Placid Angels - First Blue Sky

Magicwire: 2019

I really need to keep a record of my buying habits. Like, I can suss out the 'why': been neglecting John Beltran, nabbed a record with striking blue cover art. It's the 'how' I'm drawing an utter blank on. How did I end up landing on his Placid Angels side project? How did I even find it in the first place? It's certainly not on his own Bandcamp page, First Blue Sky coming out on the little-known Magicwire print instead. Yes, it was initially an offshoot of R&S Records, but far as I know, has been mostly independent since 2017, and has barely released much of anything lately.

It had to have been name-dropped somewhere, Magicwire. Perhaps Simon Reynolds on his Energy Flash blog, or one of the trance forums that still exist, pointing out some tunes that capture the feel of the genre in its vintage form. If either so, then the fact this happened to be a John Beltran album as well is pure coincidence. I mean, you sure wouldn't have guessed it as such just from listening to the samples. Who even knew he resurrected this alias in the first place?

For those not in the know (most, I wager), Placid Angels started as a one-off guest feature way, way back. Sometime in the late '90s, his career doing quite well with a solid handful of albums under his belt, he put out The Cry as Placid Angels on Peacefrog Records. Was it because the use of his regular name was an exclusive to R&S at the time? No, he'd already released an album on Peacefrog as John Beltran prior. Was The Cry a radical departure from his usual sound then, thus in need of an alias properly separating it from his regular output? Not terribly so, perhaps a shade more Detroit than his other techno works. And he certainly felt no need to return to Placid Angels after, letting the name sit fallow until reviving it for Magicwire.

Resurrect it he did though, and boy does First Blue Sky ever drip with retro rave feels. Right from the jump in the titular opener, you got brisk breakbeats, dreamy synth pads (a John Beltran staple), and subtle little samples spicing things up. Follow-up Angel leans more into classic ambient techno, when the beats could still be abrasive and the melodies outwordly. A Moment Away From You slides closer to Detroit's realm, and Vent... well, this is just straight up jungle, ain'it? The use of an Amen Break, sure, but not those supporting melodies, nosiree.

The remaining album mostly flits between variations on these types of tracks, which is great if your earholes crave more dance music in that vintage Warp and Apollo style. Of course, you can likely find plenty of this stuff elsewhere, but few have a way around a moving melody quite the way Mr. Beltran has done time and time again throughout his career. First Blue Sky is no exception to that rule.

Spiritual Fields - Fields Of Light

Liquid Frog Records: 2018

Wow, it's actually been a legit two months-plus since I last did a release from ol' Juan Pablo (which means he's released four more items during that period!). I'll grant half that time was taken up by vacations, and at least another third from the return of Fabric On A Budget. Still, any time I can put some space between these endless N:L:E items is a bonus in my books. Not that I've developed a distaste for them, just sometimes you need thoughts on an artist to marinate in your brain before diving into them again. Recharge the talking points, come fresh with new perspectives gleaned from real world events.

So getting back into the Liquid Frog catalogue anew, ready to tackle any and all items waiting alphabetically in my queue. Ooh, it's one of the Spiritual Fields items, the least active of Mr. Giacovino's side projects. Not only that, but this is the first such release he used the alias for, coming out quite early in his musical development. In fact, if the little blurb on the Bandcamp page is to be believed, Fields Of Light was crafted before he even started putting stuff out as Natural Life Essence. Okay, it states “an oldie rare crazy track”, but one doesn't typically call a tune of theirs such a thing unless it was made in the before-times of a career properly starting off. And since it doesn't quite mesh with whatever you currently are making hay off of, here's a unique handle for it so it's distinct from your main output. Maybe file that name for future reference, if something else strikes the muse feeding off of it.

Cool then, some pre-N:L:E material, which should be solid enough if Juan Pablo felt confident to release it regardless. Wait, it's only two tracks? Well, one, as this honestly comes off like an extended jam session like so many of those Caravan Of Healing Emotions did. Combined they do break the twenty-minute mark though, which is enough music for me to come up with something worth writing about ...I hope.

Heck, Fields Of Light Part I almost reminds me of a Caravan session, in that it uses similar, sweeping synth pads performed in an exultant fashion. There's also a lot of busy, dubby rhythm going on, mixing things up here and there in a freeform way – honestly sounds rather like playing about with sample packs, but it's all nicely crafted regardless. There's barely a pause between the two tracks, an ambient fade marking the start of Fields Of Light Part II. The longer session, there's more interesting sounds and melody on display here, but it does kinda' meander about too, in that classic post-Orb sort of way much ambient dub did. Like, you know the more dithering portions of Orbus Terrum? That, but without the eventual conclusion those tracks eventually arrived at. Hell, Part II seemingly ends at various points, only to start right back up again for a few minutes more.

Q-Burns Abstract Message - Feng Shui

Astralwerks: 1998

Michael Donaldson's project always felt bigger than it actually turned out. Maybe it's because his early tracks were appearing on several noteworthy labels via compilations and mixes, FFRR the most prominent of the lot. Also showing up on OM Records, Wall Of Sound, and even Mo Wax (kinda') didn't hurt in selling Q-Burns Abstract Message as an artist with an ear to the ground with what was hip and shakin'. However, he was seldom ever tidily pigeon-holed into any particular scene. Was he acid jazz? Trip-hop? Dubby breaks? Big beat? Balearic chill? A bit of everything, really, and coming up in a time when an eclectic style at least got you noticed.

Q-Burns got his proper break with Astralwerks, consolidating his wayward tracks onto a 'debut' comp' called Oeuvre. Oh my, doesn't that come off just a tad pretentious. If so, then titling his proper debut Feng Shui won't help. I get it though, this being the late '90s, and alternate interior design all the hipster hype. Yes, let's use Far East spiritualism as a guiding principle in how to arrange wall shelves. I jest, some practical use in 'feeling' how one's living environment should flow just so. Titling an album upon it though...

Actually, it makes sense, his music rather free-flowing in of itself. In fact, I can't help suspect Mr. Donaldson was reigning himself in. The sort of artist brimming with ideas, fully capable of crafting pieces exploring them, but also realizing not everyone would be down for an ultra expressionist outing for a debut. Gotta' lure in folks with traditional dance tunes, hook them in with the familiar, then throw them for a loop when you go off on a little key-change solo two-thirds deep.

That's the general approach to Feng Shui, but obviously each cut offers something different from the other. Opener He's A Skull does the big, funky breaks thing with a quirky vocal sample. Follow-up Solar Car goes even funkier in a Euro-hop, skippity sort of way. Jennifer gets on that chill-out vibe by way of French pop getting so very popular at the time (thanks, AIR). Some tracks are more catered to showing ear-wormy contorted sounds or samples (New Patterns, the titular cut). Others are just an excuse for him to jam things out (A.S.T., Talking Box). And in case you did come to a Q-Burns album looking for more of the acid jazz vibes, Kinda Picky and There Must Be Something have you covered.

It all sounds like a solid record (and I really dig his bass tones in several tracks), so why isn't Feng Shui brought up in talks of Very Important 'Electronica' albums of the '90s? Honestly, I think things are played almost too safe. It's a good album, but the decade was spoiled for great albums, good ones gaining fans who find them, but few of the plaudits that entrench it within the lingering scene consciousness. Which kinda' sums up the Q-Burns Abstract Message story in a nutshell.

Subtle Shift - Farshadow

Anodize/Harmonic Resonance Recordings: 2014

It was a decade ago that I first wrote up something about Gregory Kyryluk, the Open Canvas album Nomadic Impressions. I didn't really dig much deeper into his discography until covering his Alpha Wave Movement record Somnus, which got me intrigued enough to at least bookmark his Bandcamp. Y'know, for those days I was feeling a little extra splurgy on a Bandcamp Friday sale. And that's how I've now ended up with Farshadow, a pleasant little ambient techno LP that wouldn't sound out of place on any Lee Norris label. In fact, that's kinda' why I scoped this out in the first place, in a roundabout sort of way.

So Farshadow initially released on Anodize. Yes, that short-lived print that seemed to attract just about every modern ambient techno producer worth their salt. Autumn Of Communion released their second album there! Ishqmatics released there! David Morley released there! Lingua Lustra released there! Rapoon released there! And hoo boy, did Mick Chillage ever release a bunch there. The chap that kicked this little label that flamed so bright early, however, was Mr. Kyryluk, the album Transient Broadcasts as Within Reason. A year later came Farshadow, then a year after that, an Alpha Wave Movement release called Earthen. He... didn't release anything else on Anodize, probably because the label ceased operations following 2015. Ah well, time to retain your music rights and re-release that material under your own banner.

“But wait,” you say, “this is credited to Subtle Shift, not Within Reason. What gives?” Had to do a name-change for legal purposes, apparently. What, did Anodize somehow still hold the rights? Seems weird that a derelict print could, but then it did take a while for Lee and Mick to get their material back for re-issue as well. Always tricky to navigate, those music legal waters.

Anyhow, although Transient Broadcasts would have been the more obvious album for me to get (because blue), I went with Farshadow as the odd animal on the cover was more striking. At least, I think that's an animal – a shell, or maybe one of those strange cephalopods that can wrap its short-tentacled foot over its body.

And the music? Well, like I said, this could easily have been on any number of Lee's labels, probably ...txt. I've talked up plenty of those by now, and there really isn't much else here that deviates from that aesthetic. The rhythms are subtle and slightly dubby, the melodies are soft and charming in an inquisitive sort of way, and the atmosphere remains tranquil throughout. There's a loose theme of aquatic exploration, which reminds me of Lars Leonhard's Deep Venture, just not quite as expansive in sound design as that record. There honestly isn't much on Farshadow that'll leap out at you, but it's not really that kind of album either, mostly content being gentle music one can lose their thoughts within. Maybe read a little Jules Verne while it plays.

Rapoon - Fallen Gods

Staalplaat/Abstrakce Records: 1994/2021

Jumping all around Rapoon's catalogue has yielded plenty of interesting items now, but man, I just can't help but keep returning to Vernal Crossing the most. Something so primal, so instinctual ...so, dare I say, erotic. I keep wondering is there anything else like it in Mr. Storey's storied career, when the answer is so bluntly obvious, I'm astounded it took me this long to realize it. Or maybe I was subconsciously biding my time for a digital remaster to emerge. Sure, let's go with that, a seductive, subliminal message lurking within Vernal Crossing Revisited suggesting I bide my time before returning to this era of the Rapoon tale.

While there's plenty to be said about most of the early Rapoon records, I feel like Fallen Gods gets a little overlooked. It doesn't have that 'new concept' freshness the debut Dream Circle does (an album that's seen a triple-LP reissue!), which follow-ups Raising Earthly Spirits and especially Vernal Crossing maintained. If anything, because Fallen Gods came out the same year as Vernal Crossing, it couldn't help but get bypassed, the post-ecstatic glow of the former record still permeating upon the public consciousness. Whoa, reign in the hyperbole there! It's a cool album, f'sure, but only a highly niche audience would be aware of it back when, much less today.

Still, I'm a little surprised Fallen Gods didn't get at least a little more attention outside the abstract ambient sphere – say, the tribal techno sect? Obviously it sounds little like what you'd hear out of the PWoG camps, but compared to the pure, loopy nature of his previous works, Rapoon has added something more of a propellant rhythmic pulse to all the sampled drums and primal sounds.

Opener certainly seems to build upon the Vernal Crossing formula, but feels more minimalist and dubby. Meanwhile, second track Iron Path is almost mechanical, its rhythms rather jerky and coerced into its loop – and still, all performed rather spaciously, as though letting the drums be the dictating force. Rapoon had always used rhythmic loops before, but seldom such that they were the dominate feature, preferring to focus on the general atmosphere of his compositions. And as if to put an exclamation mark on this different direction, the titular cut features drum work that is almost thunderous, as though the sky spirits themselves are descending upon the populace below.

If Fallen Gods was primarily of this tone, I could see it having more attention over the years, but it kinda' waffles after. There's pure ambient drone pieces (Breathing Gold), tracks that sound like left-overs from the Vernal Crossing sessions (Sacrement, Valley), and a dalliance into what I assume is a Bulbul tarang solo: one mostly unmanipulated, followed by a more 'traditional' Rapoon loop session. All neat stuff, absolutely, but doesn't leave the album with a dominate aesthetic compared to his other works. Which may explain why Fallen Gods didn't get the 'revisited' remix treatment either. Nothing left to further explore here.

Ka-Sol - Fairytale

Suntrip Records: 2006

Isn't it fun going back to the early years of an established entity? The feeling-out days, where an identity is still being hashed out, so things are just a little askew from what we typically associate with said property. TV shows are the most prominent example: when Kramer wasn't so physically eccentric; when Flanders wasn't so Flanderized; before Riker had a beard (Sisko, too). Music labels are no less susceptible, many tossing their hands into the grab bag of genres as they figure out what super-niche lane they will come to proliferate. Unless you're one of those 'anything goes' type of prints. Then it don't matter if you started out with ear-bleed gabber, so long as you eventually come around to minimal deep-tech.

Suntrip was pretty clear about its original plans when it launched two decades ago: psy trance for the old goa heads, before all the full-on and prog changed the scene around them. And while they were mostly able to meet their manifesto out the gate, there were still a few 'wild' years before they properly purified their product. Seeing Aes Dana on their first ever compilation Apsara was odd enough, but shortly after that came this little outlier of an album, Ka-Sol's Fairytale.

So this is dark psy. Maybe not as demented and twisted as the genre can go, but definitely on that “creepy, mischievous things lurking in the woods at night” tip. Like, you already get that vibe from the cover art - less traditional psychedelic, more ancient European folklore. As I recall, there were quite a few chaps from the Scandinavian lands pumping out forest trance as much as prog-psy, and Mr. Lundström could have found a home on any number of labels supporting the stuff.

For some reason though, he wandered the wilds, only contributing tracks here and there over the years, before landing on Suntrip. A strange pairing, perhaps one made out of convenience: Ka-Sol needed a place to release an album, and Suntrip needed product to get their print established. Having already provided a track to the aforementioned Apsara (and among the best tracks that compilation had to offer), it made sense giving him the green light on a full-length record. Sure, Fairytale would end up sounding unlike little else in Suntrip's catalogue until the wa-a-ay later Carpe Noctum compilation, but how was anyone to know that's how things would shake out for the foreseeable future?

Anyhow, Fairytale is a solid slice of dark psy, though I can't help but feel it stands out more because of its stark contrast with the rest of Suntrip's discography. There's even a concession to the goa brigade here, in that as the album plays out, the psychedelic derangement slowly subsides, such that by the end, we're getting into more traditional forms of trance. Or is this meant to capture that transitional point of an outdoor party, where the night has given way to the first rays of dawn? Given Ka-Sol's rep' for live performances, probably so.

Various - FabricLive 85: Jesse Rose

Fabric: 2016

Okay, throw all that I've said about FabricLive being the series emphasizing broken-beats. This edition completely debunks that proclamation, Jesse Rose a straight up house dude through and through. Maybe a little tech-house for those 'harder' moments in the night. This isn't totally unprecedented, some FabricLive sets dipping its toes into the realms of house and techno. Typically it's with more of a focus on the funk roots of those genres, or at least an inching nod towards something more disco. It's not common though, and certainly nowhere near as faithful to the deep sounds of American house music. That Duke Dumont set, perhaps, or one of the volumes featuring an artist I know little about (Jimmy Edgar? Daniel Avery? Fake Blood??). What I'm getting at is FabricLive 85 sounds like it'd be better suited for the Fabric-Prime series than FabricLive, but I guess Baby Ford had dibs on that one.

Anyhow, Jesse Rose. I feel like I should know him more, but can't help thinking I'm mistaking him for some other tech-house DJ from the '00s with a similarly phonetic name. I've only come across Mr. Rose once before, on the Rub-N-Tug Fabric CD, but was a fairly regular artist on many sets for a solid decade and half. He had his own Berlin label, Front Room Recordings (when it was impossibly cool to have such a thing in your pocket), then moved onto another print in Play It Down. Then he apparently shut most of it down towards the end of the 2010s, and I haven't found much info for him since. Did he decide to hang things up after all that time? Never returned from a sabbatical following the Pandemic Years? Your guess is as good as mine, but far as social media is concerned, the Jesse Rose story ends before the '20s.

Which makes FabricLive 85 even odder, in that it came out only a couple years before his seeming hiatus. Normally folks release a Fabric set when they're on the verge of going onto bigger things. Or maybe Jesse was already showing hints of winding things down, and wanted to pull a Sandwell District instead? Not that Mr. Rose was a prolific mix CD marketer either, this only his third outing in the field (his first being on Get Physical ...ah, perhaps that's where I remember him from?).

These are about the only quirky talking points I have regarding this set, as it's a fairly standard deep house one with only the slightest nods towards tech-house. The funk flows, the soul simmers, the vibes vibe, the mixing keeps things even keel but doesn't really feel like it goes much anywhere. The sort of tunes you wouldn't mind hearing in a second room or some place more loungy, perhaps outdoors near a bar. Again, something I'd expect to hear on the parent Fabric series, not the one more known for its eclecticism. These Fabric On A Budget sessions always seem to end like this.

Various - FabricLive. 83: Logan Sama

Fabric: 2015

It's kinda' sad more FabricLive CDs haven't made their way onto the cheapskate's market. Or maybe it's good, suggesting a level of interest the primary series seems to lack for certain spells. It's more sad from my vantage point, missing out on potentially dynamic sets. FabricLive may have started out more of a broken beat option for the Fabric brand, but as the years wore on, it allowed far more musical diversity, showcasing artists with an 'anything goes' mentality that simply wouldn't fit among the house and techno luminaries. Also, remarkably prescient of what hot new trends in the UK underground were due to blow up. Whether you figured these trends were good or bad boils down to personal preference, but it cannot be denied FabricLive was at least giving them some shine when others weren't quite ready for it.

One they did initially miss, however, was grime. To be fair, Fabric was far more focused on nu-skool breaks and d'n'b in those days, so the fact the first wave of that scene passed them by isn't entirely their fault. Nor the fact grime was so quickly subsumed by its dubstep offspring, getting any attention abroad a challenge for much of the '00s. It had its holdouts though, keeping some embers aglow on pirate stations, waiting for its chance to emerge from its underground roots once all the hype surrounding UK bass mutations subsided.

One of the chaps doing so was Logan Sama. In fact, he was so successful in keeping grime alive, he was given a shot at an official BBC program. That... didn't pan out, due to getting... well, not exactly 'me-too'd, but more 'James Gunn'd? Simply put, the internet never forgets whatever edgelord jokes you thought hilarious among your peers.

FabricLive. 83 came out before all that, Mr. Sama still on his way up. As for his set, it's nothing less than a definitive grime throwdown, twenty-four tracks of various *boom-boom, wuub-wub* sounds front to back. The energy remains hype, every track offering something different from the last and never overstaying its welcome before quickly moving onto the next. Far as Lord Discogs can tell, every cut is unique to this set, adding to the music's inner city punkish attitude. That, and the mostly shouty, spittin' multitude of MCs featured.

Oh, there's grime MCs. Lots of grime MCs. I count... three, four... twenty-five, twenty-six... forty-seven, forty-eight... seventy-nine... Yeah, as I said, lots. I even recognize one name in there, Flowdan! A number pop up on multiple tracks (P Money, D Double E, Bossman Birdie, Killa P, Jammz, etc.) but a whole lot more are one-and-done with their verses. I can't help but imagine a huge line-up of every grime rapper in Logan's sphere, itching for a chance to shine, reaching around the block from the studio this was recorded at, like some old-timey amateur talent radio show. Hey, no fair Hitman (25) and Ego (23), cutting back in line! Don't be disrespectin' Discarda like that.

Various - Fabric 74: Move D

Fabric: 2014

Seeing Move D as part of the Fabric legacy feels strange to me. He's as worthy a contributor as anyone, but for so long, I've associated Mr. Moufang with a totally different aspect of electronic music. Music out on more experimental labels like BineMusic and ...txt, collaborations with dudes known for ambient and dub (HIA and Pete Namlook ...holy cow, did those two ever have musical simpatico going for them!) than anything fashionable. That's just a small slice of his entire oeuvre though, the chap appearing on all manner of house and techno labels at any given time, easily fitting in with the trends of the day as resisting and ignoring them. It's a testament to Dave's insane work rate that followers of one corner of his discography can remain entirely ignorant of another. Yes, I'm totally using that as my excuse for being utterly thrown for a loop after playing Fabric 74.

So this is a house set. A throwback house set, the sort of bump 'n grind vibe that defined the eastern American seaboard of the early '90s. One that makes me think of vintage Strictly Rhythm, and not just because it includes one of that label's defining singles in Darkman's Annihilating Rhythm. There's a few tunes from 'back in the day' included, but many more that were released within the early 2010s, doing their damnedest to sound like the early '90s. Was this when some folks were trying to call the latest incarnation of retro revival house music 'future house'? Memory's getting a bit hazy on that, so many retro revivals of house music having come and gone now, it may as well have always been around. Yes, the 'retro revival' is probably older than the original gap between eras!

So Dave doesn't throw a single bone to the ambient techno contingent? Not a single nod to his Deep Space Network roots? Well, a little. Juju & Jordash's Loosey Goosey features spritely synths dancing over a tech-house rhythm, while his own Luvbyrds has more in common with Balearic chill than anything house (so many twittering birds). In between those two cuts, however, is a nod to ol' school speed garage, Roots from Last Magpie. And yes, it's a straight-up homage, the 2013 EP it came out on titled 1995. It's got the UK garage 'wuu-ub wuu-ub wu-wu-woouub' bassline, it's got the time-stretched vocals, and even the sirens. I mean, it's about as tasteful as you could make it as an homage, including some nice pad work that wouldn't sound out of place in most atmospheric jungle of the day. It's just, y'know, I'm hearing it in a set from the same guy that appeared on Fax+ on numerous occasions. Worlds colliding!

Oh, the DJing itself? Functional, Move D clearly another chap more comfortable in the producer's chair than behind the decks. Not that he'd never done one before, frequently doing podcast sets prior to Fabric 74. Hasn't released a commercial set since, though.

Various - Fabric 73: Ben Sims

Fabric: 2013

Quite the time skip here, going from 50 to 73. What's remarkable is this is the first item out of Fabric's '70's block I've tackled. I've been close, what with doing Sandwell District's Fabric 69, but I've even done one in the '90's, Daphni's Fabriclive 93. For a time, that was the biggest gap between editions!

Makes sense that more in between will get filled though, volumes finding their way onto the cheap-o markets as time wears on. There's been items here and there throughout all of Fabric's history that I've nabbed on a pauper's budget, and now that the original run's concluded, more from its latter years will emerge. Will they be from heralded names like Sasha or Skream, or less known ones like Call Super or My Nu Leng? Time will only tell, but I can offer this little spoiler: the '80's will also get some coverage in this round of Fabric On A Budget, thus filling in every single numbers block in some form! Well, unless you also include the two '100's. I won't if you won't, though.

Ben Sims getting tapped in late 2013 for a Fabric seems about right. A stalwart of the techno scene since the '90s, he was one of the few chaps that didn't jump on the minimal bandwagon the same way so many others did. In fact, he found something of a comfy home getting in on more of a Latin and tribal take with tech-house, all the while filling in the gaps with the vintage bangin' bosh old school Drumcode resolutely held true to. As the tide of tastes turned with the 2010s, Mr. Sims found himself a perfect companion to the Berghain sound. I'm actually kinda' surprised he never got tapped for a set on Ostgut Ton as well, but seeing as how many of the club's jocks would regularly rinse out Ben's tunes, I guess that's close enough.

Anyhow, this is a pure bangin' techno set through and through. Just relentless, pounding bosh, tracks dropping one after the other in rapid success, never pausing for a single breakdown. Oh, there's periods where the bass will cut out, feigning a brief bit of tension building, but Ben lets the tracks speak for themselves, for as long as he allows them to anyway. What's most fun about this set is Mr. Sims doesn't even portend any pretension of fancy DJing, mixing seldom more complicated than a hard crossfade. And nor does he need to, these tracks uncomplicated and straight to the point, each unique from the other without ever clashing in tone. Man, after so many years of minimal's homogenized aesthetic, how refreshing was it to hear something like this? Oh, probably not that much by 2013. Can't forget that time jump I just did within Fabric's history.

And there isn't much else I can say about this set. It starts more on a tech-house tip, but soon enough, we're in the good shit, riding it out until the end.