L.S.G. - Rendezvous In Outer Space (2015 Update)

Superstition: 1995

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.)

A do-over for the L.S.G. debut album? Eh, I don't think that's necessary. Technically, that review I wrote for TranceCritic a decade ago (!!) was my second go at Rendezvous In Outer Space, the first a blurb on Lord Discogs. Yeah, I was carrying a torch for the CD back in the day, hoping to get all the young trance fans hype to some proper, authentic, genuine, indisputable, legitimate, um, authoritative, uh... twenty-four carat...? Are you messing with me, Online Thesaurus?

Point being, I felt like a man on a mission in ye’ olde year of 2004, a strident, determined soul set upon the harsh environment of internet web forums filled with ‘noobs’. They were gonna’ learn some history, gosh darned it, understand that trance did not, in fact, begin with Tiësto’s In Search Of Sunrise or Armin’s A State Of Trance. Oliver Lieb is the don of this scene, sons and daughters, the Godfather, the King Kahuna, the Khan, the Czar, the Duke and Duchess, the potentate, the oligarch, the overlord, the, um, rex, uh... the ‘crowned head’? Dammit, Online Thesaurus, you suck sometimes, you really do.

Obviously, I was a fool in turning the L.S.G. discography into weapons for a trance jihad, even subtly hijacking a young, hopeful trance website for my own nefarious plans. I shouldn’t be forcing my interests and opinions down the ears, eyes, and throats of fresh fans of a genre because I feel their current heroes are pale imitations of the real deal. See, there I go again - believing my taste superior than theirs because I have better albums in my possession (you know it’s true!). I cannot deny it though: Rendezvous In Outer Space should be mandatory listening for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of the genre. Lieb helped lay down so much of the groundwork future producers would emulate, why deny the roots of a form of music one purports to love? I mean, any metal fan worth his rock-salt dutifully digests the works of Black Sabbath – L.S.G. deserves the same respect, yo’.

Okay, enough of that torch. For one thing, there’s nothing else to prove with this argument. Those who’ve stuck with trance in the ten years since eventually came around to ol’ Oliver’s music regardless. It’s kinda’ hard not to look to the past when the present kept turning to such crap, right? More than that though, I no longer see music as tools for crusades, quite content in enjoying it for my own reasons and sharing my thoughts with those who are willing to hear or read. Oh yeah, I’m totally turning into that old guy sitting on the park bench with Sennheiser headphones feeding the raving raccoons. What makes Rendezvous In Outer Space so peerless, they ask, and I tell them, I tell them I says, “Hear how Lieb uses percussion for maximum effect with minimal fuss? By g’ar, that’s some mighty fine trance beat craftsmanship there, the likes you don’t see any more, b’gosh.”

Various - Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 12 - James Zabiela (Original TC Review)

Renaissance: 2009

(2015 Update:
Oh yeah, I called it for sure. CD1 still sounds great, timeless, and class; CD2 is aging so poorly it hurts. Dear God, I didn't give that 'Reconstruction' of Energy Flash enough shit. What the Hell are Huggy & Newton even doing with the acid? It sounds like a sick duck quacking. And shame on you, James, for including such a crap cover in your mix. Stick to the original, mate, always. MAOR field recordings too!

Ol' Zabs returned to The Masters Series for its 15th edition, which I haven't heard. However, seeing as how he has Boys Noize follow Peter Benisch in that mix, tickle me intrigued. He's since drifted away from the commercial DJ mix market, offering up several free MP3 mixes online instead, including a running series called Paradigm Shift. While I don't doubt it's provided him a greater sense of creative freedom, it'd be nice to see him return to the mix CD scene too. Come on, Balance, grease him palms a little...)


IN BRIEF: Almost there.

So much for being ‘the next Sasha.’

Actually, that’s unfair. I doubt James Zabiela ever wanted such an association. Be that as it may though, it was a handle he earned very early in his career when he toured with the iconic British DJ, even teaching the old chap a few new tricks along the way. Then, when Zabiela paired off with Nic Fanciulli a few years back, promoters and paid journalists figured they had a new Sasha & Digweed in the making, and eagerly pushed them as such. Unfortunately, although their One + One release got reasonable reviews and the subsequent tours were generally successful, they were never able to build upon that momentum, and they’ve been in relative stasis since as hip upstarts took the limelight. Might all that early promise in Zab’s career be disappearing into unfulfilled hype?

That’s a stupid question (but oh such a tempting segue, eh?) –James’ skill as a DJ is just as competent as ever. What’s still up in the air, however, is whether he’ll ever release a mix CD that will attain the ‘classic’ status Papa Sasha has repeatedly done. On the twelfth edition of Renaissance’s Masters Series, Zabiela has come about as close to doing so as he ever has.

Being the ambitious technical geek that he is, James wasn’t satisfied in providing ‘just another mix’, and, as seems to be quite the trend of late, got his conceptual on. The gimmick is this: Zabiela took a mini-recorder around with him for a while and recorded various sounds and speeches to make use of; then, after much studio tinkering, crafted a true musical journey of a mix.

The CD starts on a mellow tip, which will be the general theme maintained for much of its running time. Yeah, as per the Down title, this is mostly a downtempo set. Fear not, though, as it neither rambles nor dawdles – in fact, despite obvious transitions and changes of tempo, Zabiela has crafted an incredibly engaging and evolving mix. Sets of chill music are at their best when it feels like you’re being taken on a sight-seeing tour of various moods, atmospheres and soundscapes, all the while always making progress on the trip. Not only has James accomplished this here, but by making use of his samples, he’s given his chosen songs stronger context in the sort of story he aims to tell. For instance, how about a bit of melancholy dialogue regarding losing our humanity as a bridge between the somber minimalist Pattern 4 from Cyan341 and the warm, fuzzy nostalgic tones of Boards Of Canada’s Amo Bishop Roden? There are plenty of lovely little bits like this scattered throughout the mix.

Towards the end, Zabs starts cranking the BPMs up a notch – several notches, actually. Esky’s Number Station establishes a fitting sci-fi setting before IDM-breaks mainstays Plaid are given a chance to take off, reminding us just how sublimely exhilarating these guys have been throughout their career. And while the ‘two-step prog-house’ of Quivver obviously can’t compare to Marry, John Graham’s offering still makes for a worthy contemporary set closer, with Departing Gates’s blissful piano tones providing a fitting coda to the CD.

Overall, I’d rate Zabiela’s set just as good as anything you’d have expected from the prog DJ legends of the 90s – yes, even Sasha’s sets from Northern Exposure. Don’t miss out on this excellent CD from The Masters Series!

Eh? You say there’s two CDs to talk about here? No there isn’t.

Okay, there is, but can’t we just ignore it? It’s not worth getting into. No, really, it’s not. *sigh*

CD2 is called Up, but Down is more up than this disc. The BPMs may be geared for the dancefloor, but there’s very little ‘up’ about these beats. For the most part, this is an ‘I are serious techno DJ’ set, with rhythms that plod along, atmosphere that remains in k-hole murk, and generally very little fun. Despite the sounds and effects never being outright awful, it’s just agonizingly dull to endure - especially so is Zabiela’s own Darkness.2, which is little more than an extended effects wank-a-thon. The set has an alright start with Paul Woolford’s Surrender, but forget about anything being built upon it. Komytea’s Professional Killers nearly rescues us from the middling affair - it at least has some decent groove - but is quickly undone when the track doesn’t really lead anywhere, and James falls back on boring techno-stomp right after. Of course, the pointless cover–sorry, ‘reconstruction’ of Energy Flash will get your attention, in that it’s such a recognizable anthem, but it isn’t until the tail end of Perseverance that things finally pick up. Love You All makes a valiant effort to bring some proper fun back into the mix, but Luomo and Apparat’s track is far too little too late. Even Zabiela doesn’t seem too fussed with this set, as he only adds his walkabout samples at the bookends, not bothering to create the same kind of concept that worked excellently on CD1.

Up just can’t compare to Down in any way. It lacks the first set’s finesse, creativity, spunk, emotion… Hell, anything. And as a standalone, forget it. With tech-plod sets of this sort all over the place, there’s nothing about it to recommend. I hope CD2 isn’t meant to be a representation of what Zabiela plays at the clubs – I’d be spending a very long time at the bar were I hearing this out live.

Masters Series 12 is totally schizophrenic. One half is brilliant, the other not; one half makes a strong argument that Zabiela deserves all the hype, the other makes a strong argument that good prog DJs are dull techno DJs; one half will get repeated plays, the other will collect dust. Mind you, this isn’t a 5/10 release by any stretch, but a mediocre CD2 makes paying a two-disc price for a great CD1 mighty painful.

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

Groove Armada - The Remixes

Jive Electro: 1999/2000

I'm sure taking my sweet time in tackling a proper Groove Armada album, aren't I? First it was that DJ mix provided by Muzik Magazine as a freebie CD, and now it's a remix collection. Bro, do I not even like Groove Armada, bro? I ask myself that often, always coming to the same answer of a bewildered “I don't know.” I think I like Groove Armada, pretty sure they've never led me astray in the odd times I've dabbled their discography. Hell, I have The Remixes, the sort of release only hardcore fans ever bother with. I don't remember why I got this – I assume because I liked what I heard, enough that it survived the Great CD Pawning Of 2002. And yet, I lack so many of their LPs, only grabbing Vertigo because it was the only Groove Armada album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Groove Armada fan. Something just don't add up in this equation. Ah well, musing for whenever I reach the 'V's.

Vertigo itself was hugely successful, gaining even more commercial clout when Fatboy Slim offered up a big-beaty remix of the hit single I See You Baby (shaking that ass, shaking that ass). That remix isn’t on here though. Cue Dark Helmet .gif if you bought The Remixes thinking it was. Surprisingly, in its original UK format, there weren’t any rubs of that tune, while the American version gets a standard tribal house go from Futureshock slotted at the very end as an afterthought. What does The Remixes think it is, some sort of original LP experience? Absolutely it does, guy.

Truth is, despite earning all the pounds and shillings, Vertigo only spawned two singles (At The River was released a couple years prior), so it’s not like they had a huge abundance of options for a full-length remix package. Rather, Groove Armada outsourced rubs for seven of the original album’s tunes, plus added an alternative remix of B-side Rap. The first few cuts are fine for what they are, Akasha (jazzy d’n’b), DJ Icey (breaks, d’uh), and DJ Dan (thump house) bringing their distinct styles to Pre 63, If Everybody Looked The Same and Chicago, respectively. It’s also quite the genre hopping out the gate, lending The Remixes to the sort of collection you’d expect out of such a title – a pile of tracks useful for DJs or hardcore fans, but not worth a casual home listen.

However, rather subtly, the CD becomes something more. A little deep house from Attaboy, some groovy jazz-soul care of Time “Love” Lee, a spice of funky downtempo breaks business provided by Kinobe, and a trip-hop outing from Natural Born Grooves (using an alias of Elephant, for some reason). You’re likely seeing a pattern here, and it’s a good one, a vibey flow on a compilation where there shouldn’t be, one you don’t mind returning to sometime down the line. And that, my friends, is why The Remixes is still with me.

Yes - Relayer

Atlantic: 1974/1995

Holy cow, another rock album? That's, what, four in the last week alone? Who'd have thought the letter 'R' would hold so much of the stuff. This time out, we return to the realms of prog rock, that most pretentious of all rock 'n' roll forms. It's been a while since I last dealt with a Yes LP, and hoo-wee, is it ever a doozy. The band had just come off the Topographic Oceans tour, though more of a slog should you hear Rick Wakeman describe it. The album in support has long been considered the exact moment prog rock had transcended cleverness into self-parody, which isn't entirely accurate – after all, the '80s still loomed. But yes, a double-LP with four songs running twenty-plus minutes each was overboard, especially when tied to such a nebulous theme as- You know what, forget it. Explaining it would eat up two reviews alone.

With Relayer however, Yes decided another musical challenge was required, this time tackling nothing less than Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace, while adding jazz-fusion into their prog-rocky mix. Wait, where are you going? No, this is awesome, I swear it is! The main song on here, The Gates Of Delirium, is broader in its war theme than a chronicle of Napoleon’s campaign against the Tsars – it could be any ol’ battle, heck even a Tolkien conflict! Roger Dean’s cover art suggests more of a fantasy setting than any place on Earth, and I get something of a Wizards vibe from the piece too. And if Led Zepplin can make music about hobbits with cred’ intact, why not Yes? Oh yeah, that Topographics thing. They’ll never live that one down.

The Gates Of Delirium though, aw man, is this ever a beast of a tune. It starts out all jaunty and chipper, soldiers calm and ready to head off for battle, the music soon changing into a strident march. Some eight minutes in, everything grows urgent, the pace picking up, and all sorts of crazy jams, sounds, crashes, rhythms, guitar squalls and utter chaos ensues, a glorious psychedelic freak-out that explodes into triumphant bombast, Steve Howe’s Telecasters soaring high and proud after a hard fought victory. Following that, the song goes calm, quiet, and soothing, a steel pedal guitar gliding about like a KLF ambient moment (wait...). I guess this is the peace that follows war, though the way Jon Anderson sings, it sounds more like beaten warriors have ascended heaven. Interpretations obviously vary.

The other two tracks are Sound Chaser, a total rock-jazz-psych-prog jam-out with a kick-ass guitar solo (seriously, Howe was on fire on this album – guess he was anxious to try out his new toys). Plus, a charming ditty in To Be Over, a pleasant enough outing (more steel pedal!), but comes off overindulgent for my liking – yes, on an album that features a bloody war re-enactment. Still, The Gates Of Delirium is one of the essentials of prime-era Yes, easily worth the price of admission.

The Police - Reggatta de Blanc

A&M Records: 1979

With Reggatta de Blanc, The Police went from catchy punk oddities to catchy ‘cod reggae’ oddities, and scored the big number one on the UK charts in doing so. Man, why do so many ‘reggae by white rock groups’ always hit the charts like that? I can see it happening the late ‘70s, when reggae was growing in popularity, but that trend continues to this day. Why don’t folks vibe on the authentic stuff more? It’s not like understanding the lyrics is crucial or anything – I sure can’t understand what them Jamaicans are going on about most of the time. At least The Police had the sense approaching the genre with both respect and tongue planted firmly in cheek, fully admitting in the title of the album that, yes, you’re in for some ‘white reggae’ (and a little post-punk).

This is The Police album no one’s embarrassed having in their collection. Like, Outlandos might be a bit too punky, Zenyatta a bit too simple, Ghost a bit too weird, and Synchronicity a bit too ‘80s, but Reggatta? Everyone loves that one, even if they only remember a few songs off of it. Message In A Bottle is the big one though, scoring the band their first number one single in the UK, plus Top 10 in several others (not in America though – guess they’d yet to catch onto reggae-rock). It’s hard denying the song craft involved in this one, an instantly memorable guitar hook complemented by some of Copeland’s best drumming and one of Sting’s all-time greatest pieces of lyricism. You can take the tale literally, of an unlucky chap lost at sea, or metaphorically, a sad soul alone in the world, each equally vivid in its narration. I’m not just blowing smoke up The Police’s asses either, each member often claiming Message In A Bottle one of their finest moments as a band.

That tight musicianship is prevalent throughout Reggatta de Blanc, even with a rather slap-dash approach to writing. Story goes they didn’t have much idea of an album going in, running with whatever material they could come up with on the fly. Fortunately, they hang off so many winning hooks and lyrics throughout, their musical indulgences are allowed. Give us all that weightless reverb in Walking On The Moon! Mr. Summers, you go right ahead with those rhythmic reverb diddly-dos on your guitar in The Bed’s Too Big Without You! Mr. Copeland, all those wonderful drum fills in Deathwish, don’t you stop! And boys, with the titular cut, what a build!

Mind you, this isn’t a perfect album by any means. The punk holdovers like It’s Alright For You and No Time This Time aren’t as good as the Outlandos material, and Copeland’s novelty tunes (hilariously cynical On Any Other Day, bass-fuzz Contact, and piano ditty Does Everyone Stare) are strictly fans-only. With such a timeless cut like Message In A Bottle on hand though, it’s hard not becoming a fan of The Police thereafter.

Solar Fields - Reflective Frequencies

Ultimae Records: 2001/2008

You’d think Solar Fields’ debut album would get talked up often, but it’s hardly ever mentioned. For most, Magnus Birgersson’s project starts whenever they were first exposed to one of his later albums. The psy scene caught on to him with Blue Moon Station, the trance scene joined in with EarthShine, and most chill-out aficionados hitched their wagons with Movements. I’m sure late-comers were aware older Solar Fields LPs existed, but only the hardcore would invest in them, in part due to scarcity of limited issue runs. Then again, if you’re really curious, there’s always the digital realm, but that’s denying experiencing a Solar Fields album proper-like, hard copy in hand on a full sound system. You know I’m right!

*Ahem*. In all seriousness, I think Reflective Frequencies goes neglected because of how un-Solar Fieldsy it generally sounds. While Mr. Birgersson often hops genres with every full-length outing, he always retains a distinct emotional core within his music that’s uniquely his own, a warmth that can melt the coldest of hearts. Such attributes are seriously lacking on his debut though, where sound experiments and stark ambient techno rule the day. In all honesty, Reflective Frequencies sounds very much like a Future Sound Of London album, and I’ve no doubt you could fool a casual listener of that should one be so tempted to.

There’s future-shock trip-hop (6.7, Blue Light…, …Red Vortex, Inherit Velocity, Zero Rotation), cybernetic sound collages (Echoing Spectrum, Self Transforming Experience (First Movement), Overlapping Particles, Nea 3, Breathing Neutron Empire), and trippy ambient techno as heard echoing through dead cities (Floating Channels, Zone 12, Outlined Surfaces). Tell me those descriptors don't sound like a long lost mid-’90s FSOL album. And dammit, I know I shouldn’t make that comparison, but it’s hard shaking off. If you add a little extra psychedelia and a conceptual narrative to Reflective Frequencies, you’d have the album most folks expected Cobain and Dougans to deliver about the same year rather than The Isness.

Which still isn’t the best selling point for a Solar Fields debut album, is it? Ah well, for an ‘ambient techno by way of FSOL’ LP, Reflective Frequencies is plenty good, and contain little touches throughout that hint at the music Mr. Birgersson would craft in the future. Zero Rotation has a small amount of prog groove bubbling underneath, while Self Transforming Experience (Second Movement) and Outlined Surfaces are more in line with sort of psy-chill Ultimae was interested in promoting going forward. It wouldn’t surprise me if ol’ Magnus felt compelled to fall lock-step with the blissy vibes of the psy scene rather than continue exploring harsh electronics.

The liner notes mention Reflective Frequencies was recorded in 1999, and does it ever sound like a ‘90s album, many sections fitting for a cyberpunk thriller or PC game. It’s an odd outlier in the Solar Fields and Ultimae canon, an example of both producer and label still discovering their latent talents in a cybernetic realm. How Gibsony of them.

Bandulu - Redemption

Music Man Records: 2002

Bandulu appeared to have gone quietly into the '90s night, their brand of tribal dub techno growing less relevant as bangin' Swedish sounds and German minimalism became the norm in the new millennium. No one would have thought less of them had Cornerstone and smatterings of vinyl singles been the final impression on their lasting legacy. They'd made an undeniable mark on techno and though their LP career didn't last a decade, it's more than can be said for most producers of that scene.

Then, out of the Bandulu blue, along comes a Redemption, a fresh album for the 2000s after nearly a half-decade of relative silence. Not only was it proper full-length release, but in fact came in two variations, depending on which format you preferred. It’s not unheard of bonus tracks appearing on CD copies or vinyl exclusives rewarding the black crack addicts, but to have a mere two cuts shared between them is nigh unheard of. Why give both versions the same album name if they lack much similarity between either? Would we have even more different track lists had Redemption come out at a different era? I could see that happening with a digital format (all the space!), but I kinda’ get a chuckle out of the concept of a ‘tape-only’ version too. It’d fit the group’s ‘techno for the graffiti-filled North London streets’ manifesto.

One of the tracks on both record and CD is Jahquarius, and oh my God, when I heard this as the opener, I feared the worst. That is, I didn’t quite know what to expect going into Redemption - whether Bandulu’s techno had evolved with the times at all, or they’d stick to their rugged guns – but offering up a rather standard reggae dub outing was not what I had in mind. It’s serviceable, I’ll grant it that, and likely would have done serious compilation duty for any ol’ Dub Selector type collection. Say, why didn’t it do so anyway? Was Music Man Records too far off the beaten dub path for the downtempo market to come a knockin’ for singles? They weren’t all Green Velvet and La La Land, you know.

Fortunately for me, Jahquarius and similar tune Detention are the only cuts off Redemption like that. The rest gets back to Bandulu’s toasty slices of unrelenting tribal techno. Their street grit never sounded better, tracks like Redemption (Dub), Smooth Step, and 44100 vintage mid-‘90s bangin’ Bandulu with all the dubby effects their followers appreciate. They also make room for a few Detroit leaning tunes (Vital Sense, Rank, Wetlook), plus a couple downtempo jams too (Bill’s Gate, Mooger, Chapter 6 kinda’). Man, it feels weird saying this is one of Bandulu’s most diverse albums, even though they didn’t stray too far from their traditional sound.

That said, Redemption isn’t a starting point should you still need to take a Bandulu plunge. Rather, it’s a tasty dessert to a satisfying meal of a career. Mmm, foodstuffs…

Bryan Adams - Reckless

A&M Records: 1984

Yeah, yeah, go on. Rib, mock, jest, and jeer all you want, I can take it. I'm puffin' my chest out at you though, getting all “Come at me, bro!” in your faces with this. Throw your best shots. Bryan Adams sucks, you say? More like rocks, says I! You claim he writes obvious rock-schlock and has a crap singing voice? I claim he writes perfectly enjoyable rock anthems, with a hoarse bellow befitting arenas. He's a has-been, way past his prime? Well, Reckless is his prime! Heaven is a wretched piece of sap, not only spawning countless rock-ballads from bands who should know better, but inspiring hideous euro-dance cover bilge decades later? Yeah, okay, you got me there.

And what the heck, I'll join ya'll; or rather, my pre-teen self will. See, Bryan Adams is the first musician I recall hating, specifically for that one ubiquitous song of 1991, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. I couldn't escape the bloody thing. Pop radio, rock radio, MuchMusic, weddings, awkward school dances, Kevin Costner movies - no matter where I went, the ballad was there, and I loathed it. Of course, matters weren't helped that I was living in Vancouver at the time, every local media outlet thus promoting the ever loving shit out of their home-grown star export. Time passes though, and as I learned more of Mr. Adams' back-catalogue, I realized that the chap was responsible for some of my favourite rock hits of the '80s too, many of which came from this here album.

He and song-writing partner Jim Vallance had already developed a respectable reputation within the industry with Adams’ third album Cuts Like A Knife. Reckless finds the duo in full stride, spoiling the listener with the ear-wormiest rock to ever grace radio land. Run To You, Summer Of ‘69, Somebody, Kids Wanna Rock, the Tina Turner featuring It’s Only Love, and, *sigh*, Heaven, are all on here. Hell, they make up the whole middle portion of Reckless. That’s six classic staples of ‘80s rock, all in a row, mang! What a ridiculous run of music there, the likes of which few musicians ever accomplish in their career, much less in the span of a single LP. Rounding things out are agreeable rockers like One Night Love Affair, She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancin’, a honky-tonk offering with Long Gone, and an arena loud, uptempo finale in Ain’t Gonna Cry, ending full-stop and leaving the listener hungry for more. International stardom certified from there on out.

I can’t deny Reckless is super-slick and studio polished – it doesn’t ‘rawk’. Compared to many other rock efforts of the era though, it at least has more fire and heart than most. Obviously punk and metal heads weren’t going to give Adams much love (erm, aside surprisingly placing forty-ninth in a 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums 1989 article from UK metal magazine Kerrang!), but for everyone else, this is a fun LP, and Adams’ best overall effort.

ACE TRACKS: February 2015

Oh man, did I just wake up from the most epic of naps after work. You go down, thinking “One hour should suffice.” Then you wake up three or four hours later, and realize your evening is shot, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then it’s midnight, and you realize you have to work at six in the morning, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then you wake up at two in the morning, and you realize you can sleep a little longer, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then your alarm goes off, and you realize you’ve slept for EVER, and you shuffle over and OH WAIT, I GOTTA’ GET THIS PLAYLIST UPLOADED THIS MORNING! Here we go then, ACE TRACKS of February 2015.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Radikal Techno
Various - Radikal Techno: Too Radikal

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 12%
Most “WTF?” Track: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - T-Bone (how is this song still going!?)

I should mention that, technically Rave-Trance 2001 isn’t on Spotify, but one of the CDs it was ripped from, This Is Dream Trance Anthems Vol. 2, is available. So if you want to know how that one sounds like, yay for you! But yeah, no surprise those old Quality compilations aren’t about, and of course I’d go and give ACE TRACK status to hard-to-find remixes.

Multi-disc compilations and general distractions didn’t leave me as much time for music listening and reviewing this past February, giving us a shorter Playlist than usual. There’s some Ultimae (and Altar!), there’s some trance, there’s some downtempo-dub, and there’s a couple outlier oddities. A few new musics, a few old musics, and a lot of in between. Nothing too off the beaten path where my general tastes are concerned, then.

Ace Ventura - Rebirth (Original TC Review)

Iboga Records: 2007

(2015 Update:
First, shame on you, 2008 Sykonee, for falling lock-step with every other reviewer in making that movie reference. Not that many even did review it outside the dedicated psy brigade, but you could have shown some ingenuity there, some iconoclastic behavior. Regarding Mr. Oshrat's debut album, it turned out to be his only full-length, follow-ups little more than a number of collaborative digital singles and a 2CD remix package of Rebirth (!). Wait, there was that much extra music made from this drab LP? I need me a couple more exclamation marks (!!).

This review's surprisingly prescient regarding the way Iboga's brand of prog psy turned out, growing ever more minimalist, dull, and stale in the following years. I'm not sure whether this was a mandated change of direction by Perfect Stranger, or Ace Ventura's minor success within the scene generated lackluster copycats, but it sure didn't do the scene any favors long term. That said, the tracks off the back end of this album (The Light, M.A.R.S., and Exposed) do hold up, which is more than can be said for much of Iboga's output later on.)


IN BRIEF: In the prog rut.

Progressive psy had a pretty clever premise going for it when the sound first caught on a few years back. Take the atmospheric and structural aesthetics of prog house, do away with the genre’s tendency to agonizingly build a track subtly, and instead spice the process up with psy trance’s quirky attributes. It could have taken the prog world by storm, but instead the elder statesmen (re: Digweed and co.) decided to explore what the Germans were up to while the new cats (re: Schulz and co.) figured the wiser course of action would be to pop prog up. Maybe it’s been for the best. Given the massive web of sub-genres within dance music, not every new twist should be propelled into the spotlight. In fact, some do quite well remaining obscured in the underground, discovered by those who wish to dig beneath the surface. Away from mainstream influences, it can sometimes be like finding musical gold (although to be fair, there’s often hefty quantities of iron pyrite lurking about too). On the other hand, outside influences do help to spur on innovation within a scene. Without it, the music can become rather insular and stagnant, and if Ace Ventura’s debut full-length is anything to go by, this may be occurring within the realms of prog psy.

Oh, who is Ace Ventura? Not to be confused with the Jim Carey movie (and I won’t bring it up again, so worry not about lame quotes from the Pet Detective), the man behind this project is Yoni Oshrat, whom some may remember as a member of Psysex earlier in the decade. Growing tired of the full-on sound, he left the group and, under the tutelage of Yuli Fersthat (aka: Perfect Stranger, and one of the driving forces behind Iboga Records), began exploring what the realm of prog psy had to offer. After some promising early singles, Yoni finally tucked away in the studio and has emerged with Rebirth, and album that, well, comes off small in scope.

The trouble here, my friends, is most of these tracks don’t reach far. As with many prog producers, Yoni seems more concerned with minute sonic details rather than musical craft. He cooks up a decent groove in the early goings and builds his tracks with a good simmer, but anytime things are ready to boil, he turns the heat off. If this doesn’t make sense, let’s go with a literal explanation.

I could pick out nearly any of these tracks, but for the sake of argument, Presence gets the nod, as it’s the worst offender. It starts out much the same as the rest, with a solid punchy beat and enveloping, throbbing bassline to complement it. With layering percussion and various pulsing effects, tension is adequately built for a couple minutes, until it caps off at... A reset. Yes, folks, Yoni found the best way to utilize all that time was to act as though it never really mattered, and start Presence’s tension from ground zero again. This time though, we are treated to some sparse melody and synth washes, which is quite nice. It seems this might lead to something rather interesting, but alas, it is not to be. In fact, it isn’t to be anything, as Presence unceremoniously ends with a whimper, as though Yoni couldn’t be bothered to make something of the base ingredients he used (er... what IS it with all these cooking analogies today anyway?).

Sao Paulo, Exposed, and Serenity are guilty of this too, although do contain better sounds at their disposal. Elsewhere, M.A.R.S. doesn’t know what kind of song it wants to be, giving us three different ideas (pumping rhythms; moody riffs; tweaky acid) that have little to do with each other (and this one ends even more abruptly than Presence).

These gripes said, Rebirth is hardly the write-off I’m probably making it out to be. If anything, each of these would make for fine set pieces in a DJ mix. Plus, even though the mood throughout is rather singular, the brooding, spacey tone it does maintain is handled well; tracks like Psychic Experience and Stimulator are quite good in this context, although they being collaborations, perhaps the extra input all the more helped Yoni’s efforts.

Actually, I’m positive of it, as his pairing up with Lish for the song The Light brings us Rebirth’s clear highlight. Raising it far and above the rest is a higher dependency on melody to carry the song, something that’s usually only subtly hinted at on the album’s other tracks. As lovely as it is though, what launches The Light even above typical prog psy pastures is the altering of the rhythms in the second half, such that they skip and gallop along rather than drive ahead like so much else. Overall, it’s a wonderful effort.

However, one great track cannot rescue an album being the middling affair it is. Yoni’s prog trappings are simply too rote for the most part, and while undoubtedly great in a dancefloor context, it makes for a barely passable listening experience at home. It’s prog psy going through the motions, and in a sub-genre of music as young as this one, that’s inexcusable.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008 © All rights reserved.