I waited long enough, with most old Harthouse America CDs plentiful there. Instead, I played the patient game, waiting for it to turn up in a shop I happened to be browsing through, perhaps as a silly attempt at CD-buying nostalgia as it was how I found the first one.

No, wait, that's not right. I was hesitant. When I finally looked up proper info regarding Dark Hearts 2 in the infant Discogs, something about it seemed off. The cover was colder, uninviting. The tracklist lacked many of the names that made the first one such a classic. For sure, it was intriguing, but a hunch told me it couldn't live up to the expectations set out by Dark Hearts 1, thus I allowed it to slip from my “Must Have” list, falling to the “If I Stumble Upon It” one instead.

Turns out my hunch was correct. Had I bought this in my trancecracker year, I’d have dismissed it outright. A lot older and a little wiser now, I find things interesting and enjoyable among these ten tracks, but nothing revolutionary or unique either. The inlay tries to make the case that Dark Hearts 2 is about exploring new ground in techno, discovering where the genre could go next in the year of 1995. Admirable in ambition, but the results aren’t terribly revolutionary, even for then.

Mostly, we get attempts at jazz-techno fusion. Alter Ego turn in a strong cut, though it’s not surprising they’d be ace at it given some of their early work wouldn’t sound out of place in an alien lounge. Neil Landstrumm, Braincell, and Hardfloor also have a go, Hardfloor’s Pepper Penalty the best of this lot because, well, acid (thick, slow breakbeats don’t hurt either). The other half of Dark Hearts 2 consists of more traditional techno, though each cut offering something experimental to spice things up. Aside from BCJ’s Boulderdash (an alias of CJ Bolland), I just ain’t feelin’ these - Thor Inc.’s Here Comes The Sun is particularly annoying, sounding muffled as though my ears need popping. All wasn’t lost though, as Frank de Wulf’s Drums In A Grip was a track I wanted for years but could never find. Yay for that.

Ultimately, what makes Dark Hearts 2 a lesser compilation than the first one is its lack of cohesion. Dark Hearts 1 showcased an excellent roster of producers and their spacey music, plus crafted an otherworldly narrative with partial blends between tracks. That’s not the case here, tracks starting and stopping without flow, and the tone grounded by jazz cabarets in warehouses down the streets of Detroit.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Creepin On Ah Come Up

Ruthless Records: 1994

Just when I thought I was out of the 'C's, I get pulled back in. I'd actually hoped to cover this in proper order but circumstances dictated otherwise. While doing the two Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Collections, I realized an oversight on my part: a lack of owning their classic debut EP Creepin' On Ah Come Up, primarily due to never seeing much point in getting it when a pair of its songs already appeared on The Collection, Vol. 1. It became one of many, many releases filed under my “Get If Have Ample Disposable Income” list. Fast forward, and I have ample disposable income. May as well get on filling in some blanks, right? Shame Vancouver now sucks for music shopping, so yay Amazon, but boo waiting on delivery.

Even in my 'meh, rap, whatever' years, I was familiar with Creepin'. This and Bone Thugs' proper debut full-length E. 1999 Eternal were quite popular in the town I spent most of my teenage/young adult life, regularly selling out at the electronics store I worked at. I think this one sold better, on account it was the cheaper of the two so even the poorest of teens could buy it. I know I heard it at some point, but it never sunk in for me then, probably because Creepin' sounded too typical of West Coast thug rap for my untrained ears to appreciate. Man, was I ever ignorant to hip-hop then.

The two classics from this are Thuggish Ruggish Bone and Foe Tha Love Of $, which I already talked about. Rounding things out are two (yes, two!) intros, the proper first that Eazy-E and Yella produced, and the second Mr. Ouija, where the group makes their presence felt. Given the group’s known melodic harmonies, the occult themes surrounding these two are surprising. In fact, this whole EP lacks the gentle tones of later work, instead keeping things raw and aggressive while maintaining their cohesion as a tight ensemble (guess they’d yet to be swept away in calming weed bliss).

The other three cuts are No Surrender, Down Foe My Thang, and the titular Creepin’. No Surrender probably could have been included on all those ‘best of’ releases, but since it’s similar to Thuggish Ruggish Bone, I can see why it wasn’t; still, kick-ass talkbox action to be had there. Grittier Down Foe My Thang and the titular Creepin’ are strong tracks too, but strictly album orientated material. For a mini-album as strong as this one though, that’s hardly a bad thing.

If you’re ready to take the Bone Thugs plunge beyond their Collections, this likely isn’t the best place to start; rather, try the platinum edition of E. 1999 Eternal which includes Creepin’ as a bonus disc. As for myself, I wanted to get this separate because it makes my CD collection look bigger. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT A GUY WITH A BIG CD COLLECTION, AMIRITE!?

(he ain’t shit compared to the guy with the big vinyl collection.)

Various - Dark Hearts 1: A Harthouse Compilation (2012 Update)

Harthouse America: 1995

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

So this was going to happen eventually too. I've already written a review for Dark Hearts, and it's already on this blog. What now? Well, if you're interested in the musical content, follow the link above to brave my early crummy writing. For this post, I'm going one-hundred percent anecdotal on your asses, so feel free to skip if tales of CD purchases bore.

In 1997, I was in full-blown trancecracker mode, having finally cast off all lingering eurodance interest but dismissive of anything outside the realm of energetic, acid space music. Unfortunately, my regular resource for it, the label Hypnotic Records, was no longer satisfying my need; hard German trance was fine for a while, but quite tired in ninty-seven. Seeing as how the internets proved useful in recommending material for my other ongoing passion of ambient dub, I fired up the ol' Webcrawler in search of lists of trance music.

This probably seems impossible to fathom for trancecrackers following the '99/2000 era, but finding info on trance wasn't so easy at that time. There was nothing like Discogs, no online radio stations or MP3 sharing, and wide publicity for the genre was still in its infancy, Oakenfold's ridiculously popular Tranceport more than a year away. I'd seen a few other compilations around like the Psychotrance series from Moonshine and the old Studio !K7 X-Mix videos, but wanted to dig a bit deeper. What would reveal itself to me on those old websites?

Eventually, I stumbled upon a site that not only listed a good hundred releases, but had even sorted them by genre. At the time, I was only aware of three types of trance: regular trance (re: underground/German), psychedelic goa trance (they were interchangeable far as I was concerned), and club trance. What the devil were all these other sub-genres? Progressive trance? Dark trance? Man, too much to remember, much less afford to buy. Moving on.

A couple months later, while browsing through one of my favorite music shops in Vancouver, I noticed a CD that I remembered from the 'dark trance' list, Dark Hearts. And hey, I recognized a couple names from other compilations I’d bought: Sven Väth and Alter Ego. Sure, I’ll give it a shot.

And lo, I threw that disc on back home, heard the opening haunting intro to Metal Master’s Spectrum, and instantly knew I’d made a purchase that would get heavy rotation from me for many years to come.

Dark Hearts pretty much closed the door on one aspect of German trance for me, and opened a whole new one, introducing me to such artists as Oliver Lieb, Pete Namlook, and Ralf Hildenbeutel. Anytime I noticed the Harthouse logo, I’d snatch that CD up. To say it was influential in developing my taste in trance music would be a vast understatement, easily ranking top five of such compilations were I to ever make such a list. And yet, that’s not quite the end of this tale...

Various - Dance To The Underground

Muzik Magazine: 2003

Right, disco punk. I fell head over heels for the stuff when it first (re)emerged in the early 00s, largely thanks to this free CD from Muzik Magazine. Well, that and the rag’s glowing exposé on the ascendant scene that James Murphy and his DFA label helped popularize. Though electroclash still had some momentum, the writing was on the wall the genre wasn’t going to last much longer. So, here comes disco punk to pick up the pieces!

Where it excelled - and for me appealed - was refining the DIY attitude clashcorewhatever did into something musically intuitive. It still sounded raw and intentionally under produced, but rather than borrow from electro synth pop, it borrowed from disco-funk and new wave rock. It made perfect sense to be heard in dingy basement clubs that held no more than a hundred, served cheap hi-balls and forced you to share but one single-stall bathroom with the opposite sex. It’s about as punk as club culture ever allowed itself to be, and for someone having just moved back to the big city, I was sold on the romanticism this New York City bred scene projected.

A CD like this didn’t hurt either. Mixed by DFA, it’s not a brilliant set, but it is an excellent primer into the world of disco punk as it existed in 2003. All the heavy hitters are accounted for: Metro Area, The Juan MacLean, Playgroup, The Rapture, Le Tigre, and both James Murphy projects DFA and LCD Soundsystem. Oh, and Fischerspooner’s Emerge is here as well, but in DFA’d remixed form, turned into quite a minimalist bit of dance music compared to the raucous original. About the only thing missing from this list is a band with exclamation marks.

Given the amount of DFA remixes and label mates, Dance To The Underground probably seems more like a promotional disc than a proper showcase of disco punk. To be fair, DFA pretty much was disco punk in that year, and their influence led to the rise of the scene proper as it migrated out from New York City. It’d be like complaining about a free CD of late 80s acid house that prominently featured artists from Trax Records.

Dance To The Underground has gone on to be one of my favorite pre-party sets. The only thing keeping me from recommending it is the fact it’s not a commercially available disc. It’s not a difficult collection of tracks to gather up anyway, many available through various channels or ‘best of disco punk’ compilations. Aside from the DFA remixes, there’s nothing monumentally unique about this a decade on. Even the mixing’s only adequate because, well, it’s just a free magazine CD. It might be worth dropping a couple dollars if you find it super-cheap in a used shop though, if you don’t mind paying for something that was initially given away to sell magazines.

That doesn’t seem very punk, does it?

Dillinja - Cybotron

FFRR: 2001

When darkside jungle emerged, Dillinja was a king among the other players. His army of bassbin demolishing tracks fuelled by sci-fi funk made sure few could stand against. Thus, like all breakout acts of those mid-90s heroes, he left his fans waiting anxiously for a proper full-length debut to complement his EP legacy, already rich with classics like The Angels Fell, Threshold, and Silver Blade.

Figures he wouldn’t release one until the new millennium, well after darkside was practically deceased from the drum n’ bass consciousness. Does this mean he tried jumping on trendier bandwagons that were occurring in the year of two-thousand and one? Nah, mate, he kept it old-school, producing an album that would have been deemed a classic by many had he released it five years prior. Instead, all that tardiness and refusal to change with the jungle scene left Cybotron overlooked by all but the faithful. I mean, have you heard what Hospital Records are releasing? Or that John B guy? That’s the future, right? Ah, man, fuck that future, Karl Francis is staying true to his sound, and that’s punishing, grimey bass anthems.

I don’t know if Cybotron really was slept on back then, but I sure didn’t know he had an album out, and I kept as close of tabs on all those classic darkside artists as I could while stuck in the hinterlands of Canada. I can’t recall much press, talk of acts like High Contrast and Bad Company getting most of the d’n’b publicity. For all intents, this album passed by and was forgotten, lacking any sort of classic like his previous productions or follow-up hits like Grimey and Twist ‘Em Out. Correct me if I’m wrong, jungle mahsive, but that’s just how I recall it in my corner of the world.

So is this a poor album? Not at all, as it delivers exactly what darkside fans want. Of course, that would come off dated in 2001, but over a decade later, the sound has become favorably vintage, context be damned. If you fancy the aforementioned sci-fi funk and bass that comes pre-distorted, this is the album for you. Mind, it does get a bit tedious towards the end, a few tracks coming off like B-Sides. Guess Dillinja couldn’t quite kick that EP habit even in long-player form.

And don’t worry, fans of variety, it’s not all darkside all the time. Mixing things up are a few soulful numbers with guest female vocalists. Also of interesting note is the track Human B Bop, using what sounds like a beatboxer to create a pure street-funk workout.

If you’re new to this whole jungle thing, I wouldn’t call Cybotron an essential listen, as there’s far better collections of darkside out there (including Dillinja’s retrospective My Sound (1993-2004), of which no Cybotron tracks made it on, incidentally). If you’ve already dipped your toes, however, and need more of that darkside fix, then definitely scope this album out.