Neil Young with The Stray Gators - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 2 - Tuscaloosa (1973)

Reprise Records: 2019/2020

The Archives series is a continuous project, segments coming out with great frequency. In typical Neil Young fashion though, it remains an erratic one. Instead of a steady, chronological re-telling of his discography, it's made massive time-jumps with each release of the Performance Series. Confounding things further are additional items released after they should have been properly sequenced, relegating them to x.5 in their numerical order.

Example: Live At The Cellar Door, a show recorded between the Live At The Fillmore East and Live At Massey Hall sessions, is designated PS02.5. This is all very dorky, OCD-levels of going about re-issuing one's discography, but it does leave some tantalizing hints of what else might come out, especially when there's a six volume gap between Live At Massey Hall and A Treasure (the country shindiggin' tour of Old Ways).

Cagey marketing aside, there's a more practical reason why some of these archival performances come out in non-chronological order: they're harder to resuscitate than others. Or put another way, even though Tuscaloosa (1973) was always intended to be volume four of the Performance Series, getting a good remastering of those recordings was apparently a herculean effort.

This is from the Harvest tour with The Stray Gators that went down as one of the most disastrous tours from Neil's long career, one that started on a rather bleak note when their practice sessions with Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten wasn't turning out, got sent home and promptly overdosed. Those arenas were already sold out though, folks eager to hear hits like Heart Of Gold live. So hit the road Neil and the Gators did, though not before financial wrangling added even more sourness to the proceedings. Throw in Mr. Young's insistence at playing new material over Harvest songs as the tour progressed, and it lurched to an unsatisfying end once the American portion was completed, a European stretch cancelled.

As fascinating as it would be to hear those shows, Tuscaloosa wisely gives us a glimpse of the tour in its earlier days, when things hadn't quite gone to such shite. Even then, there was only so much audio they could cobble, portions of it apparently going unrecorded.

So we get a couple solo acoustic numbers to open up, then it's right into the Harvest tunes with the Gators. The opening salvo of Out On The Weekend and Harvest sound great, the live energy vastly improved over the studio versions. Old Man and Heart Of Gold are as they are, but it soon settles in that, as professional as the Gators are as a backing band, that's all they are. Neil really wants to coax a little Crazy Horse out of these Nashville pros, but it just isn't happening.

The set ends off with Don't Be Denied, somewhat of a harbinger of things to come. Neil goes autobiographical, his voice gets harrowed and raw, and the music fades away, in doing so jettisoning the traditional post-song applause of a live album, the audience disappearing before us.

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 1 - Everybody's Alone (1972-1973)

Reprise Records: 2020

Aw shit, here we go again...

Like, you knew this was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before Neil Young put out another Archives collection. It's why, despite the various, unearthed items that had recently come out from this period of his career, I let them pass by, fully expecting them to appear within this box-set. And for sure I'm gonna' review Every. Single. CD. that's included here, mwa-ha-hah! Okay, I'll probably skip on discs that are heavy on material from the albums I've already reviewed (Tonight's The Night, On The Beach, Zuma), because who needs redundant reviews like that? There's already ten discs on Archives Vol. 2 - gotta' cut corners wherever I can.

That all sorted? Good. Now, where were we? Ah yes, Mr. Young had just released Harvest, achieving a fame and fortune few could have dreamed of ten years deep into a music career, much less ol' Neil. In fact, he was so flustered with all the success that he kept trying to run away from it, which seemed to have the opposite effect. Part of a break-out rock band? Break away and do folksy solo stuff for a while. Get popular enough to join a super-group and play to crowds of thousands? Buy a ranch to get away from it all. Feel so inspired by your surroundings that you write some of your most heart-felt tunes yet, leading to chart topping albums and tours in sold-out arenas? Well, now things are just getting ridiculous. What must one do to get away from all this success? Drown yourself in a ditch?

That's jumping ahead a little though. Archives, Vol. 2 instead kicks things off in the immediate aftermath of Harvest. Titled Everybody's Alone (1972-1973), it's a sort of mish-mash of demo recordings and previously unreleased material of Neil trying out new and old songs with The Stray Gators, his backing band of Nashville session musicians (save an original recording of future tune Human Highway with Crosby, Stills, & Nash). Some of these would end up on the album Time Fades Away, including previously unreleased versions of The Bridge, L.A., and Time Fades Away (a right hootenanny of a tune!). In fact, I think the only tune that appears as on this disc that also does on that album is Yonder Stands The Sinner.

And you may wonder, why not just include the actual Time Fades Away songs, remastered, like as done on the previous Archives collection? To which I respond, “Have you actually heard the quality of those recordings?” They're not good, infamously recorded as performed live, with little in the way of proper studio tapes or mixing console used in the process. It remains one of the only Neil Young albums to never see an official CD re-issue, Neil either unable or unwilling to polish it for modern ears. It has finally found its way onto streaming services if you're insatiably curious, but you're probably better off with the versions as heard here.

Drowning In Atmospheric Rivers: An EMC Update

I won't front: personally, I'm not directly affected by all the flooding that's happened in my corner of the world. Vancouver-Proper hasn't seen any of the catastrophic damage so many nearby areas have. That doesn't mean there haven't been issues though, as supply chains get disrupted. It's easy to think, that's what we get, having just one route in and out of the Lower Mainland, but we really don't. There are multiple routes, and in years past, when there's been severe weather disruptions, at least one or two of those routes will remain open. That this substantial percipitation managed to knock-out all the routes is almost unprecidented! Throw in the killer combo of re-routing through the States ain't an easy task due to COVID restrictions (not all truck drivers are eligible for border crossings), and you have a logistical nightmare for those who's job it is to handle the movement of goods to local communities. I've had a hectic past couple weeks, is what I'm saying.

That all said, such a work schedule wouldn't have been enough to completely de-rail this blog's productivity for half a month. Nay, the other reason there hasn't been any updates in a while is because the next item in my queue is gonna' take up a significant chunk of time to get through, and I didn't want to split it between two months. Yep, it's another box-set, one where alphabetical stipulation won't let me work around it like the Lucette Bourdin one. Figured I'd wait until November ended, by which hopefully most of the Real World nutiness had cooled off a little. I... can't say it has, but eh, no sense putting this off any longer.

Pentatonik - Anthology

Deviant Records: 1994

I've gathered a fair amount of music from artists as featured on Waveform Records' One A.D., as one is want to do upon discovering a new musical passion. Until now, though, not Pentatonik. While some I accepted as being too hopelessly obscure to ever find (Templeroy, G.O.L.), Mr. Bowring's project didn't seem that rare. Lord Discogs informed me he did have an album out, a double-LP at that! Titled Anthology. With each record side having titles of their own. Including one called Movements. With four parts. Oh dear, is this some pretentious, high-art bollocks, like a William Orbit outing? Not really, no, though I wasn't far off in assuming the 'orbit' influences being involved. Just a bit longer in the name.

Yeah, one can't help but make an Orbital comparison with these tunes. The punchy synth riffs, backing chord stabs, sweeping string swells, and various breakbeats of differing tempos... all sounds you'd associate with the Otford duo. Pentatonik's debut honestly feels like the missing link between Orbital's first two albums, perhaps a Hartnoll brother side-project. Only trouble is Anthology came out in 1994, by which point Orbital were already on to Snivilisation. What might have come off cutting edge but a couple years earlier was already sounding dusty, which wouldn't be a problem if the music wasn't so on-the-nose in this comparison.

As I've said though, it matters not what year from whence yonder audibles emit to our contemporary clime's (or something), does it sound any good today? If you can get past the Orbital tone (a mighty task, I cannot deny), it kinda-sorta does, but there's some unfortunate bloat too.

The four-part Movements segment that opens CD1 probably has the most going for it, the first and fourth hitting on some mint, vintage rave vibes. Part 2 goes for the sweeping morning-after feels, while Part 3 treads closer to the domain of Artificial Intelligence experimentation. Unfortunately, save the blissy breaks of About That, the Reworks second half sounds way-dated and under-produced. And frankly, so does Awakenings, the four-track opening of CD2. I suppose Pentatonik Melody is so impossibly twee, you can't help but find it charming, even if that riff wouldn't sound out of place in a happy hardcore jangle.

Fortunately, the Additions portion of Anthology closes things out with the sort of tunes I was hoping to hear from Pentatonik. Green is a groovy little number with nice synth stabs and burbly acid. Real is proper IDM with a skittery, tribal rhythm and pulsating electronics. Detox sounds like a beefier, busier version of Devotion as it appeared on One A.D. And throw in a live version of Movements – Part 4? Sure, may as well.

So, two CDs with only one's worth of memorable music. I've no idea why it was released like this, as Pentatonik certainly wasn't a name that commanded such standing. Did Deviant Records just insist they launch their label with a double-LP? Maybe they thought they had the next Orbital on their hands.

Lucette Bourdin - Ancient Memories

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2008/2021

So I got a box of Bourdin.

And you may ask, who is Lucette Bourdin, such that she should have a multi-CD box-set of her music released? Despite having a sizable discography, her music didn't have much presence upon the ambient world. According to Lord Discogs, even her most 'popular' albums only have an average of twenty owners, and seldom branched beyond Earth Mantra and Dark Duck Records (itself a rather obscure print where Stephen Philips releases the bulk of his music). For all intents, it was Lucette's paintings that brought her the most attention, her music more an extension of that.

Someone down at Fantasy Enhancing must be a fan though (it's Lee, isn't it), hence a massive Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017) collection. I can't say I was initially interested in springing for it, but some Bandcamp deals came down the line, and I had some spare money to spend (Narrator: he didn't, he really didn't!). And as with that Harold Budd box-set, I'll be reviewing Every. Single. Album in this collection as they come up in my alphabetical queue, starting with this here Ancient Memories.

And now I'm at a bit of a loss in how to approach this. Yeah, Lucette is primarily an ambient composer, so there probably isn't going to be that much variation from album to album. There's gotta be some though, and would serve me well in hearing her development over the years if I'm going to review all of them. Still, listen to all twenty discs, just to get a base of comparison? Who's got time for that? Guess I'll just wing 'em as they come.

So, Ancient Memories. This is a four-track album, with three pieces hovering around the fifteen minute mark. The first, Memories Of The Oolites (the sedimentary rocks?), almost had me worrying I might be in for an abstract, experimental outing, the sort of blippy, droning sounds often associated with such. It soon settles into gentle ambience though, soft, velvety pads gliding along for much of duration, save an occasional return to the initial abstract sounds. Memories Of Chordata (the animal phylum?), however, goes darker and mysterious, almost a pure minimalist drone piece. There is just enough harmonic timbre in the subtle pad work though, keeping it just on this side of ambient music. Memories Of Fitzroya (the Andes Mountains conifer?) is almost atonal in its rhythmic minimalism, but in a nice, calming, meditative way. Quite reminds me of Hybrid Leisureland, or other Japanese ambient composers.

As for the closer Memories Of Acoma (the ancient Pueblo region?), this piece nearly breaches the thirty minute mark. While it certainly has many different passages throughout its runtime, it's primarily performed in such a minimalist, droning matter, much of it can simply pass by without much happening. There are occasional swells, distant echoing harmonies, even rhythmic pulses. Overall, a mysterious sounding piece that moves enough to keep you engaged should you continue paying attention, but doesn't insist upon itself either.

Various - Adykt

Dyadik: 2021

So I get an email from Touched Music via their Bandcamp page, as you do when you subscribe to artist and label pages. I normally don't pay them much attention, inundated with updates from multiple subscriptions as I am. This one though, caught my attention with big proclamations of this being an immediate second-run of CD copies, the first selling out so quickly. Well gosh, if that don't trigger my FOMO like few other items. Who cares if I know nothing of this Dyadik label, or that out of twenty-two tracks on this double-LP, I only recognize John Tejada? LIMITED QUANTITIES! FAST SELL-OUT! Man, is Adykt ever an appropriate name for this compilation.

Still, there was a nice bit of nostalgic thrill, diving into a compilation with practically no info or background of what I was getting into. Heck, I only assumed this would be on the ambient techno spectrum because of the Touched Music association. It could have been grime for all I knew. In fact, the track Oliver Sutton, We On from Min-Y-Llan has some of the rappity-raps going on, which is weird considering the backing track sounds like some electro-ambient thing. Oh, and it's produced by the guy behind the Touched compilations, that's weird too. Or unexpected, at least.

But nay, CD1 opens with exm's Kolder, a gentle bit of loopy, shoegazey, piano ambience as I'd expect. HRYM's Heimferd follows and, good gosh, is this Balearic trance? It sure gives me those classic Solarstone feels, though just a little more subtle with its rhythms. Weld's Premises goes glitch-hop, while dialed's The Cat's Whiskers actually does go acid-grime. Okay, Adykt, you've sold me. You're one of those 'anything goes' compilations, aren't you? Even if I don't end up liking all the tracks, I appreciate the gumption.

Fortunately, there's plenty to enjoy. The synthwave vibes of Buspin Jieber's Never Say These Words. The old-timey Berlin-School leaning If You Had One from The Gasman. The classic neurofunk of Karsten Plfum's Breaks And Morphoids. The chiptune quirkiness of DTACK's Polyhedra. Plus a whole pile of ambient techno, braindance, acid, and chill electro scattered about the rest. I actually do recognize a couple others artists since picking Adykt up – Urban Meditation, Drøn, Z-Arc... I think. Plenty more are totally new to me though, with oddball aliases that really put your character key skills to the test (Auberg1ne, MⒶ, ΠΕΡΑ ΣΤΑ ΟΡΗ).

On one hand, that's great, in that plenty of folks are getting extra shine, especially those who haven't had much after many years making music. On the other hand, you're gonna' have to do some serious sleuthing in hunting down everyone here. Despite being around a couple years now (so sayeth Lord Discogs), this Dyadik label only has three releases to its name. Is Martin Boulton (the aforementioned Min-Y-Llan) just more focused on Touched than keeping pace with this print? Whatever the case, here's hoping Adykt acts as a springboard of sorts for future releases from these artists. They deserve it.

Pete Namlook / DJ Dag - Adlernebel

Fax +49-69/450464: 2000

Pete Namlook collaborated with DJ Dag, the man who helped define trance music? Heck, he even contributed to the indispensable, quintessential Namlook tribute box-set Die Welt Ist Klang, and I somehow completely blanked on it. Right, he was using his seldom-used alias of, um, Dag Lerner (his real name), so you understand why I may not have made the connection.

More so, this is a pairing that, on paper, happened far too late. Dag's profile was at its peak when Fax+ was finding its footing, Dance 2 Trance getting published on one of the biggest eurodance labels of the time, Blow Up. Despite Pete's print being something of a common ground for all electronic music makers to convene and collaborate, I doubt it was high on Mr. Lerner's mind to do so. Time carries on though, and while DJ Dag's career never cratered, he certainly wasn't mentioned in the same breath as all the hot, new trance jocks of the millennium's turn. A legacy act, if you will. Which is about the perfect time to hook up with that Namlook fella' and see what creative juices may blossom from such a session!

I have no idea what anyone expected of this pairing way back when. They couldn't possibly have thought it would sound 'contemporary' to the tastes of trance music in the year 2000, could they? Both these chaps were resolutely old-school when it came to their craft, so hearing something so early '90s retro shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Then again, who was this release even for, beyond the Fax+ faithful? Certainly not clubland at large, though I'm sure Dag would have rinsed out at least couple tunes off here. Maybe Talla 2XLC as well.

Raum Und Zeit, The West Is The Best, and Pure Energy are as vintage of 'proper' trance tunes as I've ever heard, distilled and purified from the year 1992 and not a month later. Meanwhile, Dagar treads closer to Namlook's brand of spaced-out, loopy trance (with additional wolf howls maintaining Dag's continued nods to Native American activism), while the remaining cuts are charming chill tunes. Who cares if they'd never have a hope of being playlisted by Paul Oakenfold or any of the Dutch dudes? This is the music Pete and Dag wanted to make for themselves and that's all that matters, gosh darn it all.

Yet, as I played Adlernebel, a curious notion crossed my mind: what does it matter in modern times when this was released? True, electronic music evolution was explosive throughout the '90s, but that was honestly only important as it was happening. The gap between 1992 and 2000 is paltry from our vantage point. These days, genres have became sated and stagnant – the difference between a 2012 and 2020 trance release is almost negligible. So a year 2000 trance album sounds like a 1992 trance album. Us old-schoolers would kill for a 2021 trance album to sound like a 1992 trance album! Anyhow, food for thought.

Sync24 - Acidious

Leftfield Records: 2020

Speaking of side-projects that had been sitting fallow for half a decade, here's Sync24 again. You may recall him being one-half of Carbon Based Lifeforms. I certainly didn't, back when I first reviewed his second album Comfortable Void on this here bloggy-blog of mine so many years ago. Or I did, but simply neglected mentioning it because I didn't think it important to bring up at the time. It's not like Daniel's solo alias was lighting the world afire then, and when CBL transitioned to Blood Music (BLOOD Music!!), he didn't take it there with him.

Still, I've noticed a trend with all these Sync24 albums, in that they seem to appear a year or two after a major CBL release. Ah, that makes them b-sides then? Perhaps, though that may just be coincidental too. I think Mr. Segerstad is simply the sort that has many ideas floating about, some of which needs an additional outlet to satisfy.

Predictably then, a Sync24 album came out shortly after CBL's Derelicts, Omnious. That's not what I'm reviewing though, and not because of my alphabetical stipulation either – I just haven't gotten it yet. Nay, I'm instead scoping out this more recent outlier to the Sync24 canon, Acidious. Not only is it the first album under this alias to not be released so close to a CBL record (does Stochastic really count?), but this is a strict exercise in acid techno to boot.

Yeah, the title's a dead giveaway, if not the smiley face painted upon the tree those druid bunnies are huddle about. But the TB-303 runs deep in Daniel's blood, such music among the very earliest he ever made before CBL came to dominate much of his career. The squiggly, bubbly sound has long been a staple in the tunes he's crafted with Mr. Hedberg, but a return to those decades old roots certainly isn't out of the norm.

The appropriately titled Feet In The Water kicks things off in somewhat familiar territory, the acid but a simmer as a simple, gentle prog-psy tune plays along. It's not long before the 303 gets its squelch on, and by Nightfall Bounce hits, we're firmly in Hardfloor territory. Seriously, Acid For Blood does the vintage '90s peak-time acid anthemage as fine as any track from the days of yore. And it's not just acid techno that gets its nod, but trance as well. Real trance! Old school trance! Real old school acid trance, as though time-travelled from the early days of Platipus Records. Sa-weet!

Despite Acidious triggering all my nostalgia endorphins, the whole experience runs rather slight. Many tracks will build to a solid acid peak, but instead of thrusting forward into an even bigger high, it will simply end. Plus, we only get eight tracks, which feels skint with tracks so structurally short. Unfortunately, this makes the album more of a fun diversion than something commanding repeated playthroughs. But hey, no one ever went wrong adding a little more acid into their diet.

Sabled Sun - 2149

Cryo Chamber: 2021

After a four year flurry that saw annual releases from Sabled Sun (not to mention six side-releases), it seemed Simon Heath's future apocalypse concept had been put to pasture. From a narrative standpoint, it made some sense, going only so far as the view-point character could manage. Heck, I could argue that Sabled Sun only need the first album, 2145, so brilliantly telling its tale in one take. Carry on it did though, continuing the journey through a world in ruin.

With 2148, I pondered whether the tale's focus was changing, less about exploration and more about moving forward, and where the series' protagonist may go from there. Then the project went dark for half a decade, leaving such questions unanswered. For such a consistent series, that's a heck of a gap. What happened? Did other projects draw Simon's attention? A bout of 'writer's block' in where Sabled Sun could go next? A pang of associative guilt that 2148 came out the same day TFG was elected? Mysteries upon mysteries...

Straight up, I'm a tad disappointed that this new album isn't titled 2153. How cool would it have been of Simon to maintain the yearly passing of time with each Sabled Sun release mirroring our own? I suppose it's a bit of a moot point if you're listening to these for the first time in the here and now, or binge-listening in one sitting (as I did to re-familiarize myself with the setting). Ah well, probably too dorky a consideration for a sci-fi story set in a post-apocalypse brought about by humanity's hubris.

Speaking of humanity's hubris, 2149 takes us into an abandoned underground metropolis, left unscathed by the ravages of the surface world. Here, automation carries on, androids and machinery dutifully maintaining what remains, like lost children keeping the house clean while hoping for their parents to return. Actually, the music within isn't so explicit with these descriptions, but the nifty booklet the CD comes with sure is.

In fact, there isn't much sonic narrative in 2149 at all, the whole album running less than forty minutes total, the shortest Sabled Sun outing yet. Five years in the making? Ah, heh, I doubt it's like that, but it does lend some credence to the 'writer's block' theory. Besides, it's not like Simon's utterly strapped for ideas, as the booklet shows plenty of inspiration in the setting left. Sometimes you just gotta get what you can out though, even if it isn't as much as you'd like.

As for what we do have, there's less of the desolate, wandering field recordings, and more machinery, computers speak, and rhythmic pulses throughout – some of it could almost be techno! We're definitely in the bowels of a derelict civilization but it doesn't seem we're meant to dwell here long. What's this, a sensory port where one may uplink their consciousness to the still-running data-cloud inhabited by all the remaining automatons? Eh, I've had worse company.

Various - 001005

Intellitronic Bubble: 2019

Did you know Lee Norris established another label? No, another one. No, the other one. The other-other one. Not that one, the other one. No, another one. C'mon, how hard is this? We shouldn't have to do this dance every time. Besides I've already reviewed one item from this new Lee Norris label, Synchronized Minds from last year. It's not my fault y'all didn't notice it after all the words I spent going on about his Norken alias.

But yes, back in 2019 (the Normal Times?), Lee hooked up with Árni Grétar (Futuregrapher) and launched Intellitronic Bubble, a specialist techno label featuring limited run 10” vinyl (lathe cut, a Very Important distinction). It would promote unheralded artists like Milieu, Scape One, G-Prod, and Carbinax along side a few Norris associates operating under obscure aliases (Mick Chillage as The Shape, Devin Underwood as Devroka). Little hype, little fuss, just a bunch of producers having some fun on the side with no worry or care whether their music gets noticed abroad. Until it does, by some hot, trendy techno DJ or music vlog, after which demand will skyrocket, causing future techno collectors to lament and bemoan why-oh-why did they not jump on these 10” vinyls with all the bubble artwork from this obscure Icelandic print when they had the chance? The cosmic ballet... goes on.

Meanwhile, here's a nice little CD compilation (glass mastered, a Very Important distinction), rounding up those first five records. Yay!

For a purported techno label, I was surprised in hearing as much eclecticism as I did in 001005. Mileu's Amber Petrol'r kicks things off closer to the domain of tech-house, if early Warp Records could have kicked off tech-house. Rekab's Winter Harmonics maintains those Artificial Intelligence vibes, while _Nyquist's Sudden Void starts treading down Neo-Detroit's back alleys.

So here I'm thinking, “huh, Intellitronic Bubble isn't strictly techno at all, but just a continuation of other Lee Norris ambient techno labels, but with a heavier emphasis on beatcraft.” But then we go full-in with the robo-menace of Devroka's All Show And No Go, and I simply accept my pre-conceived notions were incorrect. Oh, the humility.

Seriously though, things go further into the Detroit future-vibes, such that I'm quite reminded of the material coming out of the FireScope camps (holy cow, talk about killer crossover potential!). Not a one-to-one comparison though, as the B12 print leans quite heavy into the sci-fi vibes, while Intellitronic Bubble feels more at home grounded. The only outlier in these is final track Flying Cars from Futuregrapher, doing more a dubby tech-house thing that would have fit snuggly in a Swayzak set circa 2001.

Does all this make 001005 a good compilation? Yeah, guy, it does. Handy introduction to the label, nice variety of techno and electro tunes produced by fully capable musicians. What's not to like? The scarcity of their physical catalogue, I guess, but eh, such are the times.