Yahgan - Nomads

Liquid Frog Records: 2021

I could have technically knocked this off a while back, tracks from here also appearing on the double-LP collection of Yahgan tracks Land Of Fire. Considering I'd already covered half the music on that release by that point, however, it felt redundant doing so just so I wouldn't have to do this one later. Besides, it's not like this is an alias of Mr. Giacovino's that gets trotted out often. In fact, this is the last release from the project that I got with my initial bulk-buy so many years back, so I guess we can tick another-

Eh, you're saying I missed one? Well, son-of-a... Looks like I did, another N:L:E & Yahgan 'collaboration', Mystycal Journeys. You'll forgive me for doing so. It was a lot of music to download off Bandcamp back when, some releases undoubtedly slipping through the cracks. Looks like it's nothing more than another of Juan Pablo's ultra-long ambient sessions (two tracks, each twenty-six minutes in length). Maybe I'll come back to it should I do another wrap-around, but yeah, not really something I want to backtrack on.

Oh, and because this is the last solo Yahgan release I'll likely be talking up for a while (ever?), here's the obligatory update on how many more items Mr. Giacovino's put out under this side-project since I bought in. Five solos, another 'remix' session of Tribal Trip with N:L:E, and, most recently, a four-track 'single' with N:L:E called Frozen Soundscapes. So keeping the side-project's flame somewhat alive, which makes sense for one dedicated to 'The Fire Peoples'.

Nomads was the second solo Yahgan outing, though Juan Pablo had done a couple N:L:E collabs' between this and the debut LP. Not much else to say about the lead up to it, other than we're reaching the point in the Giacovino multiverse where new projects were flying aplenty. It's almost a small surprise it took him so long to let Yahgan stand on its own again, given how adventurous he was feeling about his music-making abilities.

And yeah, familiar territory as with other Yahgan releases I've covered. The slightly chilled-out downtempo aesthetic, the suggestive melancholic mood of histories lost, a general calm ambience while taking in subtle sonic splendour of unexplored and untamed sub-Antarctic coastal regions. No, really, Cold Sand (Fishing Journey) is the sort of piece I wouldn't have minded having that twenty-six minute long excursion, gentle oceanic tones and timbre gradually leading to a nifty, dubbed-out rhythm as the hunting action picks up. Shame it's the shortest track on this EP.

The rest of Nomads is nice, sure, but as with so many of the Liquid Frog Catalogue now, the unique tracks are the ones that leap out for me. And since Cold Sand didn't make the cut on Land Of Fire, well, of course it'd stand out. (White Field didn't either, but eh, that one sounds closer to an N:L:E track compared to the rest).

Dom & Roland - No Strings Attached

Dom & Roland Productions: 2009

Am I way overdue in giving Dom & Roland his due? Not necessarily, having dropped his name a few times in the two decades-plus I've been doing this. Typically in tandem when talking up some of my all-time favs' from the glory years of darkstep's emergence. What, have I, really? Let me check that... *blog searches 'Roland'* Haha, got a few Armin returns on that, mostly due to Roland Klinkenberg. Wasn't expecting that.

But yes, there he is mentioned on some d'n'b mixes I've reviewed, including the one (1) Dieselboy session I've thus covered. Could have sworn I brought him up twice or thrice when going on about Technical Itch's label in recent years, but I guess not. Point being, I've been hankering for a little more classic darkstep, and realizing there's a massive Dom & Roland gap in my library, aimed to rectify that.

Just... not something from his earlier period. I know it wasn't complete defined by Can't Punish Me, indeed the single coming out after his debut album. However, I also got real sick of that anthem appearing everywhere, such that it erroneously soured me on most music from Mr. Angas for a long time. Figured Moving Shadow would force him into milking that formula forever, or some such.

So here we time-skip to the late-'00s, Dominic now independent, and free to explore whatever music he so chooses. What's that, the Pendulum wave is dominating all that is d'n'b now? Do you hitch your wagon to that ride to stay relevant, then? Nah, says Dom and his Roland, he's gonna' get all conceptual and shit on this session. Exploring a more primitive side of his muse, unlocking the feral monsters that dwell within all junglists, with ample amounts of real drums and percussion. Still those vicious bass leads though, can't abandon them.

Actually, because we got such a nifty melding of future-shock and primal, No Strings Attached feels more like a post-apocalyptic outing, including a few cinematic gems like Ice Age and Hypnosis. Not to mention collabs' with broken beat vets like Amon Tobin and Timecode, plus newer casts like Noisia and Audio helping Dom keep at least one foot within contemporary clime's. Though admittedly, I thought Audio was another Mark Caro alias, the track Peace Keeper utilizing many a sound-sample from Tech Itch cuts. Some tracks keep things simple and to the point (Mammoth Hunt, 1134 with Hive), others get fancier with the drum work (Hypnosis, Jedi), plus that one obligatory goof-ball cut (Odd Job). Also, have we not heard so many Predator sound effects in jungle before as in Jungle Beast? Seems like an oversight in this scene, y'know?

Anyhow, No Strings Attached is pretty much what I was hoping for in a start into a proper Dom & Roland dive. Diverse, uncompromising darktech d'n'b, with enough musical evolution as an artist to stand out from the glut. Where can we go from here? A few places, I wager.

Sensurreal - Never To Tell A Soul

Beam Me Up!/Frame Of Mind: 1994/2000

We're pretty much at a point where nothing remains outright obscure anymore, so many musical artifacts of yesteryear easily available should you be savvy enough to look for them. I'm not even sure if Sensurreal's debut would count as one such item, what with having ties to Speedy J's first label Beam Me Up!, established when the Dutchman was going from strength to strength. The fact it only existed on his print may not have helped its fortunes though, Beam Me Up! only surviving a few short years. And while Jochem had enough scene clout to have his records released across many labels, this side-project of Gerd and Dirk did not, Never To Tell A Soul remaining an obscurity for many decades.

Now that much of Gerd's back-catalogue is easily available through his Frame Of Mind Bandcamp, there's no excuse to not at least give this one a listen-over. At least, if you've a hankering for some more mint early '90s techno-trance hybrid music. Maybe sliding closer to the realms of ambient techno on occasion? I'm sure that was part of the reason Mr. Paap gave a green light on this record, music following in familiar territory as his Ginger and G Spot albums. Or just wanted to do a solid for some fellow countrymen.

As this is an album from that Cambrian explosion of musical diversification that was the early '90s, you bet Never To Tell A Soul is rife with sonic experimentation. It never gets so overt as, say, The Orb's Orbus Terrum, still keeping a one foot firmly in techno's domain. There are periods where you can hear Gerd and Dirk having perhaps a bit too much fun in the studio with this, primarily on a few interstitial doodles. Or, in the case of the digital re-issue, extended intros and outros of their centrepiece tracks. I guess they were originally edited to fit on the CDs? Regardless, for every sublime bit of nifty beatcraft and melodic techno (dang, does Hardfall ever hit wonderfully at its peak), a little naff slice of obtuse sound experiment and bizarre loop choices creeps in too. Wouldn't be an 'IDM' record from this era if it didn't have that, right?

Right, so perhaps that's why the vinyl version of Never To Tell A Sell focused more on dancefloor functionalism, four extra tracks not on the CD being featured. Essentially doing their own brand of Detroit techno, with that slightly European melodic sense without ever dipping too close to trance's territory. And because you can add any ol' thing to a digital release, we get even more bonus tracks after that, including an outright banger in Anything You Want It To Be which sounds way out of time and place compared to everything else on this collection. Man, so nice everything ends on the Soulstar Mix of Hardfall (the single version, essentially), reminding you why Never To Tell A Soul earned its unheralded gem status all these years after.

EM/FM - Pocket Dimensions

Emubands: 2025

(A Patreon request)

It isn't that I completely abandoned synthwave and other forms of retro-kitch music – I just failed in finding captivating new acts to sustain my interest. Yeah, there was undoubtedly a bit of the ol' burnout after over-indulging for a couple years there, but that could be the same said for other micro-niche genres that caught my fancy. I haven't returned much to Viking metal or dark ambient (save the occasionally Cryo Chamber splurge), so why should it be any different for something like synthwave? Not to mention the sheer glut of releases that were coming out for a spell there, making digital digging for something new ever more pointless, especially when the whole point of the genre was not to sound terribly new in the first place. Refurbished, recontextualized, rebranded, sure, but still adhering to the tropes of yesteryear.

Which is likely why vaporwave never drew me in. I got what it was trying to do, but it was doing it in such a limited way, I simply couldn't buy into its artistic intent. Matters didn't help that it was drawing upon such a weaksauce source of inspiration, audio and visuals that by all measures were rightfully left to the dustbins of time.

Yeah, yeah, for a significant chunk of my peers, growing up surrounded by chintzy tutorial jangles and basic clip art was their jam. Absolutely repurposing it with a hauntological veneer would trigger as many nostalgia endorphins as a Boards Of Canada track would. Just, y'know, not me. At least synthwave presented itself with a straight-to-VHS Cannon Films cool. I can imagine cruising down dark alleys in neon lights, wearing black leather or red duster, dodging jacked-in cyberpunks and whatnot. With vaporwave, I just imagine being in that one really expensive Simpsons Halloween Special bit, but without the erotic cake happy ending.

Pocket Dimensions feels like its trapped between those two extremes: inching somewhere into synthwave cool territory, but also kinda' stuck in vaporwave dorkery. Maybe it's because the first track, Wizarding, reminds me of some C64 game jingle, the sort of thing played during the opening credits. Wouldn't be surprised if that was EM/FM's intent too. Right, it does get more opulent than what the traditional Yamaha FM chip could churn out, even treading close to '70s synth works. But not too close. This is, after all, clearly an '80s inspired project, and all the dated aspects that comes with it.

The other four tracks in this EP work the same vein, with enough musicality on display that could stand out with beefier production. First Flight goes cosmic, Into Atlantis goes Caribbean, What If All Your Dreams Came True goes... street, I guess? However, with EM/FM enamoured with the tonally flat sounds of outdated technology, how much you dig it likely depends heavily on how much you appreciate such synths. Frankly, it's not my thing, a style of retro music I don't jive with. Ooh, just like that cringey bit of slang!

Arctic Hospital - Neon Veils

Lantern: 2008

The wonderful thing about techno is how regional flavours emerged even as certain aesthetics dominated at a global scale. Yeah, you can say that about any music, but you'd think a genre that had such regimented roots in Detroit wouldn't have evolved much beyond that. Yet the Germans developed their own take, the UK had their say, various other pockets of Europe would add their voice, and even areas as far reaching as Africa and South America managed unique variants.

Then there's Japan, wherein a mega-rush of industrialized capitalism created a hyper-tech vision of the future wholly unique to their cities, outpacing nearly every other metropolis in the world. In doing so, their brand of techno came off not so retro-futurist or functional as other strains, but something almost jubilant even in the face of cyberpunk dystopia. Ken Ishii was the breakout star, of course, but many other folks came up through this vision as well, inspiring others to follow suite. Even those who weren't Japanese by descent.

Actually, I'm not sure whether Eric Bray isn't native to Japan, though I highly doubt it. Still, with his second Arctic Hospital album Neon Veils, he found a foothold with the launching Lantern, a sub-label of Tokyo print Plop, which he made his home for as long as he kept making records (Going Sun his last one). And why not? His brand of techno definitely fits that Japanese mould, ever evolving with layered sounds and percolating rhythms you could imagine soundtracking some Robot Carnival homage. It sure wouldn't slide in Europe, the folks over there still absolutely enamoured with minimalism. Maybe a little Detroit, when his tracks stray closer to electro, but man, there's just so much spacious sound-design in Mr. Bray's production too. It's like he's showing off cutting-edge technical marvels as much as making dancefloor tools. The sort you'd see at, oh, I don't know, a tech-fair with mecha and animation.

Even the tracks that don't immediately grab you will win you over in due time. Second cut Encompass takes a while to get its electro boogie tech-house bounce going, but man, once everything's layered and shuffling along, such a fun ride. Or Placement By Air, tripping on broken beats throughout, but still sucking you in with subtle sine waves and dubby treatements. Not to mention In Your Image, seemingly stumbling lost in the technical weeds before finding its footing, soon enough looping along with synth leads and pads as close to trance as this album dares. And these are the 'weaker' cuts? Dang, how dope is the rest then?

Pretty darn dope, I'd say, whether as fun techno tools are lovely headphone fodder (seriously, that sonic space!). Neon Veils isn't reinventing the techno pistons by any large stretch, but it's being done so astoundingly well, it's criminal so few seem to know of it. But hey, it was 2008, and Ricardo Villalobos had a new album out. Much more Very Important than some unknown on a far-flung Japanese sublabel.

E-Mantra - Nemesis

Suntrip Records: 2014

The trek through Suntrip carries on, and I cannot deny it feels more of a chore at this point. It isn't that I've grown to dislike the content from the label, but some forty-plus odd CDs deep into their catalogue has led to over-familiarity with their output. I may not know what to specifically expect with each release now, but I've a solid idea of what's to come, so unyielding faithful to their chosen niche as they are.

Which is why I found myself a little surprised I was actually anticipating finally returning to E-Mantra. By alphabetical decree, I haven't listened to any of his LPs since Arcana, one of the agreed-upon highlights of Suntrip's early years. I, too, agreed upon that assessment, and for all intents, his reputation of one of the label's premier acts remained intact for as long as he remained there. Cool beans, which means whatever may shake out in this unending sojourn through Suntrip, I can at least look forward to the next E-Mantra record on the docket. ...all the way down in the 'N' block. Darn it, maybe I should have sprung for one of his Altar Records albums in the meanwhile, say The Hermit's Sanctuary or Echoes From The Void.

Actually, had I nabbed those two, it would have given me a clearer idea of where Mr. Carpus' headspace was leading up to Nemesis. Those, as well as Silence (the Altar album I have covered, plus my introduction to E-Mantra) were all released after his previous Suntrip outing of Pathfinder. When you're averaging one (1) record per year featuring music more on the downbeat compared to your uptempo sessions, it kinda' suggests one's muse may be wandering elsewhere. At least away from the style that initially made your name.

I guess that's why Nemesis feels like E-Mantra going through the motions of what was expected of another Suntrip record. For sure it's still top-notch stuff, goa trance that's always energetic, always tasteful, knowing when to hold things back long enough before letting tracks kick it up a notch. Acid serving its squiggly trippy purpose, leads that feel propulsive without overstaying their time. It's just all, y'know, over-familiar.

Not until the last clutch of tracks do things skew a little from the norm. Mission Aborted goes 'older school' in using that ultra-compressed kick and focusing more on atmosphere than energetic synths. Orphic Hymn strays closer to the realms of regular ol' trance than anything psychedelic. And Shae Nab with Suufi Astrolab ends Nemesis on prog-psy, such a significant drop in tempo it may as well be a downtempo closer.

Yeah, yeah, but is Nemesis any good? Hey, I came in looking forward to hearing more E-Mantra, and I'm coming away looking forward to hearing more E-Mantra. He may have been thin of fresh ideas here, but he still remains (remained?) one of Suntrip's best producers. I still have two more in the pipe, so that's promising thoughts.

Spiritual Fields - Natural Conscience

Liquid Frog Records: 2021

While it's unsurprising I'd be coming back to the Liquid Frog Records 'verse so quickly within a new letter block, at least it's one that I haven't touched much upon. Aside from his recent ventures into dub techno as O:D:D, Spiritual Fields is probably Juan Pablo's least visited side-project out of them all. In fact, since I bulk-bought his entire Bandcamp catalogue a few years ago (!!), he's only returned to Spiritual Fields once.

Which may not seem like that big a deal – some artists only ever release one album in the same amount of time, much less something under a seldom-used alias. But then this is Mr. Giacovino we're dealing with here, where his Bandcamp page now hosts an additional sixty-eight releases since I bought there. Keep in mind there were eighty-six items available when I purchased what I did (yes, a weird coincidence that we're dealing with reversed numbers here, but stay with me...). That means he's added nearly eighty percent more music to his discography from when I first stumbled upon him via Neotantra, in just a few short years at that. And somehow, in all of that, he's only found the inspiration for one (1) Spiritual Fields album. Hey, man, when that allure of dub techno comes callin'...

In a way though, I can understand why this isn't an alias he felt needed much returning too. Of all his side-projects, this one feels the most redundant. Yeah, there's an obvious nod to the world beaty vein of ambient dub Juan Pablo often dwells in, but plenty of his other music retains elements of that too. And when the general market is well over-saturated with downtempo beats with Far East harmonies, Spiritual Fields doesn't stand out much from the pack either. It's music that remains nicely crafted, as much of N:L:E's work does, but is well traversed paths across the board.

Which is about as succinct a summation of Natural Conscience as I can give. Plenty of flowing pads with spacious timbre, some softer, dubbier rhythms coming and going, and sprinklings of sitars jamming with the trippy reggae melodies. Chaos In Nature towards the end leaped out at me more for offering some punchy beats that skip and stutter rather than do the usual languid bip and bob. It's all lovely sounding stuff, and if this was your first foray into the wider Liquid Frogs Records catalogue, I can imagine being intrigued by what you hear enough to splurge for more. Say, maybe the whole Bandcamp amount?

Not that it's what happened to me, oh no! Like, sure, Natural Conscience was the latest Spiritual Fields release when I did pop on over there, but it was a solid seven rows down from the most recent selections. Surely it was stuff like Space Radio or Ecovillage or Antarctica that had me going gonzo for the whole thing. No, it was all the pretty cover art, I'm sure of it. Sucker for cover art, always.

Subdream - Nameless Constellations

Exosphere: 2023

It's not that I distrust Bandcamp's Recommendation algorithm. I'm sure if I spent some time randomly clicking through on some of those items, I'd stumble upon a number of interesting releases. Still, there's a reason Fantano had a series called It Came From Bandcamp, wherein he'd scrounge about the website's most bizarre music folks would upload. And believe you me, the stray times I have randomly indulged the Recommendation algo', it's led to some very weird, amateurish stuff indeed. No, I'll stick to the artists I'm there to check out, and should their discography direct me to a few labels off the beaten path, all the better.

All that said, I discovered Subdream entirely because Nameless Constellations popped up in the Recommendation feed, and its lovely cosmic art lured me in as so much lovely cosmic art does. Why would this one in particular do so? Probably because, at the time, it was the most recent release from the Exosphere label, so got some preferential attention in the algo'. As for why this digital print would come up, I haven't a clue. Is it because Lingua Lustra's released a few albums there? Perhaps, though it may have more to do with Cosmic Replicant's The Waves, his thus-far last LP, also appears on Exosphere. Yeah, let's go with that. If there's anything Bandcamp knows for certain, it knows I likes me some Cosmic Replicant, though why it wouldn't have recommended that instead of Subdream, who knows.

Anyhow, I sadly don't have much info regarding one Michael Schubert. Seems to have floated about online circles with sporadic releases for the past decade, this and A Tale Of Distant Stars his most consistent presence on a label. Mostly doing ambient, but some synthwave leaning downtempo tunes here and there as well. And boy, I do hope he finds time to make more, because this is some exquisite stuff.

Okay, sure, we're still in the realms of 'planetarium ambient', space music best set to images of deep star fields and flying through colourful nebula. It isn't anything new under the G-type star of one standard luminosity scale. I've heard plenty of stuff like this before, and likely will again. But yeah, this hits just a little sweeter, perhaps a result of those synthwave influences. Heck, we even get a little acid action in Prismatic Forest, inching ever so close to Carbon Based Lifeform's own space ambient outing of Twentythree. Never a bad thing getting an associative namedrop like that 'round these here parts, but Cosmic Replicant works in a pinch too.

So Namelesss Constellations is nice, good even. Yet I'm more eager to start exploring this Exosphere label. Yeah, cool one of my fav's and another enjoyed artist are there, but look at all these new names: Isostatic, Stellarium, Active Region, Remote Vision, Chris Russell, Herne von Bòrmanvs, Transponder (3), Hinterland (7). All I need to do is remember it exists next time a Bandcamp Friday rolls around.

Ray Castle & Collaborators - Mystique Of The Metaverse (An Epoch Re-Envisioned)

Suntrip Records: 2018

I kicked off the start of this summer with a triple dose of Suntrip Records music, care of Mindsphere's Mental Triplex trilogy. And now, at the very end of the season (or right of the start of the next, depending on your timezone when this gets published), I've finally come to another CD from this other catalogue that never seems to end. That these were the only two items (well, four, but run with me here) within the entire 'M' block feels like it should have some sort of significance as well.

I struggle to ascertain one though, other than this simply isn't a psy-friendly letter to name your albums with. I also have that Mechanophobia compilation from Trishula Records, plus assorted stuff that could fit snuggly within the realms of psy-chill. Does Man With No Name's debut album Moment Of Truth cast such a large shadow that no other psy act dares tread within this letter's hallowed halls? Surely there's room down at the bottom end, then, with all manner of 'mystic' variants floating about. The Infinity Project's Mystical Experiences, for instance, or Saafi Brothers' Mystic Cigarettes. Even get a little fancy with it as we have on here, Mystique Of The Metaverse.

As usual, not gonna' front: I had some trepidation going into this one. The main title screamed rather cheesy, with a subtitle of An Epoch Re-Envisioned not helping matters much. Throw in cover art that would be considered garish even at the height of goa's popularity, and having not one damn clue about the artist involved, you can understand why I felt this Suntrip session might be an endurance test.

Then opening track Tribedelic Nomads (Feral Mix) hits, and what's this? A serious tribal work-out, done in that late '90s psy-tekk style that Tristan made hay from? Wow, I don't think I've heard anything like this from Suntrip thus far. Maybe a couple of their earliest releases, when they hadn't yet settled into their comfortable nu-goa niche. If the whole album's like this, then Mystique Of The Metaverse just might land in Top 5 contender from this label!

But nay, that track's a one-off, the other Insectoid tracks stripping things down to acidic essentials, while the Rhythmstec cuts go as retro goa as heard straight from tracks five-through-eight on a standard compilation of the '90s. Which makes sense, since this is a collection of collaborative works one Ray Castle made in those days. The hype-blurb makes a big deal out of his influence as a promoter in the Aussie side of the scene, even getting some market penetration in Japan and thereabouts. Cool, but the music here is pretty typical stuff for the time. The tunes under the Insectoid alias do show creativity in their acid use, and Time Traveler Of Trance as Masaray is one of the definitive goa tracks off the Psy-Harmonics print. Just don't mind me wandering more to his Exotic Matter alias, doing music the likes of Eat Static dared to tread.

New Order - Music Complete

Mute: 2015

Should I be doing a review of this? After all, covering the 'radio friendly' version of this album is rather redundant on my part. The 'extended mixes' of Complete Music are vastly superior to these cuts, even if they are fundamentally the same songs. And given the state of The Backlog That Won't Stop, coupled with my utter tardiness in keeping up with my blog this summer, can I even afford additional indulgences in what I'll commit fingers to keyboard on?

Probably, but damn, I feel New Order's presumptive swan-song deserves more flowers than it neglectfully got. And wouldn't you know it, we're practically nigh upon its tenth anniversary of release (September 25, 2015). No, I did not plan this out, but it's nice that my recent, lackadaisical attention to music writing turned out this coincidence of happenstance.

So why should you give Music Complete another chance, even if it doesn't sound exactly like their iconic '80s songs? How about the fact that this record even exists at all? It had been a decade prior when New Order had released their last album (Waiting For The Sirens' Call), and with the departure of Peter Hook, seemingly putting an end to the band. No one would have thought less of them if they'd rested on their laurels, maybe did some reunion tours playing out the old hits, fading off into the sunset. They certainly didn't need to hit the studio again, missing one of their key members from their earliest days. And even if they did, no one would have batted an eye if whatever resulted from those sessions was just acceptable at best, music that was serviceable but hardly a touch on their best work.

They especially didn't need to make one of the best records in their whole dang discography. But they did.

Dang, maybe that's why they haven't been back to the studio since. Whatever creative spark and serendipitous synergy that resulted in Music Complete (not to mention Complete Music!) simply couldn't be recreated, so why even try? New Order made their 'statement' album, that even after all that time, they still had enough mojo to knock it out of the park. What better way to put a capper on a career than with a near-perfect high note, rather than struggling to maintain that momentum long after. Hmm, sounds weirdly prescient, for some reason...

Anyhow, no need to go into actual music details again, since I already covered that in Complete Music. This 'review' is really just a friendly reminder that, hey, one of New Order's best albums does exist, and it's totally contemporary in style and sound. If you'd rather take it in as shorter, manageable chunks as heard in Music Complete rather than lengthier excursions, that's completely fair. Just don't be surprised if you start jonesing for those more. After all, when the good times are this good, you want them to last as long as possible.