Photek - Form & Function

Virgin: 1998

I guess this was the only, non-single item left in Photek's early discography I'd yet to nab. Granted, it wasn't terribly high on my 'must-have' list, the very odds-n-sods nature of it all. New music from Mr. Parkes seems mostly at an end though, save the occasional collab' and some score work. Which is fine, the Photek legacy well earned and deserved to rest on a bed of laurels. If I want to hear more of that vintage drumfunk sound, there's plenty of new cats more than willing and able to pick up where Rupert once led. Still, that lingering OCD of mine, itching to at least complete the Photek set, such as it is. Sure, I'll grab Form & Function, should I spot it for a dime in some Discogs Seller collection.

Unfortunately, there's no getting around the 'hodgepodge' nature of this compilation. When you round up a bunch of remixes and b-sides, it's difficult enough sorting them into a consistent flow. Never mind the fact this was coming off Modus Operandi, an album that, while perhaps a little vacuous overall, at least had an identity to itself front to back. Though hardly justified, comparisons are inevitable, Form & Function forever saddled with the big brother that is Photek's debut.

That albatross sorted, let's dig into what we do get with this CD. Separated by two halves, the first deals with the remixes, the second rare stuff. Your mileage will probably vary whether you want to hear classic Photek or other people having their way with his tunes (“why not both?” asks the little Mexican junglist girl).

Funny enough, the first remix featured on Form & Function comes from Photek himself, a little modernizing of his early single of The Seven Samurai. The original is included among the latter tracks, so you can hear for yourself Mr. Parkes' evolution. Like, from the jump, you can hear how he was finding ways to manipulate the tech-step sinister sound into something even twitchier, though his drum programming was still reliant on a few tear-out moments. Not so for the remix, stripping things even further so you can really feel that bass resonance filling in all the empty space between the drums.

Anyhow, enough of that, here's some remixes from Digital, Decoder & Peshay, and Doc Scott. They all take Photek's sound into more familiar DnB territory: standard tech-step, a little jazzstep, and, erm, jump-up, respectively. Seriously, it's almost funny hearing the Doc try to force the most critically ridiculed jungle genre of its era into the most critically lauded. That said, I rather like J Majik's go with UFO, adding some nifty sci-fi synths that would have fit perfectly with other Modus Operandi tracks.

And the remaining Photek tracks? A little heady (Knitevision), a little funky (Santiago), a little atmospheric (Rings Around Saturn), a little classic (The Water Margin). A solid assortment, proving Parkes could mix things up. Man, the album needed some of these...

Yahgan & N:L:E - The Forgotten Civilization

Liquid Frog Records: 2020

Can't go long into a new month without another item from good ol' Juan Pablo dropping in again. Okay, that's unfair, sometimes several weeks going by before coming back to the Liquid Frogs Records catalogue. Just seem to be in another one of those 'several in a bundle' runs, like back in April. And hey, at least we're returning to one of his more intriguing aliases, Yahgan. Haven't touched upon one of those releases since, gosh, January? Let me check... (*clickity-clickity clack*) Oh my God! It's been ten months! I mean, thinking eight months wasn't anything to sneeze at either, but holy cow, really goes to show how long it's taking me to get through all this – as if we didn't need another reminder.

As for forgetting which month I reviewed Antarctica, I can only assume I associated the frozen album with the one obligatory snow day we had in January. Now that I recall though, I trudged through the stuff while listening to another N:L:E release, one of the Caravan Of Healing Sounds. And yes, the Rocky 4 soundtrack would have been more appropriate, but what're y' gonna' do?

As for other non-musical factoids surrounding this particular release, The Forgotten Civilization was the second album Mr. Giacovino put out with the Yahgan banner, though I wonder if he was uncertain it had much clout to stand on its own yet, tagging it with his N:L:E handle in support. It had been a couple years since he debuted it with Yahgan's Land E.P, I guess, an absolute age given Juan Pablo's relentless output. Give the polar themed project a little extra brand recognition.

Actually, I can hear why he may have returned to Yahgan at this point, as Mr. Giacovino was already going through something of a minimalist ambient excursion. He'd debuted the Caravan Of Healing Sounds series just the year prior, plus an album called Micro Ambient in between (which turned into a mini-series in of itself). Feelin' that subtle vibe, is what I'm sensing, and drone tones with an arctic theme have long been fertile ground for exploring that.

Speaking of exploring, I'm guessing archaeological expeditions of the southernmost end of South America is the loose theme going here. Cannot deny closing track Unknown Citadel (Submarine Encounters) does impart a sense of desolation, wandering ruins like... well, not quite an Atrium Carceri outing, but edging rather close to Cryo Chamber's domain. Be an interesting twist, f'sure.

The others, meanwhile, captures more the gentle awe of the realm, less about the loss one might feel in realizing whatever peoples did dwell here have long since gone. The gentle grace in traversing The Forgotten Temple at the start. Maybe seeing their souls dancing about in the more melodic pulses heard in Wandering Forms. Subsuming oneself into an underwater trove of hidden relics in Deep Waves. Ah, that descent into something more ominous with Unknown Castle makes better sense, following this sort of journey.

Nelly Furtado - Folklore

Dreamworks: 2003

You namedrop one Canadian pop singer, and the CanCon Commission comes knocking at your door. “How come you're reviewing a Japanese pop starlet, but not one of our own?” they ask. Look, chaps, I think I've been quite fair in my mandatory Canadian content. Why, I've even given two hip-hop acts that aren't Drake some shine here. Besides, R&B and pop really isn't my area of expertise, so...

“Nope, you're reviewing at least Nelly Furtado's first three albums, and if not, we're sending you to the Ellef Ringnes Island gulag.”

(Disclaimer: re-enactment – may or may not have really happened!)

Nelly Furtado was undoubtedly one of my country's biggest stars at the turn of the century. Not only popular enough to go multi-platinum on her debut, but managed to re-invent herself into a damn phenomenon, truly becoming a global star. By alphabetical decree, however, I'm starting with the record between those two flashpoints, the so-called sophomore slump of Folklore. Aww, c'mon, guys, it ain't that bad, really.

Following her breakout, however, she was something of an in-demand vocalist. Paul Oakenfold tapped her. Swollen Members tapped her (at the height of their popularity, no less). For most though, it was appearing on the remix of Missy Elliot's Get Ur Freak On that showed and proved she wasn't some one-hit wonder. That Nelly could hang with the pop world elite. Logic dictated that she should pursue that particular audience, maybe even work with Timbaland in an official capacity. Instead, she stuck with her original production crew (alt-rockers Philosopher Kings alum Brian West and Gerald Eaton) for an album that's, well, diverse, if nothing else.

There's no denying the album sounds big and bold, unafraid to toss whatever influence strikes Nelly's interest into the pot. Opener One-Trick Pony has a bit of folksy twang, follow-up Powerless throws in more Mediterranean influences (gotta' show those Portuguese roots), Explode aims for something more clubby with brisk rhythms and heavier low-ends, and Try... ah, there's the radio-friendly adult contemporary song I've heard for the last two decades.

All well and good, but I get why regular folks may not have connected with all the genre dalliances, especially when few offer quite the earworms Ms. Furtado had sang before. C'mon though, how can you not get a silly grin on your face hearing her crack up on the blues singalong Saturdays with Jarvis Church?

Denshi Danshi - Fluid Dynamics

Suntrip Records: 2015

It's a strange feeling, completing another Suntrip artist discography before starting others. I'm not talking the one-and-done types either, but those who have at least a couple LPs under their belt with the label. Mind, that list is quite pared down now – I think there's only a couple such examples left – but I do wonder if I'll even be halfway through this catalogue before I get to them. Hm, just how far along am I now anyway? *clickity-clicky clack* Oh, wow, I'm actually 43% done! Man, when I look at the pile of 'To Do' against 'Done', it sure doesn't seem like it. Then again, a few items I've reviewed were digital versions, hard copies long sold out (Ka-Sol's Fairytale the most prominent example).

So I'm back with Denshi Danshi (hyphen optional), the duo with a proper, distinct logo to their name. I mentioned on Brain Chemistry how so very important that was in helping them stand out from the glut of goa trance CDs currently occupying my space. Something striking, with colour contrast popping out at you. Okay, not so much their sophomore album, a bit over-busy with all the kaleidoscope colours. This one though, there's no averting your eyes, stark blue and yellow against deepest grey and black. Really nothing else like it in Suntrip's catalogue before or since.

Also regarding that album, I felt the full-on party sound of it was a little relentless, which was par for the course with many Suntrip outings as the years wore on. Thankfully, their debut shows a little more diversity, which makes sense as Monsieurs Frère and Acher have been around since the early days, among the earliest acts out of France going goa. Easy to forget just how many micro-labels sprung up in that country – not a touch on the U.K.'s, obviously, but a respectable amount nonetheless.

And if you somehow didn't know you were getting proper vintage with Fluid Dynamics, opening track The Dancing Shiva harkens as far back as you can get with this stuff, the bassline strictly a New Beat affair. Dang, it's dope hearing that slower, menacing rhythm with the usual trippy stuff. And the retro style doesn't end there, though it is pretty much the '90s vein of goa and psy we're dealing with. Some of it goes chunkier (Feed The Mugwumps, A Fast Trip Straight Down The Ladder, Tsuki), some more tear-out (Make Make, Maelstrom), plus those quirky outliers that spice a play-through up (Vanaspati, Kraft Karamel). And best of all, each track feels different from the other. I can only assume it's that 'analogue duo' factor playing into it.

Seriously, most of the best psy trance acts have been 'bands', in some fashion. What makes them so unique is that interplay between producers, letting one go off on some psychedelic tangent while the other holds the rudder steady. Not that this can't be done solo, but boy, does it ever sound 'looser' with multiple people at play.

WRNR - Floating In An Acid Can

Intellitronic Bubble: 2022

I guess it's appropriate I recently began a 'sportsing survey' on Hardfloor that I end up with an album like this. Not that the German duo are the sole arbiters of all things acid, but when folks namedrop significant artists who've worked the TB-303, they're often among the top five, if not number one overall.

Acid is enjoyed by all though (haha, hah), some artists doing weird and warped things with it to fascinating results. Many others, however, are content with playing with the little silver box (or reasonable emulators of it) in its most basic, primitive form. Ofttimes this purist approach goes unnoticed, the realm of niche interests, which would explain why producers will take up an alias to specifically explore it. And where there's niche techno interests, there's always a label or three around to help promote it.

WRNR is Kenneth Werner, who more commonly goes by the handle As If. More of a dub techno and ambient guy, he spent much of the '10s releasing music with the likes of BineMusic, Silent Season, Arctic Tone, Faint (as Midnat), and gterma. He even had a clutch of tracks compiled for a Carpe Sonum CD, always a nice feather in one's cap. Recently he fell in with Intellitronic Bubble, and as most of that roster does, started feeling the itch for retro styled techno, in this case of the acid variety. He actually followed this with the alias CNTRLD MND, the MND SPN EP leaning a little more electro than acid, but the TB-303 had its moments to shine too. For Floating In An Acid Can though, it's all about what sounds and groove the machine can make on its own. And it's... well, rather basic if I'm honest.

Any of these tracks would be a nice addition to a compilation with a variety of vintage techno, or a handful of such featured on an EP. A full length of this stuff, however, grows rather dull, most tracks settling for a simmer of burbling acid groove. There's definitely space for the minimalist sounds used – Mr. Werner did ply his trade in the dubbier side of things, after all. You feel that distant reverb whenever he gives the knobs enough tweakage to expand out in the furthest reaches of your headspace. It's just the songcraft supporting the sounds isn't doing much beyond the bare minimum of what you'd expect to hear out of an acid jam. Or at least, what I've come to expect out of an acid jam. Dammit, Hardfloor, gumming up my impression of a kindred spirit.

There isn't much more I can say about Floating In An Acid Can. If you hear one track, you've generally heard the rest. Yeah, some up the tempo a little (Acid Shower), some use backing pads for mood support (Raindance, Orbit Spaceacid), but the acid is front and centre throughout it all, and mostly sticking with the tried and true squiggly sounds you associate with the genre.

N:L:E - Floating Garden

Liquid Frog Records: 2021

This was bound to happen sooner or later. An artist releasing this much music in such a short time span, mostly sticking to a dubby, downtempo and ambient aesthetic for his works, can't help but repeat themselves here and there. And that's fine, musicians exploring different facets of similar themes and all. How many blues singers or folk warblers basically rehash the same song structure over and over (not to mention the banal repetitiveness of pop country). What I hadn't counted on was hearing nearly a carbon-copy of a track!

Or at least, I thought I did. I swear, the opening track to N:L:E's Floating Garden - A Green Sunshine - I've heard before. Granted, it's sometimes hard parsing out which minimalist ambient piece differs from another, especially after the amount I've already heard from Juan Pablo. Towards the back half, though, a gentle, harmonic tone ebbs in and out, putting you into a meditative trance. It then has a rather abrupt fade-out at the end, but then starts right back up in follow-up track Nice Light For My Plants. It carries on for a little while, receding again for another round of ultra-calm ambient, then re-emerges later on. And damn if I haven't heard this exact sequence with that exact harmonic tone used elsewhere in Mr. Giacovino's catalogue.

Thing is, I actually checked the releases I've thus far covered, and didn't come across it again! Granted, I wasn't sifting through every track minute by minute to confirm – that's well over thirty items, including ten Caravan Of Healing Sounds. My autistic ticks only take me so far before giving up on some obsessions. Still gave it as good of a skim as is deemed sensible, and nope, didn't hear that sequence elsewhere. Did I somehow Mandela Effect myself into this? Maybe I happened to play Floating Garden out of sequence sometime in the past couple years since I bought the N:L:E discography? Really and truly bizarre.

If this all seems like a wild tangent, well, that's because I'm reviewing another Natural Life Essence album. There really isn't much else I can say about them beyond what particular style Juan Pablo opts to explore on a particular release, Floating Garden going deep in the lowercase ambient field indeed. Gentle melodic tones, relaxing field recordings, and all that tranquil stuff. Like one of his Caravans though, he does bring some dubby beats towards the end for Rain In The Floating Garden 2, then gets a little peppier with them in closer The Happiness Of A Floating Dandelion. Given they are the shortest cuts on this seven-tracker (titular piece runs over sixteen minutes), it's clear they're not a primary focus for Floating Garden. More like bringing you back awake in case you dozed too deeply for the past hour.

This definitely is one of the calmest albums I've heard from N:L:E. At least, I think it is, from recent memory. Man, this discography dive is already two years old...

Imba - First Encounter

Suntrip Records: 2016

I'm gonna' run into more artists like this one, the deeper into Suntrip's discography I go, aren't I? Like, I'm pretty sure I've touched upon most of the primary players for this label, and many of the agreed-upon classics from their catalogue. There's still many CDs in the pile I bought from them (just... so many), with artists that are either just emerging, or were fly-by-night producers.

Imba, for instance, has only this album to his name. Several compilation contributions prior, a couple EPs after, and that's all Nikola Petrović wrote for his time in the psy trance scene. Not that this is an entirely uncommon thing to happen, many working hard keeping that initial enthusiasm burning hot, only to gradually recede in the aftermath of their accomplished goals. Or something else happens, like bad drama and whatnot. Hmm, now I'm curious, and whenever I get curious about something regarding Suntrip's artists, there's one place that's time and time again proved quite resourceful, the psynews.org forums! Man, am I ever fortunate that place still exists, and has a functional search engine. Anyhow, back in a pantomime moment...

*bad A.I. psy music plays*

Okay, I'm back, and boy, was Imba ever active there. At least, for a long time leading up to this album. Seems I wasn't far off in my guess though, the chap airing some grievances about the static state of neo-goa as the '10's wore on, how there just wasn't much room for innovation or growth without the purists declaring the music not vintage enough or too modern sounding. Hey, I feel that, the sort of gripes you'll come across damn near every micro-niche music scene in existence. And Lord knows psy-trance's micro-niche scenes can have some of the most anal-retentive, stylistic pedants about. How else does such a specialized genre of music have dozens of offshoots? It's definitely an issue, and I'm glad he felt compelled to talk about it.

Or maybe Nikola was venting that his music wasn't gaining the traction he hoped it would, for those very same reasons. Could be, could be.

So First Encounter just didn't grab me. I really don't know why. Maybe it's because of his insistent use of prominent 'modern' (re: full-on) basslines, which overwhelm much of what else his tracks have going on. The squiggly sounds and melodic leads all seem fine, but don't really leap out in any significant way, almost subservient to the dominate rhythms that vary little between tracks. I'll grant it's not so bad as the random wibble you'd often hear in regular full-on utilizing similar basslines, but nothing I'm anxious to hear anytime soon either.

I suspect, because the rhythms are so high in the mix, this stuff is better served in live settings, but even as I was playing it during my regular walking commute, little hooked me beyond “yeah, this gives some pep to my steps”. And any ol' Suntrip release gives me at least that.

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.