Eat Static - Science Of The Gods

Mammoth Records: 1997

I may have pre-hyped this album a bit much, what with so many namedrops in past Eat Static reviews. For all I know, Science Of The Gods was unanimously rejected by the psy-trance faithful, seen as a betrayal of all that the goa scene held true. The hippies and techno crusties were in no need of their chosen heroes getting in on that surging d’n’b action, and junglists were even more insular, waging their own war over classic Amen Break darkside productions versus the new tech-step hotness. There’s no way these two disparate scenes should have any business interacting. It’s poison. It’s toxic. It’s catastrophic. You don’t cross the scenes!

So of course Eat Static said nuts to all that and delivered some of the gnarliest d’n’b I’ve ever heard. In adding the tricks they developed performing goa and psy, these aliens don’t so much invade the junglist’s realm as take some artefacts for themselves for display on their own world. The main tune off here, Interceptor, features a pummelling tech-step rhythm with thick, chunky kicks and a grimy acid bassline, serving as a rudder for all manner of sci-fi sound effects, knob tweaks, drum fills, and general psychedelic craziness to hang off. If Eat Static made this track specifically as a tie-in with the RTS game Conquest Earth, it’s about the only saving grace in that forgotten crap game. Come, bask in its glorious ‘90s CGI alien invasion video. It’s like watching a demo episode of Babylon 5!

Two other tracks on Science Of The Gods work the d’n’b angle, Dissection going deeper with Amen Break business with their usual assortment of sci-fi sounds and noises. Following a brief interlude, they tentatively dip their toes in jazzstep’s calmer waters on Bodystealers before going full-in with experimental beatcraft of micro-bleeps and reverb effects. Can’t ever say these guys never ventured where no others dared, even if this portion grows overindulgent after a couple minutes.

For all the supposed talk of this album straying from Eat Static’s core audience, folks forget that’s only three tracks out of eight, the remaining attending to the needs of their loyal outdoor followers as expertly as ever. The opening titular cut is all kinds of trippy fun, giving us a dirty bit of twisted acid funk before seemingly falling off the rails. Nay, it’s just the duo playing, soon enough unleashing a beast of acid techno for the remainder. Elsewhere, Kryll floats about with a spacey, proggy vibe, Spawn will kick the shit out of you, and Contact leans way old-school goa, sounding like a leftover from the Abduction days. Finally, The Hanger is one seriously dubby, low-riding monster of a track – imagine Predator cruising the cosmos with blunts billowing against the stars, feelin’ chill after a successful hunt.

I’ve no more else to say about Science Of The Gods. It may look campy, but that’s always been Eat Static’s charm, fooling the suspicious with the weird before unleashing their face-melting weaponry upon your ears.

Alex Theory - Saturn Returns (2015 Update)

White Swan Records: 2009

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review ...for the first time!)

No matter how many times I gave Alex Theory’s Saturn Returns another spin, something felt a bit off about this album. Something lacking. Something flat. Something I dodged in my original review because I couldn't figure it out, so I rambled on at great length about my buying habits. Good Lord, was that unnecessary, and screws me in the here and now because that's the sort of stuff I'll burn up self-imposed word count on 20xx Updates for records folks don't give much hoot about. No, don't deny it, I know almost everyone that bothered clicking here has already checked out – it's not like what I wrote for Saturn Returns way back in 2009 got much attention anyway. Heck, I could probably re-do the whole review and no one would be the wiser, but all that effort for an Alex Theory album? Eehhh..........

I’m sure ol’ Al’s a fine enough chap, but he didn’t necessarily light the world on fire following this. Hell, I just discovered even Lord Discogs has never heard of this album. I had to submit the sucker just so The Lord That Knows All could know a little more. Not that it’s surprising some records and CDs slip through the cracks (to say nothing of the bundles of digital EPs released by the minute), but with four Theory albums already in the Discogian Archive (another elemental theme collection, yay), you’d think there’d be some others out there having picked Saturn Returns up. Over a half-decade has passed since this came out and no one bothered submitting it? I mean, I never did, because I just assumed it was already there. Come to think of it though, why didn’t I add it to my Discogs Collection in all that time? Seems like quite an oversight for someone so obsessed with his CDs that he’s reviewing them one by one.

Eh? Oh, right, that ‘something lacking’ I mentioned earlier. It didn’t hurt hearing Laswell’s Sacred System so recently prior to this one again to figure it out. I mentioned in the old review that Theory’s style does seem influenced from Laswell’s approach to dubby world beat reggae jazz splatooncore; heck, the echoing pianos of Strange Land sounds practically lifted from the same kind found in Book Of Entrance, though the effect is rather common in this genre. Nay, my point of contention is strictly in the rhythm department. Mr. Theory can craft some good beats, and does with a few of the latter tracks on here, but for some reason he utilizes kits that are incredibly flat. It’s difficult finding your groove when your primitive brain demands drums with more texture.

Once I accept this is simply the Theory Stylee, I’m fine with what I’m hearing (well, some of those ethnic chants could have been less cliché) and do find my groove, albeit after some acclimatizing to the music. Who knows how many others did though – certainly not The Lord That Knows All.

Sasha - The emFire Collection (Original TC Review)

Ultra Records: 2008

(2015 Update:
Ugh. This review's clunkier than I remember, and unfortunately suffers from an opening paragraph dependent upon reading prior material on TranceCritic. I don't even recall specific details regarding Sasha's short-lived label now. I think it was intended as a means of officially releasing Coma after enough interest in it grew when it was a self-titled white label, but my memory's hazy on that. Whatever the case, it seems the emFire portion of Sasha's career has been reduced to a mere footnote, a blip of information in what he was doing during minimal deep-tech's era of clubbing dominance. It sure didn't do the music on here any favors.

Coma remains a blinder of a track, and I've developed some appreciation for Who Killed Sparky?, but Mongoose and Park It In The Shade are wholly forgettable. Compounding the problem is the utterly pointless CD1. Slam's remixes were fine for Slam remixes - you kinda' know what you're getting with their brand of techno - and The Field's second remix holds up by feeling so old school. Audion and Radio Slave though, dear God are their rubs balls out boring. And while there's nothing musically at fault with New Emissions, the lack of indexing for all the various pieces holds back whatever potential repeat plays it may have had. I was entirely too kind in my conclusions to this double-discer back in the day. Sasha productions are rare enough, and The emFire Collection feels like such a waste of studio time now.)


IN BRIEF: Better than a stopgap.

Right. No sense in getting into the background particulars of this release then. You should all know who this Sasha character is, and, fortunately for me, the history of emFire was already covered by J’ [2015 Edit: whoops, that review’s gone]. All I have to do now is tell you whether all those remixes are worth your attention and fill you in on the details of that forty-minute long track that’s undoubtedly caught your attention. Eh? You want more than that? *sigh*

Thing is, even though you’ll find this filed under ‘Sasha’, The emFire Collection isn’t a fully fleshed-out release from Mr. Coe and his production associates. It would seem, as with the vinyl editions of his four recent singles, Sasha wanted to do something a little extra special for the CD release of them. He didn’t have enough material to make a proper album, yet an EP release like Xpander wouldn’t do either. So, he called up some of the hottest names in contemporary club culture to provide remixes. Par for the course where dance music is concerned but somewhere along the way, the idea was planted the remixers should flex their muses as well with two versions on their chosen emFire single: one for the dancefloor, and the other something more for the home-front (re: experimental). The result is a full disc’s worth dedicated to this project, with Sasha’s originals now shuffled off onto a second disc.

So, we have neither a true artist album but more than just a remix package. This places The emFire Collection somewhere in leagues with The Qat Collection when one glances at Sasha’s discography. All that’s left to answer is whether this Collection is worth your hard earned coin to place in your collection. That entirely depends on what you’re looking to get out of these CDs.

If the remixes were the first to grab your attention, you may come away rather disappointed. Even though names like Matthew Dear (as Audion), Matthew Edwards (as Radio Slave), and Axel “not Matthew” Willner (as The Field) have earned plenty of critical praise this past year, their minimalist musical styles are quite in contrast to Sasha’s enveloping atmospheric productions. The experimental rubs have some intriguing sounds on offer - Edwards turns in an agreeable dub techno go at Who Killed Sparky? - but are hardly essential either; Dear in particular spends over a dozen minutes going nowhere with his minimal dub loops. On the other hand, Edwards goes overboard on his Panorama Garage Mix, with a techno rework that is appropriately sinister and atmospheric but lasts a good three-to-five minutes too long; meanwhile, Dear’s dance-rub of Park It In The Shade is a nifty little groovy-woozy thing. And as for Slam, well, they do Slam with their takes on Coma: fine for the ambient/tech-house offerings they are but nothing groundbreaking. Ultimately, though, very few elements of Sasha’s originals are utilized in these remixes, beyond effects and traces of atmosphere; if you’re hoping for creative takes on Sasha melodies, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Aside from Willner’s Disco Mix of Mongoose, that is. The original was lodged somewhere between Shade and Sparky in terms of how it sounds but in Willner’s hands, it comes across like some long-lost Underworld groove complemented with classic trance execution. Long time fans of Sasha’s sound will undoubtedly enjoy this one the most.

Still, such folks are going to be more interested in the second disc anyway. Even though tracks like Shade, Sparky, and Mongoose are sparser than the types of tracks most expect from Sasha, there’s still more vitality to them than anything to be heard on the remix disc. And Coma remains a lovely slice of melodically lush atmospherics, once again proving Misters Coe and May are a potent team in the studio whenever Sasha feels the ol’ muse tickling his noggin.

However, in a move that will probably irk those who held out on the vinyl and MP3 versions of these emFire singles for a copy on CD, the tracks are edited; honestly though, this does make better sense from a home-listening standpoint. And besides, if Sasha hadn’t pared them down a little, then he wouldn’t have been able to fit that little film score onto this disc. Yes, finally I’ve gotten around to that. For those not in the know New Emissions Of Light And Sound is a DVD featuring surfers. I haven’t seen it, nor can I say I’m particularly inclined to do so anytime soon; however, the music Sasha made for it is definitely worth your attention.

Not the first time Sasha’s done soundtrack work (he provided music for WipEout 3, remember? Oh, you don’t. Never mind then...), the music he’s made is somewhat simpler than his usual output. Still, a ‘simple Sasha’ tends to be far more intuitive than a good eighty percent of electronic musicians out there, and New Emissions is a lovely listen. There’s blissy ambient passages, moody funky moments, gentle synth washes, Coma, and brief stabs at experimentalism too. And although I can easily picture waves and beaches and surfers set against sunset backdrops as this plays, it could work just as fine for any number of scenic pieces. The only gripe about New Emissions - and it’s unfortunately a serious one - is that none of it is indexed. There are definite individual tracks on this, with names like Gothic Mood, Rooski, and Stars, but instead of being able to skip to the bits you’d like to hear at any given time, it’s all arranged into a continuous mix with obvious transitions.

And really, that kind of sums up emFire Collection as a whole. There’s a fair amount to enjoy here but it’s presented in such a way that leaves something to be desired. Honestly, given how disparate everything is on here, I’m not sure Sasha could have made this a fluid sounding release across two discs. I’d still call this a welcome addition to anyone’s music collection but compared to other releases with Sasha’s name on the cover, it probably won’t get as many plays.

Sandoz - Chant To Jah

Touch/Soul Jazz Records: 1998/2002

Swell, not even a week deep into my collection of ‘S’ albums, and I’ve already hit two mislabels. Technically, Sandoz In Dub is a subtitle, specifically for a series of LPs Richard H. Kirk released in the latter years of this alias, but leave it to Media Player to get that backwards. Not even sure how the next album in my alphabetical order got so messed up, but let’s ignore the near future for now, going back to the past with another anecdote of my buying habits.

No, I’m kidding; though I should mention that Chant To Jah was the first Sandoz CD I bought. Somehow even finding one on store shelves feels like a fluke, except as with Digital Lifeforms: Redux, this was a re-issue, in this case by Soul Jazz Records – it’s kinda’ their thing. Why they went with this particular Sandoz album though, I haven’t a clue. Chant To Jah only had a few years behind it, and while undoubtedly hard to find, no more so than any other early Sandoz album. Maybe the relative ‘newness’ of the album made it an easier sell, or Kirk grew tired of Touch’s ‘scarcity is art’ marketing; or Soul Jazz head Stuart Baker adored Chant To Jah above all other Sandoz LPs. What strange machinations these record labels concoct in the odd hours of our times.

I was also initially put off by this album because I had no clue what I was in for. The only prior track I’d heard under the Sandoz banner was the ambient dub outing Beam, so I naturally thought this would be more of the same. Clearly not, as Chant To Jah goes full-in with its reggae roots and African vibes. On the surface, it sounded fine, but nothing terribly different than so much other musicians of similar ilk. Compounding my lackadaisical impression of this album was Digital Lifeforms itself when I finally got to hear that one. The sublime tribal techno and dub fusion going on in the Sandoz debut was unlike anything I’d heard before, and remains a remarkable unique entry in that ultra-micro niche avenue of electronic music. I constantly returned to Digital Lifeforms to pick out new little nuances to Mr. Kirk’s craft, whereas Chant To Jah would only get an occasional token playthrough.

Funny enough, it was those repeated plays of the former that finally led me to appreciating the latter. The combination of Jamaican and North African music already offers intriguing interplay of their distinct attributes, of which ol’ Rich does remarkably well for an industrial keyboardist. It’s the techniques learned from that wholly unrelated scene, however, that lends the music here a grit you won’t find much elsewhere. Snares clank, vocal chants distort, and dub reverb echoes off concrete halls. Yet despite the harsh textures, the soulful vibe of Afro-dub remains intact. That’s some serious musical skill pulled off, drawing you in to hear those same nuances that marked Digital Lifeforms. Took me damned long enough to get it, though.

Various - Sanctuary: A Shanti Mix From The Interchill Garden

Interchill Records: 2005

What is it with this CD? Nearly every time I've sat back to take it in, I conk out so utterly, the back half of the compilation remains nothing but a sub-conscious blur. Heck, sometimes it happens after just the first track, Adham Shaikh's Emergence, which doesn't happen when I play the same piece of ambient off his Journey To The Sun album. I honestly think my recent commute playthrough is about the only time I've managed a single run of Sanctuary without succumbing to the sleep demons lurking within the CD, at least in the half-decade of time Interchill's compilation has been in my possession. No, having it playing in the background doesn't count – I'm not actively paying attention to the dream-inducing harmonies in those instances. Was this intentional on Interchill's part, a subliminal collection of music with more to come in this Spectrum Series? Maybe they realized the all-too potent effects Ishq, Mystical Sun, and Suns Of Arqa had on one's psyche when arranged as they are here, as no further volumes of this series since Sanctuary came out. Darn you, denizens of Salt Spring Island, and your seductive sound manipulations!

The first few times I played this CD, I honestly thought the first three tracks were one long song – that’s how zoned out I usually got! For a more logical explanation, compiler Naasko chose pieces of music that meld so seamlessly together, they're like jigsaw puzzle pieces made of melted butter chicken sauce. As mentioned, Shaikh’s incredibly meditative Emergence opens things, and is followed by Suns Of Arqa’s Cradle, Pt. 3, which utilizes similar droning pads but reduced to background texture. Instead, a charming flute leads us through scenes of calm, psychedelic nature. Enough of the pleasantry though, as Mere Mortals comes in after with Etcetrera, dropping some serious Indian dub grooves as sitars drone about. Despite having little in common beyond a meditative Far East mood, this is one of the strongest openings to a world beat ambient dub CD I’ve ever come across. No way Sanctuary can top it.

Indeed. Perhaps that's what unfortunately hinders my memory of this compilation, dashed expectations. There’s some lovely moments throughout – Ishq’s Yu is about as calm and relaxed as this music can go before getting into New Age sap, and Alucidnation’s Skygazer is a dreamy piece of seaside chill trance – but nothing hits the high of the CD’s opening salvo. Some tracks don’t even fit the mood established at the beginning, Kaya Project’s Slide more suitable for a Cafe Del Mar collection, and Gaudi’s Tribalove way deep in the dark Amazon jungle. At least Shaikh closes things out on a mysterious tip with Call Of The Delta (under his Ekko) guise), even if it feels by way of an Aegean Sea temple. Wherever you find your sanctuary in this world, right?

Ultimately, Sanctuary is a label showcase for Interchill, older material mixing in with (then) recent offerings. It’s a good sampler, but not indicative of their whole story.

Nurse With Wound - Salt Marie Celeste

United Daires: 2003

No freakin’ way can I do the Nurse With Wound legacy justice in a single review. This guy, Steven Stapleton, has been a staple (sorry) of the industrial scene since there was an industrial scene. He’s right up there with your Throbbing Gristles and Hafler Trios, and anyone worth their wacked-out experimental sodium chloride has had some passing exposure to NWW over the years. He has some one-hundred releases out, multiple collaborations, always having some new twisted sonic perversion to toy with our sensibilities of what constitutes music as abstract function. Oh yeah, the art crowd adores Nurse With Wound, and I suspect he has some affinity for them too, if only to take the familiar and warp them into something cheeky on his cover art.

That's the background out of the way, so the natural thing to do is get talking about one of his Very Important Albums. Ah, heh, maybe ask a Nurse With Wound scrub about that, because I honestly haven't a clue where to begin with his discography. I'm only covering this particular release, Salt Marie Celeste, due to it being a single-song LP, and in my back-up harddrive for that Guide thing. Mr. Stapleton deserves more attention though, so maybe I'll indulge in something else from him at a later date. Perhaps Acts Of Senseless Beauty, or To The Quiet Men From A Tiny Girl, or the charming Drunk With The Old Man Of The Mountains.

As for Salt Marie Celeste, there's not a heck of a lot to detail. This is dark ambient drone at its droniest. While not quite Jliat levels of mind-numbery, there isn't much to the endless synths playing for over an hour either. Some fifteen or so minutes in, something that sounds like a bicycle zips by. After a few seconds, it zips back the other way. This goes on for another two-thirds of the track's runtime. Somewhere around the twenty-five minute mark, soggy wood starts creaking, at first a few groans, then eventually almost an entire sea-bound vessel's worth. If Nurse With Wound was aiming at capturing the atmosphere of a derelict ghost ship, he definitely succeeded. Unfortunately, because these sounds just repeat themselves, it comes off like the VGM loops of a point-and-click adventure, and you're hopelessly stuck at an insidious puzzle. You were intended to solve it quickly, hence the short loop, but you can't, forever trapped in a broken game, unable to leave the Captain's cabin, unable to just turn the computer off. Oh, wait, you solved it after all, so here's some more synth drone to take you out. Yay!

If this sounds tedious, take heart that Salt Maria Celeste is the eventful version of this track, the original Salt from a couple years prior not even having the sound effects added. Yep, this album is a re-release of sorts, and Stapleton would go on to re-re-release variations of Salt a couple times after this as well. Talk about cheeky recycling of one’s back catalog.

Various - Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café

Wagram Music: 2001

I didn't think much of it at the time, glancing at the back of the digipak in that used music shop some years past. A few names I recognized – Jazzanova, De-Phazz, and St Germain of course – but most were new to my eyes. And right they should have been, what with acid jazz, nu-jazz, and all their variations the sort of style I only indulged in on a whim from trusted labels (Ninja Tune, Studio !K7, Quango). Still, sometimes the best purchases are those you take the biggest chances are, and that itch for something ‘electro-jazz’ wasn’t going away. I mean, you really couldn’t go wrong with a DJ mix from St Germain, right? Absolutely not!

Except that’s not what Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café is in the slightest. Oh, it’s definitely a nu-jazz collection, but aside from contributing a track, the Ludovic Navarre project has nothing to do with this CD. Rather, the name comes from the Paris district where extensional free-thinkers would engage in discourse over brunch in neighbourhood cafés. Or stare off into streets, smoking cigarettes, aloof in their demeanour. I don’t know, my knowledge of Paris coffee culture is primarily derived from parody. Point is, this was intended as a soundtrack to such locales, a fine enough idea with nu-jazz having some decent buzz about it back at the turn of the century. It must have been more successful than imagined, as it turned into a yearly series, which is still going on today! Sixteen volumes of the main, including themed offshoots, plus multiple box sets to bring you up to speed should you join the Saint-Germain Café craze late in the game. And here I thought it was just some random, forgotten DJ mix.

What’s so interesting about this series is it couldn’t have remained more relevant than in the here and now. Nu-jazz had its following back in the day, but for the most part you’d only hear the stuff at coffee lounges (this compilation, d’uh), hovels deep in urban hipster locales, or afterparty lofts. All of a sudden though, this style of music has seen a resurgence on streaming stations and side stages of the festival circuit, often getting billed as ‘electro-swing’. *sigh* Once again something old is thought of as something new, because a younger generation doesn’t know any better. Or maybe there is some difference, though tracks like Rubin Steiner’s Lo-Fi Nu Jazz #13 and Bugge Wesseltoft’s G.U.B.N.U.F. on here sounds about what a sub-genre called ‘electro-swing’ should be all about. Whatever, swing music was due for another retro-retro-retro return anyway, Brian Setzer having faded from current memory (but never forget Doop!).

And the rest of Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café? Yeah, it’s jazzy alright. I personally prefer the tunes with some double-time bass action, but there’s plenty of different moods, vibes, and grooves throughout. I’d get into all the variations if I had much clue of jazz’s all too-many nuances. I prefer staying on the outskirts of this scene, thanks.

Petar Dundov - Sailing Off The Grid

Music Man Records: 2013

Petar Dundov should have waited more than a year. Yeah, it's good hitting that muse while the iron's hot, and folks were still glowing about Ideas From The Pond when Sailing Off The Grid came out around twelve months later. Unfortunately, the glow of the former overshadowed the latter, denying it the sort of anticipation that comes with long awaited follow-ups. Initial reactions to Mr. Dundov’s third LP in half-a-decade weren’t “holy cow, this man’s a machine right now!”, but more “oh, he’s got another one out already? Is he still doing that trance-hybrid stuff?” Yes, he is, and even that contributed to the relative apathy towards Sailing Off The Grid.

That’s not to say Mr. Dondov suddenly lost his skill at crafting pieces of hypnotic, synthy works. Nay, he’s in as fine of form as with Ideas From The Pond. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if these tunes were from those sessions, or at least feeding off the same well of inspiration – it’d explain the quick turnaround between albums. And right off with Enter The Vortex, we’re in familiar ground, a lengthy, beatless composition of layering, morphing synths that, while not building to anything in particular, serves as a solid start to Sailing Off The Grid. Very much in the old school of Berlin on that one, and keeping with the vintage vibe is Yesterday Is Tomorrow, all space synth tastiness for a modern era. If you’re coming to this album looking for any hints of Petar’s techno of old, forget it, the remaining three uptempo tunes (Moving, White Spring, and the titular cut) having more in common with trance than anything else. Okay, White Spring has a rhythm reminiscent of Belgian New Beat, but there’s common lineage there, more so than techno or house in any event.

The remaining tracks (Spheres, Cradle) feed more off Berlin-School compositions than anything contemporary. Meanwhile, at eleven minutes of runtime, synth layers in Sur La Mer Avec Men Ami meander a bit much, Mr. Dundov’s seemingly content wandering about the ambient waters he creates along the way while eventually building to something of a crest. It’s all quite pleasant but not as engaging as his other works.

Minor quibbles aside, Sailing Off The Grid is definitely a strong sequel to Ideas From The Pond, so it begs the question why this one hasn’t garnered the same buzz. As mentioned, the quick turnaround likely didn’t help, but here’s an additional theory to this quandary: folks figured Ideas a one-shot challenge on Mr. Dundov’s part. He set out to make a trance-but-not-trance record at a time when critics and casuals still associate the word ‘trance’ with awful club music, proving the genre can still have merit when approached correctly. Having proved it, however, what need was there to do another? Love of the music, obviously, which is reason enough for y’all to scope out Sailing Off The Grid for yourself. For many others though, one dip into these ponds was enough.

Sacred System - Chapter One: Book Of Entrance (2015 Update)

Reachout International Records: 1996

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

Ah, nuts. There was some very crucial information that needed updating from my original TranceCritic review of this album. I've already wasted it in the review of Dub Chamber 3 though. I could have burned some word count with it, because regarding the music itself, there's not much else I can add to Book Of Entrance. Eh, what the heck, I'll just copy and paste it here. It's not like anyone remembers a Bill Laswell review from twenty-nine months ago. Woo, self-plagorization!

Dub Chamber 3 is one of his solo efforts though; or rather, him and whoever he invites over for a jam. Don’t bother looking for a Dub Chamber 1 or 2, as they don’t exist. This was, however, his third album released on Reachout International Records, the two prior being his Sacred System material. To confound discographers further, his fourth ROIR album was once again as Sacred System, but also titled Dub Chamber 4 (subtitled Book Of Exit, a nice call-back to the first album). And, that’s not even the end of his ROIR output, where he released a compilation of Sacred Dub System Chamber material, plus a collaboration project with Roots Tonic, not to mention- help! I’m being swallowed by Laswell’s discography! It’s so massive, it has a gravitational pull of its own!

*whew* Good thing I escaped it a second time!

But yes, I incorrectly titled this album way back when, in part because I figured Bill Laswell’s name was more important for referencing than the alias he used for Reachout. Also, everyone just calls Book Of Entrance a Laswell album because that’s what it is, but as Lord Discogs lists this as a Sacred System album, here it is correctly titled thus.

One other thing I feel needs clarifying from that old piece of writing is my claim that ‘bass-driven’ music isn’t terribly popular. Why, 2005 Sykonee must be an imbecile if he believes that. Just look at all the forms of bass music that dominates electronic music. Hell, even rhythmic reggae dub, from which Laswell is drawing influence from on Book Of Entrance, has a dedicated following of rastas and spliff heads. All true, but very seldom are those instances where bass leads through improvisation with everything else complementing. Even modern bass-heavy genres like trap and dubstep are about the effects those low frequencies have on your mind and body rather than guiding you through a musical journey. I doubt many festival goers would have time for the lengthy sessions Laswell indulges in. Hell, I sometimes don’t, and I actually like most of Bill’s material.

Finally, Book Of Entrance kicks off the huge block of music within my collection known as “Albums Beginning With ‘S’” – with a mislabel, of all things, heh. There are a few other mislabels, but even dismissing those, this could take me through the summer. And my reward for its completion? Taking on the equally massive section called “Albums Beginning With ‘T’”. The obsession must be satisfied!

ACE TRACKS: July 2013

*SIGH*…. So much for my hockey hopefuls. Why do I continue routing for teams that never quite make it? Maybe I just dislike the successful teams because they’re always beating the teams I like. In that case, go Tampa Bay Lightening, I guess. I’ve no quarrel with you, even supported them during their first Cup win (because LOL Calgary Flames), it’d be cool to see Steve Stamkos win a Cup early in his career, and all those goals Tyler Johnson’s scoring would be such a waste if he doesn’t win Conn Smythe. Doesn’t make me any more interesting in the NHL Playoffs though – heck, the NBA Playoffs are looking more intriguing about now. The remaining teams are all title starved, the last any of them having won a Ring two decades ago, another four decades ago (to say nothing of the zilch victories of Atlanta and Cleveland). Some long-suffering fanbase is gonna’ be celebrating and flipping cars long into the night this June! What? Oh, right, here’s ACE TRACKS: July 2013. Knew I was ignoring something.


Full Track List Here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Mind Distortion System - He Claims To Be Not Human

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 26%
Percentage Of Rock: 28% (though a chunk of it is technically Neil Young folksy stuff)
Most “WTF?” Track: Ice Cube - You Can’t Fade Me (seriously, those lyrics)

Another weird month, this one. It started with a couple Greatest Hits CDs, got seriously grimy with Ice Cube and Grooverider jungle, chilled for a bit with Swayzak, Kruder, and Dorfmeister, a little UK mainstream with Fatboy Slim and Gorillaz, banged it out with hard desert trance, Neil Young came in with an acoustic guitar, and ended with some mishmashed stuff at the end. Clearly the only way to treat such an erratic collection of tunes is another alphabetical playlist. Except for AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits, which are lumped at the end as full albums. A bizarre, unworkable contrast, you say? Heh, welcome to what it’s like listening to all this music as I have for the last couple years.