Higher Intelligence Agency - Discatron

Headphone: 2020

*PREVIOUSLY, ON EMCRITIC...*

Man, what I wouldn't give for something new [from The Higher Intelligence Agency]. Something new... something new... something new...

*AND NOW, THE CONTINUATION!*

When I left the last HIA review off on that cliff-hanger, it was with full intent of Discatron being that “something new... something new...” item. Wouldn't you know it though, Bobby Bird released another item since then, and a full LP at that, Song Of The Machine. Goodness, that's more music from the Agency this decade than the previous two combined! Heck, you'd have to go even further back for any solo material. Something must have lit quite the creative spark under Bobby's muse to have put out two whole new joints in such (relatively) rapid succession. Methinks it was uploading his catalogue to Bandcamp that did the trick. Revisiting one's past artistic accomplishments has a habit of doing that.

Given that massive gap between Birmingham Frequencies and Discatron, surely Mr. Bird has gathered all manner of new toys to tinker with, new sonic roads left unexplored, fresh angles to approach his songcraft. Hah, no, not really. Seems HIA has taken the B12 route in maintaining his distinct style of ambient-bleep techno-dub, just giving it a modern production spit-shine. And frankly, I doubt fans of HIA, myself included, would have it any other way. When you already have a unique approach to music making, one that honestly has never been replicated or duplicated after thirty years in the business, there's little sense in messing with that formula.

And the titular opener of this EP allays any worry folks may have of that. Chirping, singing bleeps, wobbly acid bassline, and dubby percussion that's tight and crisp, with a vibe that keeps things firmly tongue-in-cheek, never letting anything grow tedious or self-serious as dub techno is so wont to do. The only thing that keeps Discatron in the here and now and not some long, lost older tune is just how cavernous the dub delay reaches now.

Second track 3P mostly focuses on Bird's brand of broken beat with acid in support, reverb effects wishing and washing about as the rhythm cruises along. B-Theory, the track that first clued me in that HIA was even on the rise again, really pulls on those vintage Artificial Intelligence feels, less pulpy than other Bobby works. Finally, Sound Matter goes about as deep into dub as you'll ever hear HIA, a languid pace for a slow burner of a moody tune. Oh, and the digital version of Discatron includes an experimental piece called Colourmotion. Is probably more interesting for those into musique concrete, and I'm sure Bobby had fun twiddling nobs in getting some of these drone tones, but I'm more about his cool grooves, y'dig?

So a solid (motion) return for HIA, all said. As for Song Of The Machine, eh, I dunno. Looks like an 'experimental Steampunk' album to me, and I prefer my HIA pulp-fiction indulgences '50s sci-fi.

ASC & Inhmost - Dimensional Space

Auxiliary: 2021

Keeping pace with Mr. Clements' ambient output on Silent Season is all well and good, but I know he's released other forms of music elsewhere. If not his older d'n'b works, then maybe some of that techno shi' I've heard him rinse out live. Dude's been hawking his wares across many labels though, making it a bit of a challenge in figuring out where one should follow. I suppose his own Auxiliary is as good a place as any. Can't deny all the space themed releases are tantalizing offerings.

And... it's more ambient. Huh. Guess Silent Season isn't his sole outlet for his excursions into the beatless genre after all. Given the number of these he has released through Auxiliary, I wonder if Silent Season got all “whoa, James, we can't support that many releases from you! We barely put out a couple albums a year as it is. Maybe start your own label for that stuff?” And so he did.

Dimensional Space is one of two such albums ASC released last year, both collaborations with Inhmost. I don't know anything about this alias, though I feel like I should know the name behind the moniker, Simon Huxtable, even if few of his other projects ring a bell (Kloor, Idforma, TQ One). Aural Imbalance and Deep Space Organisms triggers something in the recesses of my memory membranes, but Lord Discogs says I've never encountered him in my own music collection. In any event, Simon seems to have followed a similar path as James, a one-time d'n'b producer who eventually started an ambient side-project. Because if they don't all end up making house or techno, there's always the ambient side-project.

For an album supposedly set among the stars, Dimensional Space is a surprisingly grounded collection of ambient drone. Or maybe that's the twist? That no matter how far into the cosmos we venture, we'll always find our way home via quantum-dimensional transwarp tube-conduits. Or in the bookshelf of your youngling daughter. God, was the ending of Interstellar ever silly. Much prefer Contact's sappy, sentimental ending, I tell ya'.

What I'm trying to say here, is there are a fair amount of field recordings utilized in these works, such that you seldom feel like you're actually out in the great beyond. For sure their use is subtle, subdued, and often so drenched in dub and reverb that they sound distant and ghostly, like faint tethers holding you to terra firma even as you venture into realms where time has no meaning.

Still, the tones are rich, the mood is grand, and the gentle melodies ebb and flow through layers of timbre and drone. Some pieces are rather mellow compared to others, but all are relatively consistent in their approach. All said, if you're familiar with his Silent Season offerings, Dimensional Space is well tread ambient songcraft from ASC, save a little more sonic room to breathe. Must be that Inhmost touch.

Can't We Pause, Even For A Moment? ...An EMC Update

So now all this.

I guess it goes without saying it's hard to find motivation to write about one's CD collection when one gets addicted to 'doomscrolling'. I can't even claim I'm scrolling news and updates with an overbearing cloud of gloom while doing so. We've never seen a conflict on the scale of Putin's invasion into Ukraine in the social media era, and if nothing else, the constant stream of information is addicting enough. For sure I'm hoping the Ukrainian people can repel him, but even if Putin succeeds in installing his puppet government, he sure as shit isn't gonna' hold it, not with the dogged deternimation we've seen from the Ukrainians fighting for their freedom. And that's not even getting into just how swift and throughough the world's locked out Russia's finance sector, effectively turning that nation into a global pariah. Ukrainians are suffering. Common Russians who just want to live their lives will suffer. All for the delusions of grandeur from an aging dickhead dictator, whom I can only imagine is losing his mind in paranoia (seriously, have you seen the size of those tables he meets his Chiefs Of Staff with? Hilarious!).

I generally try to keep this blog apolitical, letting it be nothing more than a place to wax on about music past and (semi) present. If something I'm covering has a political bent, sure, I'll touch upon it, but by and large, I avoid current affairs seeping into what's written in a given review. When current affairs overwhelm your thoughts about anything though, it's hard to keep on as though nothing's nothing. I get many content creators kinda' have to, since it's their job and all. This is just a hobby for me though, one I sometimes have more time to dedicate to than not. I guess I need the world to be a bit less chaotic for me to write about Another Ambient Album on a consistent basis again.

Anyhow, back to the doomscrolling...

Various - Deeper 01.02

Hed Kandi: 2002

I started this kinda'-annual glance into the Hed Kandi legacy with a Deeper compilation, so it's only fitting that I return to it at some point. Having gotten the second collection, Deeper 01.02, I've now completed the entire series! Yep, only two of these were ever released, making Deeper the shortest series the label ever put out. Unless there was some aborted runs later in Hed Kandi's existence, when their popularity had dwindled down to bupkis.

It's funny that despite all the label's early success in cornering the disco, house, funk, and soul market, their stab at prog never caught on. Not that I blame them for throwing their hat into the pile. When the highest paid, most popular, critically hailed DJs in UK clubland are rinsing dark, dubby house music with a tribal edge, you bet your bottom dollar on the punters wanting those tracks for themselves too. Except that's not the sort of audience Hed Kandi had cultivated. When you think of prog, you think of Very Serious DJs posing, not glamour girls sashaying about. Besides, I think the label had their eyes on that burgeoning 'twisted disco' sound (re: electro house). Can definitely milk some saucy cover art with that concept!

So, familiar names and tunes. The Creamer & K rub on iiO's Rapture is here, which is about as obvious a 'prog house anthem fitting with Hed Kandi clientele' tune as you could expect. Honestly though, it's been a lo-o-o-ong while since I last heard this track, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it still held up. B.P.T.'s Moody is also here, by way of a Pete Heller remix, so not quite as dated as hearing it again a few years after Digweed's Bedrock. Other 'prog' favourites include Danny Tenaglia, Satoshi Tomiie, Timo Maas and... Superchumbo? I can't remember if they were fav's or not.

It can't all be a prog love-in though, not if you want to retain some of the Hed Kandi faithful. Thus, there's a little deep house action from Roger Sanchez, Kidstuff, and Puretone, but by and large, it's the prog vibes that dominate. Dubby basslines, deeper grooves, lengthy run-times, and all that good stuff, even from names I don't recognize in the slightest. Well, maybe Miriam Project, I think I recognize that one. Maybe Stylus Trouble too. Not Goldtrtix though. Or Dirty from Dirty.

And, in a move that makes absolutely no sense from any angle you wish to approach from, Deeper 01.02 ends off with Hardfloor's remix of Circus Bells by Robert Armani. What, pray tell, does acid techno from the '90s have to do with a 'prog' collection from Hed Kandi? Mark claims in the liner notes it was included as a summation of Deeper's manifesto, of a track that “builds and builds”. But... lots of tracks do that? I dunno, maybe I'm just perplexed by the fact that, despite it being rather random inclusion, this track always seems to follow me around.

Doom Poets - Dead Forest

Tech Itch Recordings: 2019

It's been a year and a half since I last talked up Doom Poets on this here blog, and they remain as anonymous as ever. Actually, this project has remained mostly silent as well, only releasing singular tracks to Tech Itch Recordings' annual label showcase RESIST:ED. Seeing as how they (is this a plural they, or singular? Who can say with “distant beings from somewhere in the far regions of our universe”) initially released two albums in such short order, a little recharge had to be in order. When their brand of d'n'b is this dope though, you can forgive some folks on this mudball planet hoping for more sooner rather than later.

Of the few Tech Itch Rec' artists I've checked, Doom Poets' debut Lost Connection intrigued me the most, showing more darkstep diversity compared to others. Why, they even had ambient interludes! ...kinda'. It was enough for me to nab that second LP, Dead Forest, even if it didn't have any Drone Scans of its own. Ah, who needs those anyway, when you got deep, moody numbers like opener Fetus guiding us into album number two?

No, seriously, this track is some vintage Modus Operani Photek business, the bassline an omnipresent rumble while sparse drums clatter and paranoid ambience bleeds between the seams. A little later, Invisible Hand repeats the trick, but with more aggression, while Hexagon smooths the deep minimalism into an easy cruise. Dry Bones keeps things in a moody atmosphere, a twitchy, rumbling bassline over a standard 2-step break the main thrust of the tune as ominous strings carry on. Maybe not so much Photek in substance, but definitely in tone.

As with most of these Technical Itch associates though (or Mr. Caro hiding under pseudonyms, who's to say?), it's all about what they do with the good ol' Amen Break, and once again, Doom Poets don't disappoint. Opener Fetus may have set us off on a subtler vibe, but follow-up Bizon is all boshing darkstep business through and through. Not to be outdone, Black Tenticle and Necrophalus (eww?) head down the tech-step path, hitting just as hard even if their drum programming isn't as complex.

The rest of Dead Forest mostly plays out in similar fashion. A little Amen action (Timeloss, Feather), a little tech-step time (Sober, Skull), and that one track that throws all convention out the window. I've no clue what to classify the titular cut, some sort of massive mash-up of Amen and tech-step into a marching stomper. Like, I know associating advancing Imperial AT-ATs is a complete cliche in this genre, but damn, if it don't sound like mechanical monstrosities are advancing upon your puny hiding spots.

So all good stuff, as has been the case from everything I've heard out of Tech Itch Recordings now. Well, except that one CD from the main man himself, but that was just another one of Mr. Caro's dubstep/trap exercises. Need to get on that actual proper Technical Itch album sometime soon.

Autumn Of Communion - Data Space Bass

Fantasy Enhancing: 2021

I kept thinking to myself, “That's it. I won't be getting anymore Autumn Of Communion albums, because how many more can there be after a 20-CD box-set?” Then they release more, and I think to myself, “Okay, maybe one more, but surely they've released all I've cared to hear at this point. What else could they they release that entices me back?” Then they release something that entices me back – it's a vicious cycle.

Like, how could I possibly resist this? Space! Bass! Orbital mechanics for cover art! A shade of blue! Seriously, showing off inner planet orbits is interesting, but I find it intriguing this diagram includes the orbit of Eros. While by no means a completely unknown hunk of rock, it doesn't get as much attention as other nearby dwarfs like Ceres or Vesta. Still, it was the first Amor asteroid discovered, first orbited and landed upon, and its orbit is tighter to the sun compared to larger Amor asteroid Ganymed, making it an easy fit on this particular diagram. I suppose getting a spotlight in The Expanse helped it gain popular culture cache too.

You'd think after taking in nine albums of AoC music (not to mention Lee and Mick's other musical ventures), I'd have a solid idea of what to expect going into another outing from the duo. Yet I can honestly say I had no idea what I might encounter here. A title like Data Space Bass has me thinking of some galactic funk, or cargo-bay rattling technobass, or deep, black hole dives into the lowest sonic registries imaginable. Not that Lee hasn't shown shown some adeptness at going a little Detroit in the past, but yeah, this isn't a lane typically travelled by Autumn Of Communion.

And nor is it on this album either. In fact, there's surprisingly little deep bass at all, used sparingly and generally in service of whatever ambient techno groove gets going. Why would I expect 'deep bass' at all? Oh, right, because my brain keeps thinking the title is 'Deep Space Bass', or 'Deep Space Network', or 'Deep Space Nine'. Constantly replacing 'Data' with 'Deep', is what I'm sayin'. Brains is so stupid sometimes.

To be honest, I kinda' dreaded I was in for a very experimental album, as opening track Space Ain't The Place opens with bloopy-hissy noises that had me recalling some of the more tedious excursions from IDM wonks. It isn't long before things settle into more traditional space sound effects and cosmic ambience though. And hey, this beat is kinda' funky too, in a dorky sort of way. Follow-up Fukes is more typical of AoC ambient techno, though sounding more spacious than other works. Most of the tracks maintain that mood, with a single thirteen-minute excursion of pure ambient (The Flow Of Telepathy) lodged in the middle.

Even if my weirdly off expectations weren't met, Data Space Bass is still a fun little outing from AoC. Until next time, lads, when the cycle begins anew.

Motionfield - Cryonics

Neotantra: 2021

Now concluding, Motionfield. Well, no, probably not. Dude's still got a number of albums out there that I'll likely spring for at some point or other. Of that initial splurge of four, however, we've finally come to an end.

I cannot deny there's a little struggle in coming up with fresh things to say about Petter Friberg's style of ambient music. For sure it's quite lovely, soothing, haunting, and all those pretty words, and each LP has maintained their own distinct themes, but much of what I've heard has remained rather similar in execution too. It's the 36 or Alphaxone problem all over again, wherein I buy too much of an artist all at once, and exhaust all the talking points I blather on about before diving into music. Guess I outta get to that instead of wasting your time with this blathering about blather.

So Cryonics. This was the most recent record from Motionfield when I went and got a bunch of 'em, though he's since released another one called Injection. That one looks like... synthwave? Well, something future-retro, if the cover-art is to go by. Oops, don't go getting distracted by gaudy, eye-catching artwork, not when I have the pure grey Neotantra's offered in their 'let the music speak for itself' style.

Actually, with a title like Cryonics, I do expect some theme, and the opener instills a proper chilly mood to everything. Mysterious ambient drone shimmers and shatters as sparse, delicate melodies echo into the distant frozen wastes of whatever vista you find yourself upon. Part 2 shifts focus, a burbling acid bassline guiding us out among the stars, all the while the hissing of oxygen tanks remain ever present. A lonesome synth lead imparts a sense of wonder, and gosh, I'm getting serious Starstation Earth vibes on this. Well, the first half of Banco de Gaia's sci-fi epic – doubt Motionfield would unleash some world beat jams anytime soon. Either way, there's some good ol' cryo feels out of these tracks.

But I can't really say the same for much of the rest of the album. I dunno, maybe after Part 2, I thought we might be in for a deep space adventure on a sleeper ship, but the next clutch of tracks feels more grounded, open, spacious, and even, dare I say, warm. A couple pieces, like Part 4 and Part 7, make nice use of field recordings such that your part of a spring melt by way of Biosphere minimalism. Others, like Part 6, Part 8, and Part 9, feature grander synth drones, sometimes layering into an almost aggressive wall of sound. Dennis Huddleston would approve. It's not until final track Part 10 that the ambience turns crisp and cold again.

Not that I want to say Cryonics is Motionfield, erm, going through the motions. Aside from a few tracks though, this is well traversed territory for Petter. One notices such things after taking in four albums of an artist.

Aythar - Cosmic Resonances

Carpe Sonum Records: 2019

Hard to believe it's been half a decade since peak Aythar-Mania. Not that Mr. Tamás hasn't kept himself busy in the interim, but compared to the rush of activity his 2016 generated, things slowed down some. It'd be hard to top that year anyway, not only releasing two highly-regarded albums in Astronautica and The God Particle, but ...txt offering up the pseudo-retrospective Dream Of Stars too, catching folks up if they were just getting on the Aythar hype train (*cough*). He spent the next number of years self-releasing a few items and live sets, but nothing on a proper label. Just give it time, a little more time... you know a Fantasy Enhancing or Neotantra is chomping at the bit.

Or a Carpe Sonum, they'll do too. Only this isn't an entirely new album from Aythar, Cosmic Resonance a self-released debut from 2010. This isn't a re-issue either, not only re-jiggering the track sequence of the original four tracker but excising Part 4 (The Final Cycle) altogether (because it already appeared on Dream Of Stars, most likely).That doesn't leave enough material for a full album though, so Carpe Sonum plucked a few scattered tracks from other releases to fill things out.

Would that make this a compilation then? If all the tracks were dissimilar enough, sure, but a hefty chunk of the running time is taken up by the Cosmic Resonance sessions, lending the whole listening experience a proper album outing. Well, about as proper as hearing a muse separated by seven years of music making can allow. It's more flowing than Dream Of Stars in any event, and that was one darn fine flowing collection of ambient music, believe you me.

Since Cosmic Resonance Part 1-3 makes up the meat of this CD sandwich, let's tackle that first. Part 1 (formerly Part 3) sets the tracks' themes off in fine fashion, pulsing and burbling electronics echoing about as cosmic synth pads glisten and glide about. Part 2 (formerly Part 1) is the heftiest of the trio, clocking in at nearly nineteen minutes in length. It's definitely on that vintage Fax+ vibe of blissy, floaty ambience, never in any hurry to go anywhere, though picking up in tension as elements are gradually added. It eventually culminates in a wash of Berlin-School synths and piano, gently ebbing out in forever echoing bubbly electronics. Part 3 (formerly Part 2) is the 'techno' cut of the three, a sparse rhythmic groove guiding along minimalist synths and tones as heard in the other two pieces. All good stuff, if a little experimental, but the rearrangement makes for a stronger showing of each part's features.

The remaining tracks surrounding Cosmic Resonance have more in common with the bubbly, cosmic ambience as heard on other Aythar albums. Despite the thematic disconnect, they're fine either as companion pieces or album padding. Like, imagine if Carpe Sonum had done an AudioGalaxy raid of Aythar tracks, and smooshed them onto a single CD. I can dig it.

The Chemical Brothers - Come With Us

Virgin: 2002

The fourth album from Misters Rowlands and Simons is regarded as something of a well-received flop – enjoyed when released, but leaving little lasting impression upon The Chemical Brothers' wider catalogue. Frankly, they had to try something different, lest they remain thought of as vanguards of a rapidly cratering big-beat scene. Surrender had already started the transition, but that album had enough familiar sonic markers making it more of a companion piece to Dig Your Own Hole than anything drastically different.

So reinvention was necessary, but where could they go? The same place everyone goes eventually: house or techno. In this case, they went with the latter, or about as techno as The Chemical Brothers could reasonably get away with. Something closer to their underground party roots, where the rhythms are repetitive and relentless, no space for big anthemic choruses with rock radio guest stars.

Testing those waters was a test-pressing for the track It Began In Afrika, a tune that I practically knew how it'd go before hearing it once. “Oh, I bet they'll use that vocal sample that says the title, which I first heard in an Ice MC track, then do some tribal drumming along with their usual psychedelic loops of fury. I is so smart!” Having hacked the puzzle (or whatever), I wasn't too enthused about the new Chemical Brothers and let Come With Us pass me by.

Something drew me back to it though, a lingering sense of curiosity of what the album's full length might entail. That initial positive buzz had to be worth something, and latter reactions seem to confirm this is a 'deeper' record compared to their other efforts. Seeing as how it's so dirt cheap on the used market, springing for a copy wouldn't hurt. I've never been led astray by a Chemical Brothers album anyway (even if one in particular was overplayed to the grave).

And the titular opener sets us off in good fashion, a smashing tension builder with a climax of cascading synth sweeps that I'm sure sequenced amazingly with 1.21 gigawatts of laser technology. Not as immediately ear-wormy as their other album openers, but then this is supposedly a 'deeper' album. It Began In Afrika-ka-ka-ka-ka comes next, and it's exactly as I predicted. It's pretty dope too, so fool on me for initially so haphazardly dismissing it because I guessed the ending. Star Guitar was the other big tune off here, a loopy Balearic outing that kind of reminds me of The Field (or is that foretold?). Only two guest vocalists appear, the obligatory Beth Orton featuring The State We're In, and Richard Ashcroft of The Verve on the obligatory psychedelic closer The Test.

The remaining mostly amount to uptempo breaks and techno tracks, the limp acid-fart of My Elastic Eye the only dud among them. Hardly adventurous stuff, but I'm sure it felt nice for these brothers to get back to some basic party jams. It's definitely one of the smoothest Chemical Brothers albums I've heard.

Lucette Bourdin - Colors, Shapes & Rhythm

Fantasy Enhancing: 2007/2021

Well, this was unexpected. Not that I wasn't expecting it at some point – Lucette does, after all, have a couple albums with the word 'drum' in their titles. I just assumed her catalogue primarily consisted of artsy ambient music. Most of her publicity stills have her working in her art studio, y'see, surrounded by paint and canvases; doesn't really impart an image of a lass getting down to the funky jams. Even here, an album called Colors, Shapes & Rhythms, I somehow never clued in that there would be actual rhythms in it. My brain saw 'colors' and 'shapes', and immediately concluded that's all there was to it. Brains is sometimes real stupids.

Going by the chronology of Ms. Bourdin's album output, Colors, Shapes & Rhythms was the first time she implemented beats of any kind. And, um, it kinda' shows. The opening track, Round And Green, is more of a Berlin School approach to the craft, a simple, soft electronic rhythm burbling in the background as Lucette does some synth jamming over top. At twelve minutes though, the piece kind of drags, and I can't say I'm fond of her choice of synths here, their delayed tones muddying the layers of timbre as she plays along. Maybe if she switched the rhythms up some.

And so she does in follow-up Rhythm Cube, though it's hardly revolutionary stuff. Frankly, it seems like Lucette acquired a library of drum loops without quite knowing how to utilize them to their full potential. This track lines up disconnected loops one after the other, with little in the way of logical bridging. A distant, dub techno pulse eventually gives way to a standard hip-hop shuffle, followed by a lazy jazz jam, finishing off with tribal drumming. Carrying through it all is a rather atonal synth drone that while isn't bad, doesn't really mesh with the differing rhythms.

Two tracks deep, and I was ready to write Colors, Shapes & Rhythms off as one of Lucette's weaker outings, an artist simply exploring new tools. Then third track Oval Opal Vocal comes in with some lovely angelic choir pads and a soft, dubby rhythms like a gentle heartbeat, and oh my. I think she's figured it out, by g'ar! Well, maybe not quite, Res Stars Over Pyramid and Lumpy Blue Lines still rather clunky in their use of drum loops and synth doodling, though I think it may be the intent in the latter, if the title's anything to go by. Still, Polygons Of The Future is pretty cool in an ambient techno sort of way, and closer Square Prints On Black Sand's minimalism maintains a nicely mysterious atmosphere, even if it too drags some at over fourteen minutes.

Can't really claim Colors, Shapes & Rhythms is essential Bourdin though. Lord Discogs says it never got an official release on a label, so as mentioned, likely just a freeform, exploratory outing from Lucette. There's bound to be a couple of those in a twenty-CD box-set.