Terror Cell | Layer 3 - Coding Sequence

Tech Itch Recordings: 2020

Feels like forever since I last talked up anything from Technical Itch's label. Well over a year, by my blog's logs, but perhaps this is for the good. The drum 'n' bass from this print is so often relentless in its audio assaults, one needs a breather between sessions. Or I do, in any event. There are some hardcore deebee heads out there that do nothing but eat, breathe, and shit darkstep and all its permutations. Hardcore to the last.

After quite the flurry of artist-driven activity, Tech Itch Recordings seemed to slow down some, mostly putting out ambient 'white labels' from Mark Caro while the world figured its shit out. It looks like they're finally getting things rolling again with a slate of new CDs on the way, so that's nice. Just hopefully not too much all at once, as there's still material from before the gap commenced that I'm just now finally getting to.

Among the last of these items – maybe the last, if catalogue numbers are to be believed – is this pairing of Terror Cell and Layer 3, Coding Sequence. Neither have major Discogs presence, lacking names on their bios, which fits with Tech Itch Recordings' anonymous manifesto. At least they have pictures in their profiles. Layer 3 appears to have released a pile of DATs with MP3s throughout the '00s, while Terror Cell put out a few sporadic items in the early '10s. I kinda' get the sense these cats are more DJs than producers, and they have apparently done a few tag-team rinse outs at Tech Itch parties. Still, not a whole lot to go on for a superlative bio paragraph, so let's stop wasting time and get right into the music.

And it's definitely darkstep, as you'd expect from artists on Technical Itch's label. I mean, there wasn't much surprise from the last two acts I covered (Voyage and Doom Poets), so why would there be here? Mr. Caro has a finely tuned style, and the d'n'b producers he's taken on generally match that style. The basslines bash, the Amen Breaks crash, the 2-step rhythms mash, and the paranoid sci-fi samples smash. Not necessarily in that order.

While opener Beacon keeps things mostly on the atmospheric vibe, TC & L3 don't waste much time coming in with the aggro, follow-up Embryo about as vicious and nasty as this stuff gets. And geez, Coding Sequence doesn't let up, each subsequent track seemingly ramping the pressure up. It obviously doesn't, as I'd be spent before mid-album (some drumstep detours help), which is a testament to their production skill in hitting you just hard enough to keep wanting more. Wow, never thought of darkstep as sadomasochist.

Things do relatively wind down by albums end, the final clutch of tracks more standard ol' school tech-step. Can't deny this leaves my lingering impression of Coding Sequence a little weaker than it should. They're fine tracks, just may have been better served spaced out some. Can't really complain.

Motionfield - A Clear Horizon

...txt: 2019

Here we go. No more of these loose, conceptual, 'music for its own sake' albums from Motionfield. A clear theme, with a clear musical journey in mind. I kid, of course, Mr. Friberg's discography filled with such releases. It was just a coincidence that the first two I happened to check out from his project weren't. Jury's still out if Cryonics will fit that bill, but alphabetical stipulation has put that one just a little further down the queue.

Actually, claiming A Clear Horizon has a clear theme may be a bit of a stretch, as we're still dealing with a mostly ambient drone album. Still, the cover art is stark in imagery, port-side industry obscured by fog invoking all sorts of melancholic thoughts. The associative photography is no less bleak in its grayscale, though the inlay does offer a distant sunset, a bit of blood orange piercing the muted blues. Or is it a sunrise? Mmm, pretty sure the former. And ooh, what's this written? A special thanks to Gier Jenssen and Peter Kaulmann? Aw dawg, does this mean A Clear Horizon is gonna' get down to some classic Fires Of Ork vibes?

Well, no, but I do detect some Biosphere influence, if not in structure, then at least in tone. The titular opener offers a low hearbeat of a rhythm as gentle, gradual layers of synth pad drone paint a tranquil, if chilly atmosphere. If that does get your Substrata memories triggered, I don't know what will. Follow-up Ominous starts appropriately enough with the sounds of cold wind whipping through desolate frozen vistas, soon joined by another sustained synth pad, though broken and disjointed, as though even music itself is turned brittle by the environment. Golden follows suite with the subtle songcraft, another track slowly building tension with harmonic timbre, some field recordings and soft pitter-patter rhythm maintaining a languid momentum.

In describing 'what happens' for each subsequent track, I feel I'll just be repeating myself. Much like Signals though, there are enough sonic differences between them that things don't go repetitive while listening. Visions goes gentle and peaceful (with a little added movie dialog, yay!); Home brings back the heartbeat ambient techno rhythm, with added static fuzz; The Drift gets in on some of that Silent Season dubby timbre; Rest allows its synths to sweep rather than drone; Without Wind gets back to the industrial desolation, distant echoes of a port working in cold clime's.

Yeah, 'chilly' is a good way to describe this outing from Motionfield, especially in contrast to the warmth of Luftrum. I'd get those feels even without the cover art, though it certainly does wonders in getting you into that frame of mind. Not that I doubted he'd be apt in this style of ambient, what with previous albums titled The Sound Of Snow and Northern Lights. Not to mention that Cyronics CD, sitting in my 'To Review' queue. Gosh, are those mini-icicles hanging off of it?

ACE TRACKS: January 2022 ...and an EMC Update

I repeat myself but seriously... wow.

True, this was an eventuality – there was only so much pre-2012 music I had in my collection to begin with – but it's still astounding that I accomplished this. I've seen a few attempts at the daft idea of reviewing one's entire pile of records or CDs, but almost never anyone accomplish it. Maybe Mark Prindle, before he retired his website? He certainly was thorough with artist discographies. I recall a few text-based websites way back in ye' olden Web 1.0 days, which were more useful as databases before Lord Discogs changed the game. A more recent trend of 'a track review a day for a year' certainly seems to have gained traction within the podcast-o-sphere, but that's not really the same.

I suppose it comes down to how folks consume music these days, most sticking with streaming. Could you imagine someone trying to review one's entire Spotify Favorites collection? Man, folks smash those little hearts like they're nothin'!The era of having a physical collection continues to dwindle down to niche interests, and of those who do, how many develop an itch to actually write reviews of everything they have? Not bloody many, I wager. No, Rate Your Music doesn't count. Well, maybe a little, if you're one of those 1,000+ word review 'blurb' types.

And I ain't finished, oh no. There's still plenty of music in my 'To Review' pile, plenty more on its way in the mail, plenty more to discover, new and old. All the same, it's nice having another arbitrary box checked off on my 'Blog Goals, I Guess' chalkboard. Meanwhile, here's the ACE TRACKS from January, the final batch from my pre-2012 collection!


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
The KLF - Chill Out (I refuse to call what's been recently released proper Chill Out)

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 9%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Trans'pact stuff, especially lodged among Enya, as alphabetical stipulation decrees.

Wait...! Neil Young is missing!? Oh yeah, THAT whole thing. Time to address the elephant in the room.

So I've cancelled my Spotify subscription. This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to *all that* - I've been considering it for a while now. Believe me when I say I was a huge supporter of the app when it first launched in Canada, but in my mind, they've done little since to improve conditions for musicians relying on their service, especially when they've had ample chances to do so. And it's not like they aren't flush with enough cash to do so, doling out one-hundred million dolla' bill exclusivity rights to podcasters. Meanwhile the Discovery algorithm wasn't very useful for my interests, there was that one time they splattered every button, feature, genre, and playlist with Drake's mug (we're not a monolith culture!), not to mention a bunch of behind the scenes stuff that's about as icky as growing corporations get...

So if there's all this rot, why now, when everyone else is doing it, and not before? Honest and truly, Neil Young no longer being on the platform was the proper nudge I needed.

Ultimately, what I want is a means of having my entire music collection available to me anywhere I go in the world, easily streamed in high resolution through my phone. I also know that's not bloody likely anytime soon, so music streaming services are the alternative, even if most of them pay dick. I could justify Spotify's meagre crumbs by the fact I generally only streamed music I'd already bought and paid for elsewhere, whether through Bandcamp or getting CDs. And while Spotify didn't have all the music I've gathered, they had enough... until now. Mr. Young may only take up about 3% of my total collection, but he's still an artist I play a lot (so says my scrobbling data). If he's not on Spotify, what point is there in me staying with the service? None no point, there is. So long, Spotify, then. I'll keep my account for a couple practical reasons I'll get to, but for the most part, I'm done with them.

That settled, where to next? Amazon Music? Nah, I already pay for Prime, and don't need to add to that bill. Apple Music? Seeing as how I have 0% Apple products, I think not. Tidal? Kinda pointless for blogging purposes if anyone in my readerbase doesn't have an account (no free streaming, even for sharing audio clips). Besides, something about them still rubs me the wrong way. Like, it's almost too celebrity focused, pushing their high-profile artists because they have invested shares in the app. Let me put it this way: if any of these streaming services are gonna' jump on a superstar-endorsed NFT bandwagon to the detriment of its user-base, I can totally see Tidal being the first.

I guess that leaves me with Deezer, the Yahoo! of music streaming services. Been around longer than most, is serviceable in what it provides, mostly forgotten but spoken of fondly by those who still use it (*cough*).

So I gave Deezer a trial run, and quite liked how streamlined everything is (no fuss, no obnoxious muss). The desktop app is kinda' janky, but the website interface is mostly the same and runs smoothly. Mobile app works nice as well. Decided to port over all my ACE TRACK playlists, and unfortunately discovered it caps out at 2,000 tracks, effectively splitting my Ultimate Master List into three. Ah, whoops?

That hiccup aside, I think Deezer's the one I'm going with for now. All future streaming links will be through Deezer (where a Bandcamp one isn't available), as well as all future ACE TRACK playlists. Since the Ultimate Master List would be too cumbersome to maintain in a split state, I'm retiring it. Also, all current Spotify links will remain, as I have no desire spending hours replacing them all with Deezer ones, and will use Spotify as a third option if there are none for Bandcamp or Deezer.

Yeah, despite having a comparable library, some things just aren't available on Deezer but are on Spotify (damn you, American Movement In Still Life). However, in doing my library transfer, I discovered quite a few albums on Deezer that I never found on Spotify. Let's look at those albums now!

FOUND ALBUMS:
Alex Theory - Saturn Returns
Alien Project - Activation Portal
Bandulu - Redemption
B.G. The Prince Of Rap - The Time Is Now
BKS - Dreamcatcher
The Black Dog - Temple Of Transparent Balls
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal
Carl Craig - Landcruising (altered edition titled The Album Formerly...)
Deep Forest - Deep Forest
Der Dritte Raum - Spaceglider
Dogon - The Sirius Expeditions
The Dust Brothers - Fight Club
Dusted - When We Were Young (altered edition titled Safe From Harm)
Emiliana Torrini - Love In The Time Of Science
Escape - The Futurescape
Frankie Bones - Computer Controlled 2: Live In California
Fun Factory - Nonstop! The Album
Grooverider - Mysteries Of Funk
Jefferson Airplane - Platinum & Gold Collection
John '00' Fleming - For Your Ears Only
John O'Callaghan - Something To Live For
Kon Kan - Syntonic
Lab 4 - None Of Us Are Saints (playlist)
Motorbass - Pansoul
N-Trance - Electronic Pleasure
The Oak Ridge Boys - A Higher Power
Opium - Pain(t)
Quadrophonia - Cozmic Jam
RZA as Bobby Digital - In Stereo
Sven Vath - Contact
Sven Vath - Harlequin – The Beauty And The Beast
Supercar - Futurama
Supercar - Highvision
Tom Middleton - The Sound Of The Cosmos
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Various - Absence Of Gravity
Various - Audioworks V1
Various - Empire Records: The Soundtrack
Various - Grooverider Presents: The Prototype Years
Various - In Trance We Trust 021: Adam Ellis
Various - Influence 1.1: A Hardtrance Experience
Various - Massive Passive
Various - Organism 02
Various - Rave-Trance 2001 (as This Is Dream Trance Anthems Volume 2)
Various - Techno Nights – Ambient Dawn (playlist)
Various - Trance To Planet X: Influence 3.3
Various - Trancespotting II
Various - Trancespotting III


Not to say these might not be on Spotify now, they just weren't when I looked when doing reviews for them. Still, quite a list, eh?

*whew*

Has this ever been a wordful. Maybe I should have split this into two different posts, but wanted to get this out of the way. I'm not going to try and convince anyone to do as I've done, as your listening habits are your own. Just know if you feel Spotify's getting too sketchy for its britches, there are options.

Model 500 - Classics (2022 Update)

R & S Records: 1993

(Click here to read my original EMC review.)

Model 500 is Juan Atkins, a very important person in the world of techno. Often credited with being one of the Godfathers of the genre, his fame diminished as new upstarts took the techno mantle for themselves during the 90s. His career floundered for a while, which led to depression and over-eating. Determined to reclaim prestige for his name and his waistline, Atkins developed a bold new diet, which focused on the consumption of high amounts of protein to stave of hunger cravings. Wait, I’m getting serious deja-vu here...

Wow. I mean... Wow! It's finally come to this. I've literally looped this blog, finally reviewing every single item of mine from pre-re-launch. All that I have left to cover is that which I've gotten within the past year, and whatever I continue to get in the future. It's... still a fair amount, believe you me.

Does this mean I'll be doing updated reviews for everything from 2012 on? Haha, oh Lord, of course not! While I admit there's some shakey writing from those first few months, there likely isn't much else I can add to them. Granted, some reviews may have been under-written due to my self-imposed limited word count, but I'm mostly satisfied with the points I got across. Exhaustively detailing every nuance and production trick was never the point of this exercise, no matter how much fun it might have been to psycho-analyze a FSOL record or three.

That said, I will say one amend I'd like to make over my original Model 500 Classics review, in that I was unfairly harsh to complaints of overt '80s in it. How was I to know we were on the verge of a celebration of retro-future '80s sounds in the coming decade, more so than even the early '00s revival? Yeah, something like Chase (Smooth Mix) and Electric Entourage still can't shake the tinny production, but the rest? Perfectly fine early techno, by g'ar.

Okay, that's sorted. Where was I? Oh yes... wow! Like really, wow! It took nearly a full decade to get to this point, and I definitely didn't make it easier on myself in constantly getting new music. It honestly boggles my mind to think how much I gathered since October of 2012. By my hazy recollection, I had somewhere over 600 items in my music collection at that point, while Lord Discogs tells me I'm currently sitting at about 2,000. I basically tripled it in half the time! Then I see some of those 8,000 CD collections on Discogs and wonder, “HOW!??” Then again, those collectors aren't attempting something so daft as reviewing such large collections either. Undoubtedly less picky about their splurges, I wager.

I really don't have anything else to say here. It is rather fortuitous that such a milestone was reached at this point though, as I'm making a couple changes here going forward. To find out what, stay tuned for the monthly ACE TRACKS recap! Ooh, suspense.

Various - Classic Rave 2

Moonshine Music: 2000

It was the Year 2000, and the first nostalgic pangs of rave's early years was hitting everyone's memory membranes. Or Moonshine was just looking for another genre to corner in their relentless output of compilations and DJ mixes. Perhaps both, though probably more the latter.

For sure there would always be some reason for some label to trot out another round of licence-friendly 'classics', but there wasn't a super-high demand for it either. Rather, such discs were more for the impulse buyer, a dude or dudette glancing over a track list, recognizing a tune or three they didn't already have, and going from there. For the record, the tunes in my case were Orbital's Chime, Felix's Don't You Want Me, and The Good Men's Give It Up. No shame.

I can't deny my recollection of just how pervasive 'classic rave' CDs had become by the turn of the century is hazy – I'd imagine more so in the UK than anywhere in the Americas. And to be fair, Moonshine's Classic Rave series wasn't specifically meant to be just about old-school hardcore. Rather, a whole run of Classic [Genre] was planned, kicking off not just with a Classic Rave, but a Classic Acid too (oh look, three Hardfloor tracks you already got!). Unfortunately, the Electronic Music Classics run sputtered before it really got started, this Classic Rave 2 thrown out with little fanfare before the series folded. Going by the selection of tracks on here, it's easy to see why.

Like I said, I got this mainly for three out of the eleven tracks, which is a fair when paying used shop prices for a CD. Give It Up has always been a guilty pleasure, and Chime is Chime. D'at Felix track though, one of the earliest examples of Rollo's penchant for big synth chord anthems, and steering Hooj Choons down the prog-house road we all love and adore (well, some did). Others I'd heard about, but hadn't heard yet, so figured Classic Rave 2 a handy pick-me-up for a knowledge drop. Let's go over those tracks now!

2 Bad Mice's Bombscare: definitely an important record in establishing Moving Shadow's footprint in the proto-jungle scene, but I've heard better. Acen's Close Your Eyes: definitely on that 'Prodigy: Phase 1' tip, but I prefer Trip II The Moon. X-Press 2's London X-Press: wow, they were able to sustain a career into the new century with this run-of-the-mill slice of New York house? N-Joi's Anthem: alright piano house with some nice string-pads, but Papillon's better. Also, what are house tracks doing on a rave compilation?

As if that wasn't enough to convince Classic Rave 2 was a slapdash afterthought from Moonshine, the chemical breaks of Electronliners' Loose Caboose and big-beat of Basco's The Beat Is Over fills out the rest. Yes, two cuts that have almost nothing to do with 'classics' or 'rave', and weren't even half a decade old yet. What, couldn't get any Praga Khan up in this warehouse?

Tiga - Ciao! (Original TC Review)

Turbo: 2009

(2022 Update:
Mr. Sontag certainly seemed primed for a shot at super-stardom in this long-ago time of 2009, especially as the Era Of Guetta was nigh. Instead, he waited over half a decade for a follow-up album, and hasn't released another LP since. Still out there DJing and making collaborative singles though, so seems to be doing alright for himself.

Nothing much else to add to this review. The 'maximal' Ed Banger stuff is very much stuck in the '00s, but all the charming synth-pop tunes hold help. I still randomly get Shoes stuck in my head, though that might be more due to Neebs Gaming naming one of their NPCs in Conan Exiles that. It's funny when you know the context, I swear!)


IN BRIEF: Getting better.

With Ciao!, I think we can finally put an end to the big question surrounding Tiga’s career as a solo artist: just how serious is he being? The answer is rather serious after all, at least as serious as anyone can get when it comes to synth-pop of this sort. It was tough to tell, though, since there was always this sense that he was merely toying with the novelty of the genre, making it his personal playground to indulge himself with surprisingly fun covers of unexpected tunes. Then, once the faddism of it faded, he’d move onto whatever whim fancied him from there (remember, this was the guy that at one point wasn’t averse to pushing drum ’n’ bass DJ mixes on his label Turbo). Yet, after the relative success of Sexor, it seems he decided to properly pursue this avenue further.

In that regard, Ciao! is a very easy record to form an opinion on. Do you like synth-pop that holds silly-silly nonsensical lyrics about shoes and the time being “sex o’clock”? Then you’ll love this, no question. Not to say Tiga doesn’t stretch lyrically elsewhere on here, but that isn’t the aim with Ciao!. This is dance-pop at its simplest, and complicated wordplay only gets in the way (just ask The KLF).

That said, there is a degree of musicianship going on here that prevents Ciao! from easily being dismissed. Having Soulwax, James Murphy, Jori Hulkkonen (naturally), the better-half of the Dahlbäck brothers, and Gonzales of Feist-production fame in the studio with him certainly helps, but fact of the matter is Tiga has long had an ear for knowing a good hook, even if he’s liberally borrowed from others. Beep Beep Beep? Shoes? Luxury? Mark my words, those songs are going to lodge in your head and set up residency for a while. Elsewhere, you’ll swear you’ve heard some variation on these tracks on your local Jack.fm radio station. The piano in Turn The Night On, for instance - damn, where have I heard that before? Or those backing “ah-ah-ah, ah”s in Speak, Memory (oh, that’s right, Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself).

The funny thing is, for a guy that made his early reputation as a purveyor of great underground music, Tiga’s pop leanings fare much better than most of his purely techno tracks. What You Need’s abrasive out-of-tune maximal-synths is fun enough and Overtime has a good deal of solid instrumental build-up at the beginning, but Mind Dimension is just… ugh. What the hell is even going on in this? The beats limply plod, sounds interchange aimlessly between spits of acid and farty squelches, and by the end you realize the track has amounted to nothing of note (Jesper Dahlbäck, who co-wrote this, must be picking up some bad habits from his brother John); Shoes, such a ridiculous (though fun!) song on its own, sounds utterly brilliant as a follow-up. And yet, somehow, Mind Dimension too gets lodged in your head. Damn that Tiga!

Then, at the other end of the spectrum (and the end of the album), we see Tiga’s songwriting mature in such a way I’m sure no one could have predicted. Gentle Giant’s melancholy keyboard tones and solemn mood seems to bring out the very best of Mr. Sontag’s singing capabilities, but more impressive is he can be credibly serious if he so chooses. The ten-minute opus Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore then solidifies this assumption, and you’re left wondering, if he’s clearly capable of this, why fall back on simple synth-pop ditties?

In that regard, Tiga seems to have come to occupy an intriguing musical area between hipster-faves Chromeo and festival-faves Hot Chip. On one hand you have music that is clearly satisfied in being somewhat campy, yet it still displays a creativeness that belies its pure-pop sensibility. Tiga seems to be stuck at that crossroad of where to take his music next.

This isn’t to say Ciao! is some kind of revelatory genius of songwriting - it honestly isn’t. The final couple tracks aside, the music is about as candid as dance-pop gets. Whether you enjoy this album in the long run will probably boil down to how long you find Tiga’s performance charming. As it stands, Mr. Sontag still is an incredibly charming fellow, but unless he’s willing to grow as a songwriter, charm will only carry him so far.

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

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II

Reprise Records: 2007

I do wonder, if this may be my last Neil Young review. Like, I'll get Archives Vol. 3 whenever that comes out (surely before the heat death of the universe), but far as mainline albums go, I've gotten just about all I've ever cared to get (and then some). What's even left? His wayward '80s material? More Crazy Horse jams from the '90s? That ultra middle-of-the-road music from the turn of the century? The almost insufferably preachy albums with Promise Of The Real? Maybe at some point, I'll take a nibble - Mirror Ball's gotta' be in some used shops - but I'm in no need either. If Chrome Dreams II truly is the last time I write about a mainline album from ol' Shakey, it's a suitable bowing.

For those just tuning into this electronic music blog's inexplicable, excessive coverage of Neil Young, Chrome Dreams was a '70s album that may have gone down as an all-time classic of rock and folk music. In typical Neil fashion though, it was scuttled for something more slapdash, persistent musings of 'what if?' lingering over his catalogue ever since. When the Young team started putting together the first Archives collection, I'm sure some quips came about maybe releasing that album as once intended.

Then Neil would chuckle to himself, saying, “How about I release a sequel instead, with songs I still haven't released from back in the day?” His team would look at him, concern crossing their face, fearing what mischievous ideas Neil was cooking: “Um, how far 'back in the day', exactly?” Mr. Young's eyes sparkled. “Remember that stuff I did with the Blue Notes...?”

And so, not only did Neil unearth the live-only Ordinary People from his big-band blues period, but recorded an eighteen-minute long session of it! The song ended up being his longest track committed to disc to that point (Arc doesn't count), and wouldn't be exceeded until the uber-jams of Psychedelic Pill. I think it's cool – hearing his wild guitar distortion with a triumphant brass section is quite invigorating – but I know I'm kinda' in a minority in actually liking the Blue Notes stuff. Yes, even among Rusties.

That's the only song like that on Chrome Dreams II though, and oddly placed at track three, leaving one exhausted for the rest of the album. The ramp-up was nice, a couple country folkies including Beautiful Bluebird. A couple more country folkies follow Ordinary People, then we're into some Crazy Horse styled rawk, even if it's only Ralph Molina on hand. Dirty Old Man sounds like a dumber, drunker version of Piece Of Crap, and at over fourteen minutes in length, No Hidden Path drags some – maybe needed the proper-Horse for that one.

Some more gentle tunes round out the rest, and you have yet another Vintage Neil Young mish-mash of clashing styles album, not seen since Freedom. If only Chrome Dreams II had its own Rockin' In The Free World, it'd be a classic.

Various - Choose 80's

Mercury: 1997

At first glance, this appears nothing more than what it is, another compilation capitalizing on '80s revival from the turn of the century. I certainly thought so, or at least was my recollection of it when I got it from a co-worker's bundle of CDs. For sure I remember it as an item in the little music shop I worked at for a time, and maybe even saw a TV ad on the national music station. Still, something kinda' tugged at me about Choose 80's, like I was forgetting a couple quirky details about it that would reveal themselves when I finally (finally!) reviewed it proper-like.

For instance, this CD actually pre-dates the '80s revival by a few years. Yeah, 1997 may not seem that for removed from the year 2000, but trust me, resurrecting the decade of new wave and synth-pop was furthest from the minds of most label heads. They undoubtedly had a potential retro market in mind at some point in the future, but were making far too much jack from way '90s music like alt-rock, club thug rap, R&B, and 'electronica' to pull the trigger. There wasn't much nostalgic interest in '80s music from Johnny and Jane Q Public yet, so little need to dust anything off in a label's archives.

Yet something encouraged Mercury to go forward with this compilation just the same. For the longest time, I couldn't recall why – it certainly wasn't because they were ahead of the retro curve. No, something else, something that had to be buzzing in pop culture that would send casual consumers en masse to buy a copy. Was it that Da Da Da track from Trio? There was a charming Jetta commercial that used it, the sort of thing that would get people rushing to a music store asking about “that song in that car commercial” (known as the Mitsubishi Effect in later years). What year did that come out anyway? Well by jove, 1997. Yep, that's all it would take for a compilation like this to hit the shelves. Just get a bunch of other '80s hits from the Mercury/Polytel archives, and voila, capitalization on a hit commercial. It's how we memed back in the '90s.

That solved, what's even on Choose 80's that's worth talking about? Lots of familiar names with familiar tunes (Yello, New Order, The Buggles), others digging a little deeper into discographies (Tears For Fears, Iggy Pop, R.E.M.). Post-punk and new wavers get a lot of representation, some I've heard of (Violent Femmes, The Jam, ABC), some I only know by ear (Shriekback, Level 42, Split Enz, Black (2)). One song I never realized came from the '80s is Squeeze's Pulling Mussels, sounding like a '90s alt-rock jangle that'd be featured in a third-rate sitcom.

One final oddity before the wrap. Choose 80's is fine for a nineteen-track collection of adventurous new wave and quirky synth-pop, but does it ever reek of sausage too. It's like women musicians never existed that decade.

Various - Choice: A Collection Of Classics - John Digweed (2022 Update)

Azuli Records: 2005

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

In my original review, I waxed on a bunch about the need for compilations such as these. A chance for famed DJs with deep crates to show off the influential but outdated tunes from their collections. Music they could no longer reasonably rinse out on the weekends, but hold special or sentimental value to their developed playing styles just the same. Granted, the '00s compilation market grew rather bloated with multiple series covering similar ground, such that a few are all but utterly forgotten nearly two decades on. Yes, I'm including Choice in that category. Don't get me wrong, it had a decent run. It didn't last past 2007 though, bowing out when Azuli Records went into liquidation by the end of the decade, and isn't brought up in The Discourse anymore. Gosh, maybe I can find a couple on the cheap-cheap now!

I'd like to assume, had the CD market not collapsed in the wake of streaming services, such compilations would still exist. Would it, though? Like, you'd think curated favourites of famed individuals would be big business with so much music available to the masses now, but I don't see much hype around it. Yeah, a Drake or a Kardashian or a Gorillaz might share some mixtape release on social media, but I'm thinking more than that.

Like, those artist Radios you get on Spotify. Wouldn't it be neat if they were actual radios, music they'd play over radio waves, each their own version of a college rock station show? Instead, it's just another algorithm generated playlist, featuring a selection of artists that are similar to the one you clicked the Radio button for. Maybe handy for those just getting into some genres or producers, but wholly redundant if you've been at this a while now. Why can't the algorithm provide some proper deep dives, yo'?

Or maybe there actually is a thriving social media community out there making ample use of such services, one I simply haven't stumbled across. For sure outlets like Mixcloud or Twitch should provide the means, but then you're kinda' shouting into the ether-void to get attention. Unless you already have a brand with a prominent base, establishing yourself as some modern John Peel is an almost futile gesture. And to be fair, a series like Choice would never have gotten off the ground if it hadn't relied on DJs with some brand reputation behind them, ensuring some curiosity from consumers in such a product. These were always an additional item of interest though. You needn't get a Choice from Digweed when he still had Bedrock or Transitions as his primary outlets.

I dunno. Feels like this is just more 'old man yells at cloud' musing. Why can't things be like it once was, and such as. I'm sure music compilations like Choice or Life:Styles or Back To Mine still exist out there, even as a nebulous streaming service concept, but it sure was easier finding them back in the day.

Various - Chilled Kutz IV

(~): 2003

Track List:
1. Jam & Spoon - Garden Of Eden
2. Swayzak - Illegal
3. Kitaro - Silver Moon
4. The KLF - Chill Out
5. The Future Sound Of London - Amoeba
6. The Future Sound Of London - A Study Of Six Guitars


If anyone wonders where the f' The KLF's Chill Out is in my collection, th'ar she be, lodged among a pile of unrelated tunes. I wanted the seminal piece of plunderphonic ambient, but good luck finding a copy of the CD while living in the hinterlands of Canada. I actually came across it at a university kiosk once, back when it wasn't so highly sought, but passed due to a lack of cash-money on my person at the time. Good thing those P2Ps can find rare stuff, and Chill Out wasn't hard either. Now looky here, someone ripped the full album as one, singular track, which makes sense as the whole thing mostly plays out as a long singular track, capturing the vibe of a long, singular trip on a long, singular train-track. Or driving by one.

What else can even be said about this record? While the notion of a 'chill room' in rave circles did exist, it wasn't until The KLF put a prominent stamp on it that chill-out as a genre properly took hold. Of course, they called it 'ambient house' then, because everything was either house, techno, or ambient at the time. Some freestyle too.

What set Chill Out apart from all the stodgy Eno clones or Berlin-School synth wizards was how grounded everything was, meditation music for the common man and mentally gassed raver. Not just New Agey calm pads and pastoral field recordings, but slide guitar blues and entrancing throat singers. Radio DJs getting you hype, but as heard from somewhere else, a memory of before the party started. Bill and Jimmy were crystal clear in their manifesto with Chill Out, the perfect sonic soother for your sketchy Sunday needs. Skychurch music for the loved up generation.

Naturally, all the other tracks I smashed into this Chilled Kutz look woefully out of place. Well, not so fast. While Kitaro and Swayzak have no place here, that Garden Of Eden from Jam & Spoon ain't so bad, very much on a '70s space rock vibe (are we sure they didn't sample Pink Floyd?), and a nice prelude to Chill Out. Meanwhile, Amoeba from FSOL segues remarkably well from The KLF, its sputtering choir pads and hazy drum loops maintaining the come-down mood. I suppose Study Of Six Guitars is fine as a closer, but I've heard it utilized better elsewhere.

Oh, I guess this explains why I never got ISDN either. Yeah, I only grabbed a few tracks off that album and scattered them about my burned CDs, and felt it enough a representation of the FSOL record to not bother buying a proper copy. I really should rectify that. It's certainly much cheaper than Chill Out these days.