Sykonee's 'Sportsing' Surveys: NORMAN COOK

The man, the myth, the legend: Norman Cook. Everyone knows at least a couple songs out of his catalogue, whether they want to or not. To this day, I'll hear Praise You on a grocery store speaker, or Right Here, Right Now at a sporting event. What about the rest, though? With a career spanning some forty years, surely he's done more to be known for other than tunes like The Rockafeller Skank.

Some, yes, but I realized my own knowledge of these various bands, productions, and projects was severely lacking. Heck, I only have two of his Fatboy Slim albums as it is - well, if you consider a 'kiddie clean version' a proper copy of Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars. Digging through Mr. Cook's extended discography, however, yields plenty of material to sift through, more than enough to satisfy my survey requirements. Sounds about right to finally know the rest of the Norman Cook story, as Paul Harvey might say. (he'd never say that ...don't know if Paul Havery would even know what a Fatboy Slim is)













Well, that was a lot more music than I was expecting, especially so in the acid jazz lane. And yet, I still feel like I only scratched the surface, so much of Norman's career defined by DJing accomplishments as much as anything he did in the production booth. Wish I could say much of it inspired me to nab a few more items proper-like, but it does appear I already got the cream of the crop.

That one dusted, think it's about time I tackle a band that, while maybe not be the best for 'sportsing' to, has been on the perifery of my curiosity: Stereolab! I've a feeling it'll be a rather... challenging outing, especially coming off the 'what you hear is what you get' simplism of Norman Cook.

Various - VVAA - The Sky Sampler Vol. 2

Espacio Cielo: 2022

This is another one of those 'when did I get this?' items – they seem to be growing more common within my Bandcamp library. I'm assuming someone shared a link to the label's homepage, I browsed a couple releases, then snagged a couple items. Who or why this happened by, your guess is as good as mine, a chance of happenstance discourse and all that.

Which hey, is fine and dandy this day in age, getting recommendations from friends and folks I trust opinions of. About the only other way to 'discover' something new is pure dumb luck. Oh, sure, I could go by what a streaming service's discovery algorithm thinks I may like based upon previous listening habits, but where's the fun in that? Nay, give me the alluring thrill of the hunt, the satisfying sense of accomplishment upon hearing music you hadn't considered before, possibly only shared by a handful of others in an increasingly over-saturated market. Also, streaming service discovery algorithms generally suck ass. Stop suggesting me Tim Hecker, got'dang it, I know who he is!

Anyhow, Espacio Cielo is a relatively new net label, emerging at the start of this decade with artists like Parissior, Azaria, Andreas Rund, MI.RO, and Cannibal Coconuts. Mostly a blend of space synth, dark disco, and New Beat acid, their oozing retro vibes are undeniably infectious (hm, I think I remember who put this on to me now). Couple that with early cover art cribbing planetary beauty shots, and it's no wonder why I'd at least give them at least a casual ear-glance. And what better place to get a sampling than a sampler compilation called VVAA – The Sky Sampler Vol 2?

David Body kicks things off with Inside Out, a total electro love-in with grand cosmic strings attached. No, seriously, how can one tracks sound so epic while being so booty-shakin'? Follow-up Cielo Rojo from Tierra de Ovnis almost can't help but be a bit of a let-down, a straight-forward mechanical chugger with sparse robotic noises. Cool as a transitional piece in a tech-house set, I guess, but man, after flying so high with Inside Out, I wasn't ready to come down from that space.

Silicodisco and Futuristant provide a track that's more in Espacio Cielo's wheelhouse, He's Coming, a fairly standard little cosmic disco outing, while Parissior's Resistance follows them with some gritty New Beat boogie. Finally, Jay-Son closes The Sky Sampler Vol 2 with Chronicles Of Hedonism, a tasty blend of synthwave and New Beat ...which I guess is officially called dark disco? I dunno, that genre always seems to have eight different people providing slightly different variants of a sound that's highly reminiscent of something that already exists. Genre rabbit holes, amirite?

So a glorious start to this compilation, with a solid enough run with the rest. Obviously I shouldn't go expecting mind-melting material from a self-professed sampler, but as a taste of what Espacio Cielo's about, this mini-comp accomplishes that.

Jochem Paap - Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 II

Fax +49-69/450464: 1999/2021

No one ever releases just one item on Fax+, as is the law and tradition. Thus it is, by decree, that Jochem Paap released not just one volume of Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598, but two. Wait, if that title is to be believed, and these sessions were from all the same time frame, why not make it a double-LP instead of two separate CDs? Pft, that's just not how things were done at Pete Namlook's label. You were gonna' get yourself a single CD with each outing, and you'll like it! And for the most part, folks did like it, even if it made being a completist an almost Herculean trial.

These two albums were all Jochem wrote for Fax+, at least as a solo artist. He did do one collaborative joint with Namlook half a decade later, titled pp • nmlk, which... um. Okay, I know the whole naming 'gimmick' Mr. Paap chose for these records was editing out the vowels, so an album title that's just their last names with no vowels makes sense. It's just... I'm sorry, my Beavis & Butthead brain can't help itself! Also, for some reason, that album hasn't been re-issued yet. I'm assuming it's only a matter of time, as lots of material from the Namlook estate has slowly been unearthed in recent years, if not via Silent State Recordings, then via the multitude of artists he collaborated with. One track has come out, ntr t nw wrld, as it appeared on The Ambient Gardener – Winter, but that's all. Patience is a virtue.

Anyhow, I mentioned in the previous review that Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 I only felt like a Fax+ release part of the time. Not so much 9598 II, about as classic a Fax+ type album as you'll ever come across. For starters, there's a half-hour long track on here – it don't get much more vintage Fax+ than that, my friends! And, in traditional Fax+ fashion, Mrg-Rvx is about as noodly an ambient jam session as you'll come across, ominous synth tones bubbling and burbling like some sort of digital cauldron. It doesn't seem to go anywhere beyond moving for its own sake, but ever-so gradually, dark cinematic drone slides in, sounding a bit rather like the foreboding white-noise pieces that appeared on A Shocking Hobby, just in a more subtle manner. If all that seems too 'maximal' for you, then eighteen-minute follow-up Jchm-Zngn goes ultra-minimalist, gentle atonal pulses played with the softness of a Harold Budd piano piece.

The only thing on here that approaches ear-wormy is the relatively short opener Dx-Snth, a simply bit of calming ambient pad drone that builds towards a pleasant peak. Indeed, this piece did get a little compilation love, including appearing on an Autumn Of Communion mix for A Strangely Isolated Place. Yep, it's a seal of approval from one of ambient techno's contemporary tastemakers, so if that's not enough to get you itchin' to check Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 II, I don't know what will.

Jochem Paap - Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 I

Fax +49-69/450464: 1999/2021

Hey now, I still haven't told any lies. I totally am finished with Speedy J and his handful of aliases at this end of my alphabetical queue. I never said anything about material Mr. Paap released under his actual name. You only didn't see this loophole coming from a mile away because you didn't know Mr. Paap released anything under his actual name. And... fair play on that angle. This wasn't widely advertised, perhaps only known by a select few deeply immersed in ambient techno circles of the late '90s. Clearly his regular label Novamute wasn't interested in hearing Jochem indulge himself on some experimental drone.

Or even if they were, Jochem wasn't keen on piggy-backing this off his Speedy J fame. Yeah, he'd shown an ear for ambient doodling on G Spot, but for the most part, Speedy J is his techno outlet, where the bulk of his brand recognition lies. While there may be a small contingent of Speedy fans that'd be down for a selection of ambient works too, sometimes it's just good business sense shuffling those off to a side-gig, should the opportunity arise. What label, though, would be willing to provide that outlet?

Lots, probably, but surprisingly, Jochem ended up on Pete Namlook's Fax+ print for his ambient excursions. I honestly had no idea this was the case until I bought Speedy J's Bandcamp catalogue, if for no other reason I seldom ever see Mr. Paap's name brought up in discussions of Fax+ alum. I guess it shouldn't be that shocking, as plenty of techno's luminaries has crossed the famed Frankfurt label. It's just when you think of artists instrumental in the original Artificial Intelligence run, most of them found welcome homes within that particular circle, whereas Fax+ was kinda' an island unto itself.

Even more so, Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 I seems like something that should have ended up on Warp Records; or at least, say, Rephlex or Astralwerks, not Fax+. For sure it's ambient, but completely in that distinct Aphex Twin and Autechre lane of lucid dreamscapes, sounds emanating from the outworld and beyond. Seriously, pieces like the eerie Spk, the gentle Dtnd-Jn, the droning Trpp-Bll, and the weirdo Trmml-Dx could have easily fit on Selected Ambient Works II. This isn't so much a style-bite, just IDM artists finding similar aesthetics.

Specifically though, it's not really the usual Fax+ aesthetic, that label often indulging in lengthy ambient jam sessions, with more an ear towards Berlin School synth noodling. A couple tracks do touch upon such vibes, like the gentle, swaying opener Jn-Klkkn, the pure, bright pad drone of shorty Flm, and the minimalist, soft keyboard jam of closer Mbnt-Plng. Clocking in at over sixteen minutes, this piece is the sort you'd expect on a typical Fax+ release, wherein an artist is free to indulge themselves for however long they wish. No expectations of song structure or sound design, just some simple melodic tones playing out for however long said artist feels appropriate.

Dub_Connected - Vol. 1 - Mind The Gab!

Liquid Audio Soundz: 2000

I've dabbled in Gabriel Le Mar's material here and there, but there's more I should be digging into than his prime project and that Saafi Brothers joint. Like, the Ambient Dub compilation (no, not those ones ...Or those other ones). It featured his production on nearly half the tracks. What about Banned-X and Dublocation and such? Just how far deep into the Gabriel rabbit-hole can one go? And how much effort will it take doing so? A little, I wager, but the good news is artists are making things much easier by uploading their back catalogue to Bandcamp. Ooh, I spy a couple Dub_Connected selections there. The track Dublicity got itself an Ace Track honour back on Ambient Dub. Seems an easy choice to start on, then.

And by Ongoing Alphabetical Decree, I'm covering Vol. 1 – Mind The Gab! first. Hey, it's got Dublicity on it as well! Good to know I'm not going into this one utterly blind, then. That said, I can't tell if this is an album or a compilation. Like, I'd assume an album, since most of the tracks seem specific to this release, but Lord Discogs says this is a compilation, and the Lord knows all. Far as I can tell, this was a side project Mr. Le Mar had as The Gab! working with an assortment of other producers. I guess that can make this a compilation, but I dunno'. That would be like saying every album from The Orb is a compilation, what with the rotating cast of artists working with Alex Patterson.

Anyhow, Mind the Gab! kicks off with a collaboration with Ronda Ray called Martha. Oh man, I wonder if Mr. Mastichidis has any idea how much cultural cache that name has these days! Regardless, it's a suitably groovy, dubby little number, closer to the realms of acid jazz really. A 'Dubbed' version closes things out, though it's more like a 'stripped' version. Interesting that Gab' was doing such remixes even this early on.

From there, we get the crunchy techno dub of Dublicity and High Moon with 10Cars. The Rootsman pairings find the two going more tribal techno. Plug-A-Dub with Carson Plug gets minimalist in its dub, while 13 Monde (whom Lord Discogs knows nothing about) coerces the bangier, ravier side of techno dub from Mr. Le Lar with the tracks Drop Worlds and Mental Chant. And finally Jack “No, not that one, obviously” Black provides Gab! with a simple dubby groover in At The End Of The Century.

So a decent collection of techno dub, all said. It won't light your world on fire, but it's fun while it plays. In the end, I'm just glad Gabriel made this available on Bandcamp, as I'd hate to have broken the bank paying huge Collector's Market sums of cash for this. Say, how much is the original CD going for now? *checks*. Huh. That cheap, eh. Well, I'm sure Mr. Dub_Connected appreciates my direct financial compensation.

Night Hex - Viziuni Nocturne

Suntrip Records: 2015

Ended one box-set, time to start another. Okay, this technically isn't one, anymore than going through N:L:E's Bandcamp releases is. When one receives the bulk of a label's CD catalogue in a big ol' box though, it kind of counts. And Suntrip Records, they offered a deal I simply couldn't refuse - nor afford, so it was nice of Ishkur to chip in halfies for the collection. If any future updates to the Music Guide seems weighted way in favour of this label, now you know. Also, Suntrip releases really good goa trance, it does.

Yet in typical EMCritic fashion, I am not kicking off this journey into Suntrip Records with an album that typifies the label's 'neo-goa' sound. I mean, I kinda' already did, with Clementz' Kretsløp a year ago, but that doesn't really count – the notion of deep diving this print was hardly on my mind back then. What I'm getting at, though, is this mini-album from Night Hex is more of a standard prog-psy outing than the retro psy you'd expect out of Suntrip. Or maybe they do more than I could have guessed – it's not like I've listened to everything in their catalogue yet. Gotta' mix things up some, lest you get pigeonholed as a one-trick pony. Right, I'm sure there's some in the psy scene that would love nothing more than having every release on this label be a strict genre exercise, but I prefer things mixing up some, especially now that I've committed to giving coverage to Every. Single. Item.

Geez'it, am I ever rambling now. That usually happens if I don't have much to say about the given item I'm set to review, but maybe that's not the case. Maybe I'm typing this way because I'm writing this while still high on dental sedatives. Is that worthy an excuse here? No?

Look, there really isn't much to say about Night Hex. There's plenty to say about the man behind Night Hex, one Emanuel Carpus, but I don't want to spoil that fun just yet. Besides, I've already covered a couple of his releases, and have plenty more from him down the line, so don't want to get deep into what appears to be a simple one-off alias. Lord Discogs lists no other releases than this one, with but a couple stray compilation tracks rounding out the rest.

Four tracks make up this CD EP, plus a remix. Opener Night Visitors works the stready prog-psy vibe with mysterious sounds floating about with simple hooks at the peaks. Sleep Paralysis ups the tempo a smidge, carried by an almost melancholic melody before letting the twisty psy riffs do their thing. Distorted Visions ups the tempo more, getting into some proper goa trance pacing, with trancey multi-tap hooks and acid along for the ride. Katharsis is the requisite slowbeat psy-chill closer, while the ten-minute plus cut is a chugging prog-psy remix of the E-Mantra track Ninive Under The Stars. And now you know more.

Lucette Bourdin - A View From Afar

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2012/2021

Thusly, we reach the end of Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017). Well, not quite the literal end, the remix album Glimpses Volume 1 the official last numerical CD of this twenty CD collection. Chronologically though, A View From Afar is darn close to the last item within Lucette's actual discography, this and Breath Of Grace released less than a month apart. And since it was released after her passing the year before, these pieces may very well have been the last she crafted before her battle with breast cancer was lost.

But nay, A View From Afar is the final album in alphabetical order (ignore those articles!), and as such, the final album in my twenty-month coverage of this box set. Holy cow, what a journey its been! Well, okay, maybe not, but it is weird to think I've been at this for nearly two years now. There's been flurries of activity (the Nordic Waves series), there's been relative droughts (the gap between Drum-atic Atmospheres and The Mystery Of The Midnight Sun), but by and large, we've progressed through this collection at about an album per month. Have we gained greater insight into one of ambient music's more unsung composers? Or simply plugged along thanks to OCD inertia? Who's to say, but I'd like to think I've come away from this journey hearing more quality music than not.

And how does this final outing with Ms. Bourdin stack up to the rest of her catalogue? 'Tis a'ight, touching closer to her New Age and modern classical side of things compared to her other ambient drone compositions. A tidy six tracker, three pieces breaching the fifteen minute mark, the others hovering around nine-minutes in length. Opener Rising Into Bliss has some mild synth rhythms pattering about in the background before settling into swaying synth pads. Procession Of The Lesser Lights opens with light percussion as well, but is quickly jettisoned for more standard synth noodling. Dream Dancing goes quite ethereal and gentle, while Cascading Waves is bright and shimmery, almost like listening to music glistening off crystals within a waterfall cavern. Rêverie is more moody, while the titular closer is more minimalist. Again, all relatively middle of the road when stacked against the other nineteen albums I've listened to.

Sadly, not a rousing, climatic finale of my coverage of Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017), but so it goes. Part of me feels like I should do some sort of Album Ranking, but is that really fair? It's not like I've covered every album Lucette put out, indeed the bulk of her Earth Mantra material still out there in the internet-ether. Maybe if they're consolidated into an additional collection, I'll get to those, but for now, I'm well sated on Ms. Bourdin. I'll definitely return to albums like Rising Fog and Silver Moon and Oceanic Space and Ancient Memories, with the occasional spin of the others down the line. It's been a heck of a trip, yo'.

ACE TRACKS: April - June 2023

Bed bugs. Not even once.

Unfortunately, I've now had to deal with them at least once. Not only is it an icky thing to suddenly discover these critters have been crawling about your mattress for who knows how long (I suspect at least a month, migrating into my apartment shortly after the building tore out the hallway carpets), but in such numbers! Now, I had evidence they were lurking about, as I was waking up some mornings with what looked like hives across my forearms. It wasn't until I noticed some crawling up my nearby hanging decor that I finally tore up my bedding to find them all over the place, particularly nestled in a nook of my futon frame.

Okay, so I have bed bugs. Clean everything, then call building management to get a pest controller to do a spray or steam job to get the ones I can't find, right? Right, except my building 'management' is handled on the other side of the continent, correspondence handled through a web-portal, and hardly timely at that. Long story short(ened), after two weeks of inaction, I finally called a service myself, paying out of pocket, and by g'ar, it got the job done (hot drying ALL my clothing and bedding didn't hurt either). Guess I didn't need to buy all this peppermint oil to detract them from my blood but hey, at least it keeps my flat smelling minty fresh.

So that's how this past month went for yours truly. Anyhow, here's some ACE TRACKS from the past three months! Yeah, felt it necessary to stretch this one out some, get a few more genres in there that aren't ambient drone. Look, it's not my fault some of the more interesting techno, trance, and electro aren't on Deezer!


Full playlist here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Yahgan - Ushuaia
H:U:M - Universal Code
Stimulus Timbre - Unfolding Cycles
N:L:E - Uncharted Lands
Various - tʌntrə x
Various - Tranceculture > Endless Universe
Tomas Jirku - Touching The Sublime
Yamaoka - Time To Time
Procs - Stuck In The Oven With Me
G-Prod - Space Time's Bubbles LP

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 5%
Percentage Of Rock: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Viking metal. Always the Viking metal.

Quite a few missing there, which I suspect is gonna' become more common the deeper I get into N:L:E's extended Bandcamp catalogue. Speaking of, Bandcamp apparently now offers Playlist options too. Should I make an exclusive Bandcamp Playlist, featuring all the tracks not available on other streaming services? I know there's quite a few in that category, particularly from artists and labels very stingy about having their music spread abroad for percentages of pennies. Would take quite a while to compile, but if I start sooner rather than later, at least I can just keep building upon it, rather than wasting an entire day over it. Anyhow, food for thought.

Pet Shop Boys - Very

Parlaphone: 1993

All statistics point towards this being the Pet Shop Boys album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Pet Shop Boys fan. It certainly charted better than any other record in their catalogue, and is critically lauded as the duo's proper coming out party, where the somewhat coy, side-glancing nods to gay culture were finally put front and centre. More so, when Muzik Magazine was ranking their choices for the Top 50 dance albums, this was the PSB album they chose. Now, some of that may have been immediacy bias, the house and ravey remixes definitely a step up compared to the duo's '80s output, but regardless, if I can't trust Muzik Magazine's opinion on something, who can I trust?

Still, ask a regular layman to namedrop a song off here, chances are you'll get met with a blank. Folks know West End Girls, Always On My Mind, and (probably) It's A Sin, if for no other reason than their never-ending retro radio airplay. Nothing of the sort emerged from Very. Its singles did reasonably fine, with Go West - the big anthem that's so audacious, it features what sounds like the sailors from Cher's If I Could Turn Back Time video singing the chorus – doing the most damage. That darn radio play again factors in though, or rather the lack of it in the ensuing years in this case. '90s Pet Shop Boys just doesn't have the lasting cultural cache as '80s Pet Shop Boys does.

Anyhow, some may recall I started this PSB journey with the intent of very slowly going through their discography in chronological order, but have clearly skipped Behaviour. Yeah, well, that one's rep' hasn't sparked my interest quite like Very's, plus I saw this CD among a Discogs seller. I've been itching to hear this proper-like for a while, as those earworms heard on Disco 2 surely sound just as good in their original context. So nuts to orderly convention, let's get to the good shit.

The only criticism I can levy upon Very is the production doesn't quite hold up, its early '90s-ness clear and apparent. Not that that's ever been a real problem for PSB before, but there was always a sense they were riding the trends in their early work. Here, they haven't quite caught up to where synth-pop and dance music had progressed in such rapid time, which was just how things went that decade regardless. Hot today, outdated tomorrow. If anything, it's remarkable they were still able to hold their own when so many of their contemporaries had been left in the dust.

Beyond that though, this is very much Pet Shop Boys being as joyful and jubilant as they ever been. Even when topics fall into bittersweet break-ups ('natch), there's just a sense of freedom and release in it all. Very may not have their most iconic songs, but it feels like a proper cap on their first decade of music making.

Amon Amarth - Versus The World

Metal Blade Music: 2002

I'm absolutely no expert on the history of Amon Amarth, nor do I feel committed enough to this band to become one. Far as I can tell though, Versus The World is their true break-out album. For one thing, it's their earliest LP that scores a solid 4/5 on SputnikMusic. In fact, only this and With Oden On Our Side achieve that mark, with Twilight Of The Thunder God nipping at their heels just 0.1 points behind. Mind, the sample size isn't quite so high, this one earning only nine-hundred votes, while the other two have... a whole lot more.

Regardless, I'm confident in making this assumption because of the deluxe version of Versus The World I snagged. Not only does it have the original album, but a second CD including the band's debut mini-album Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds, plus a couple demo EPs: Arrival Of The Fimbul Winter and Thor Arise. Generally speaking, one does not tag their earliest material to another album unless you consider both a Ground Zero of sorts in your musical evolution.

Anyhow, Versus The World is pretty much more of the same as I've come to expect out of Amon Amarth. Or set the template, since this is an earlier album in their peak years. Blast beat drumming from Fredrik Andersson, grinding rhythm guitars from Ted Lundström and Johan Söderberg, impossibly epic, melodic shredding from Olavi Mikkonen, and Johan Hegg going on about Viking activities and mythology under an incomprehensible guttural growl. Okay, it's not all guttural growls here, mixing things up with raspy bellows as well. Neither are of a personal preference (give me Tyr's falsettos any day!), but if putting up with death metal tropes is the price to pay to enjoy that fine-ass guitar action, so be it.

Plus it just makes good sonic sense hearing such primal vocals to a stomping, marching rhythm in Where Silent Gods Stand Guard. Not to mention the hilarity of hearing topics like Across The Rainbow Bridge uttered in such a tone. Yes, I know the reference – doesn't make it less amusing visualizing it in other contexts. Like, imagine Amon Amarth as the backing music in that Mario Kart race course!

So a solid outing on Versus The World Prime – how does the bonus CD stack up? Opening bonus track Siegreicher Marsch bodes well, carrying on from disc one. Then the early stuff hits and... *whoof*. Oh yeah, this is definitely some under-produced material. Talent is there, for sure, just far from refined yet. Söderberg's shredding sounds great, but overpowers everything, Hegg shouting a bunch from another room, while the drums are being played in a garage outside. And that's just he actual first mini-album! By the time we get to the Thor Arise demo... Man, save the death metal trappings, their recording of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath sounds like it could have come from the '70s. Never let it be said proper studio time won't do wonders for any genre of music.