Kenji Kawai - 2002 Patlabor 2: The Movie "Sound Renewal"

Vap: 1993/2002

I indulge in anime every so often, but am nowhere near otaku levels (ignore that one year marathon in my early twenties, ne?), and definitely not to such a degree I'll snatch up soundtracks. Oh, there’s plenty of stunning works available should you go digging around, but I’m at best a casual watcher. Why, then, do I have the score to Patlabor 2, an anime that, while not hopelessly obscure, seldom comes up in discussion, especially musically. It's certainly no Macross, Cowboy Bebop, or [insert modern classic Sykonee should be checking out]. Heck, it's not even a Ghost In The Shell, the movie director Mamoru Oshii and composer Kenji Kawai worked on right after this one. In some ways though, Patlabor 2 is a conceptual precursor to their work on that flick. To get into those details, however, would utterly derail this review, and I’m here to talk music, not anime - you’ll have to find another site for that (I recommend Anime Abandon by Bennett “The Sage”, should he ever get around to reviewing Patlabor).

While Oshii’s gone down as one of anime’s most influential directors, it’s his partnership with Kawai that helped solidify his legacy. They share a film-making synergy similar to the likes of Burton and Elfman, in that you can’t help but think of the two in unison despite occasionally doing projects without the other’s input. Kawai’s also incredibly diverse when called upon, even within the Patlabor pantheon of movies, OVAs, and TV series. Peppy j-pop, traditional Japanese orchestral, and future-shock industrial, he finds ways molding his music as needed to fit the situation, and as Patlabor 2’s all about political intrigue and philosophical quandary in a near-future mecha-milieu, you bet we get ample amounts of the latter styles on this score.

As Oshii often makes use of montages in this movie (at least, when characters aren’t discussing the meaning of existence, or something), the music had to match the imagery in narrative drive. Thus, Asia’s slow tribal rhythm and ominous strings build upon the growing sense of unease as martial law is instilled upon Tokyo; ...with Love’s gentle pianos and pads contrast with harsh, tentative synths as Nagumo questions her allegiance between her duty and her heart; ”IXTL” trudges along a slow EBM beat and soft falsetto choir, far from the sort of music you’d expect from an action climax, but keeping in tone with the minimalist direction Oshii went with. Wait, when did this turn into a movie review too?

All well and good, but the piece I ultimately bought this soundtrack for was Unnatural City. A recurring motif throughout the movie (there’s three variations), it’s a simple bit of music, haunting discordant pads casting feelings of contemplation and doubt upon the scenes it plays. The easy comparisons are Eno and Glass, but Kawai injects just enough traditional instrumentation underneath to make this sound wholly his own. It’s also perfect for late nights when you find yourself staring out at city lights.

Biosphere - Patashnik

Apollo: 1994

Patashnik is very much a transitional album for Geir Jenssen, which is odd considering it’s only the second Biosphere release in a discography that includes some dozen or so LPs. Even this early in his career though, the man from Northern Norway was looking beyond the ambient techno he helped define, away from the dance floors and chill-out rave tents and towards more noble pursuits like film scores and art galleries. Well, at least a Levi advertisement, the single Novelty Waves earning him some extra coin for its usage in a jeans commercial. And why not? With its groovy techno beat and stone-cold electro sounds, can you think of a better soundtrack for Depression Era Mid-West America? Wait, what?

What I’m getting at here is, while Microgravity’s rave roots were inescapable, Patashnik doesn’t indulge in them as often. Even when Jenssen does make a dance floor friendly track, it comes off as lip-service, many of his rhythms rudimentary as far as techno of the time was concerned. The aforementioned Novelty Waves is definitely one of the stronger beats found here, but Seti Project is little more than standard high-energy trance. You’d think ‘trance’ and ‘Biosphere’ would be a match made in arctic heaven, yet there’s little in Seti Project that you couldn’t find on dozens of Eye-Q or MFS records. Meanwhile, the titular cut doesn’t sound far off from an early Aphex Twin leftover, Botanical Dimensions carries on the ‘bleep’ techno movement in a quietly subdued manner, while Caboose and The Shield are essentially recycled ambient dub grooves. At least Decryption’s slow ambient techno pulse far better serves the Biosphere stylee than the rest of these tracks. Not that the melodies, synth sounds and song craft contained in all these tracks are bunk, but the rhythms oddly date Patashnik even more so than Microgravity’s offerings.

The ambient compositions, however, sound like they were intended for an entirely different album. Opener Phantasm is all kinds of creepy with children intoning they had shared dreams, and a melody sounding like an off-key radar-ping metronome only adds to the eerie atmosphere. Following that, Startoucher is endlessly desolate and cold, even with a charming bit of dialog about reaching out to the stars at night - you just know ol’ Geir was inspired by the dead of Tromsø winter on this one. Further along the album, Mir takes you to the lonely Russian space station, while En-Trance is… a completely different track from everything else under the Biosphere banner to that point. Gentle, strumming guitars? What are you trying to do, Geir, make ‘real’ music or something? Because you’d be totally awesome at it!

Despite the differing styles of music on Patashnik, they’re all arranged such that it makes for an agreeable listen from start to finish – Jenssen knows how to sequence an LP, even if he only has a general theme to build upon. Following this one though, he’d tighten his inspirations up to such a degree, he’d leave several ambient classics in his wake.

Alio Die - Password For Entheogenic Experience

Hic Sunt Leones: 1998

Don’t for a minute think we’re out of the single-track ambient-drone woods (The Noodle Forest!). The albums I reviewed at the start of September were only the ones in the back-half of the alphabet – we’ve still a whole second-half to navigate through, and you can bet there’s a few more super-long pieces of minimalist synth work lurking in the shadows. I think, I hope, JLIAT’s piece was the worst of it, because I can’t take any more mind numbing hour-length anti-music compositions like that one. I don’t care if it’s just two notes looping; at least the second note provides variety.

Still, there’s usually an interesting backstory behind these musicians and artists that I can shoot the shit for a couple hundred words over. Like this here Alio Die, or Stefano Musso to the Italian demographics bureau. Between solo output and collaborative work, he's released some forty-plus albums in twenty-five years of music making. That's a ridiculous amount of material for someone that hasn't gained much attention for his efforts beyond the most discerning of ambient connoisseurs. Then again, the whole 'post-Eno' scene is filled with such producers (Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich, Tetsu Inoue,Mathias Grassow... the list is nigh endless), to say nothing of the amateur ambient acts that have been inspired by their work. Standout names and captivating compositions are all too often overlooked by folks with only a passing interest in ambient, many quite content settling for your Enos, Roaches, and Namlooks while ignoring the rest. I mean, how bloody dedicated must you be to diligently buy everything from even one of these guys when they have dozens upon dozens of albums to their names? No wonder it’s easy losing sight of them in The Noodle Forest – every release is a tree!

Anyhow, here we are with Password For Entheogenic Experience, which I'm reviewing because, for all of Alio Die's lengthy music making, he doesn't often do the one-track album trick; two tracks breaching thirty minutes apiece, sure, but seldom a single one nearing the sixty-five minute mark. But here it is, officially listed as an album that I must honor in my mad listening endeavor. Ah well, at least this is ambient proper, good for the background.

Password For Entheogenic Experience is also good for meditation, given the style of ambient this is. While calming synth drones play a primary role, Alio Die occasionally adds field recordings, chimes, and synths resembling Indian instruments. Additionally, a curious bit of clicking in the background serves as a rhythm, which undoubtedly aids breathing exercises or yoga stretches. Remarkably, this is quite an engaging piece of music, Mr. Musso keeping things ever morphing and flowing as it plays out, arriving at quite a different place from where it started. While I can’t say I was one-hundred percent connected for its duration, I didn’t zone out as often as I have with other ultra-long drone pieces. That’s about as high of praise as I can offer with ambient of this sort.

Ferry Corsten - Passport: United States Of America (Original TC Review)

Ultra Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
Was I ever prophetic with my quip of "blink and you'll miss it", Passport folding after this one, only the second in the series. Not sure why Corsten canned it so quickly. Maybe it didn't do the business he'd hoped, or it was simply a short-term flirtation with a concept. Whatever the case, he established his Once Upon A Night series a few years after this, which is now up to its fourth volume and remains his regular DJ Mix CD franchise. As far as I can tell though, it receives even less notice than Passport did, but then most of his fans follow his Corsten Countdown radio shows anyway.

As for this CD, I think I was a bit too hard on the euro-trance offerings in the second half of the CD. While I maintain they weren't doing much new for the time, compared to where the genre's gone, these are perfectly enjoyable pieces of melodic fluff. Guess I was still in my 'anti epic-trance' grumble-mode when I wrote this, though at least more diplomatic and detailed in explaining such sentiments compared to my 2006 writings. That said, I doubt I'll be throwing this one on again for a very long time. Why should I, when I have all those In Trance We Trust CDs from the same period? Hah-hah... ha!)


IN BRIEF: Workmanlike in every regard.

For a guy who almost single-handily propelled trance music into public consciousness, Ferry Corsten remained relatively humble. His Trance Nation series helped established the genre as the soundtrack for a generation of clubbers, yet he never overreached his ability, quite content remaining in a comfortable, competent niche. This may in part have to do with the fact he’s largely considered himself a producer first and a DJ second, so the desire to earn the accolades of the DJing elite never became a focus of his career.

With that in mind, most of his mix compilations in recent years haven’t been met with the same amount of fanfare as his musical peers. This new series, Passport, is as indicative of this as anything. Already out for a month, America has a feeling of ‘blink, and you’ll miss it’ about. There are a number of contributing factors for this, but let’s deal with the most important one here: the music.

Straight up, this is a remarkably monotonous collection of music considering Corsten’s name is attached to it. Whether it’s trance or nu-electro, the guy can always be counted on for party rockers, and such moments are few on this release. Divided into two, the first half leaves the impression he’s mellowed out, proggin’ up his sound like many of the older trance jocks did when they shifted genres. Not that he’s ever played this style before, but it certainly isn’t what he’s known for, and to dedicate a large portion of this DJ mix to it is surprising.

Let me be clear, though: this isn’t prog like Bedrock or Global Underground - more like the lightweight stuff Gabriel & Dresden popularized a few years back, and really has no official designation [it does now! –2014 Syk]. It’s too sluggish to be trance, too unfunky to be house, and too pap to be prog proper. So it remains in prog limbo, derided as McProg and jumped on by epic trance jocks when they want to play something ‘deep’.

But deep it is not. Unremarkable rhythms, trite poppy vocals, and scant melodies are to be found instead. Solarstone’s Late Summer Fields is nice enough and Mind One’s Hurt Of Intention has a rather catchy chorus, but most of these tracks plod along, with Nic Chagall’s remix of Wippenberg’s Promisedland being the worst offender. I swear the Cosmic Gate member is on a one-man mission to turn prog into a lifeless parody of itself.

If the mix didn’t grab your attention for most of the opening chunk, then Megashira definitely will. It contains a hook that is so hideous, it’s stoopid-good; like an amped-up hoover synth. I can see why Corsten would want to use this, as it sounds like the kind of thing he might have made himself lately.

From there, Corsten segues into trancier tunes. The good news is the atmosphere of Passport does turn more pleasant; the bad news is the set barely picks up at all. This isn’t so much a case of laid-back vibes keeping things mellow - which would be fine - but rather Corsten’s track selection and arrangement is middling: predictable melodies, perfunctory mixing, oodles of reverb and breakdowns. The same ol’ story with most trance these days, really. If you’re new to it all or still cling to 2001 nostalgia, you’ll love it; for everyone else, it’ll sound all too familiar.

Actually, very familiar in two cases. The new Flashover remix of Insolation is the obvious example but Casey Keyworth’s The Sunlight (as Breakfast) is the startling one. During the two-minute breakdown/build - amongst a wash of reverb effects - a backing synth pad plays a nice melody that strikes an uncanny resemblance to Robert Nickson’s Spiral of three years ago. Supposedly they were both written around the same time and the similarity is entirely coincidental, but fact of the matter is Spiral has had bigger exposure in that time, whereas The Sunlight only now has seen an official release on Ferry’s label. That’s how the ball bounces in the music business though.

As for the rest of Passport, there are a few fine moments: Corsten’s contributions shine compared to the rest, proving he’s still better at this sound than everyone that has copied him since; and Joni Ljungqvist (aka: JPL) continues to show promise at making trance that is actually trance-inducing. Beyond that, there’s very little else of note.

Now, don’t take my indifferent tone to mean this is a bad release. Ferry maintains an amiable tone to the proceedings, making Passport at least an agreeable listen. However, if you’re looking for something that will knock your socks off with energy or sweep you away in euphoria (much less be mesmerized by actual DJ technique), you’ve come to the wrong CD. This is a mix that doesn’t reach far, quite content to let the tracks on Ferry’s label be the centerpieces (of which about a third makes up the tracklist), complemented with a few well-known tunes to pad it out with the filler. Sadly, judging by the offerings on America, the current crop of Flashover Recordings probably won’t be much remembered a couple years down the road, lost in the annual pile of melodic trance glut.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Various - Passages: Framed By Nova

Ultimae Records: 2014

Mr. Nova – or Massimo Terranova, if you want to get fancy with him – first became involved with Ultimae about a decade ago, though not in any capacity most would notice. He often serves as the label’s PR man, and does the DJ circuit when called upon, deferring the limelight to producers and other folks about the Lyon offices. Occasionally he’s contributed a compilation or two to the Ultimae library, though unlike Mahiane, hasn’t settled upon any specific theme. The first was titled Albedo, the second Imaginary Friends, and this most recent one is called Passages. So… the reflective lights of ghosts will take us places? Yeah, no. These are all self-contained CDs, singular compilations that I guess Ultimae is obligated to put out at least once per year now that Fahrenheit Project is tripping the light retired.

Or maybe Nova just wanted his say on Ultimae’s ‘gray period’ before they moved on to another phase. At least, I’m assuming the label’s moving on from it soon, as their last couple releases have been quite colourful in comparison to most of 2013’s output. As Passages came out earlier in 2014, it would make a fitting conclusion to this chapter in Ultimae’s history – like, taking a passage from where they were to where they’re going, yes? I’ll stop worming significance into the title now.

So this CD has the usual assortment of familiar and outside talent making up the track list. James Murray pops back up, as does Lars Leonhard, Cygna and Cell, giving a rub on his Connect.Ohm project. Aes Dana naturally contributes, and it couldn’t be a ‘gray period’ Ultimae compilation without music from Miktek and Fingers In The Noise. Murya, who appeared on the prior Nova collection Imaginary Friends, gets a new track in, while Max Million pops up too. I haven’t seen the names Brando Lupi, Martin Nonstatic, or Zinovia before, but Lord Discogs tells me they’re raising talents modern chill's growing list of producers.

Right, the actual music. There’s little surprising on Passages, if I’m honest, but all of it remains totally class as Ultimae continuously is wont to do. The general style Nova’s curated here is minimalist, dubby ambient techno, with touches of modern classical piano and orchestral flourishes for good measure. It isn’t as pretentious as I’ve probably made it sound. I guess it wouldn’t help matters if I added ‘glitch’ to that description too? I mean, what else can I call Cygna’s Whitin? That rhythm is so restrained and clicky, it’d make Mille Plateaux say, “yo, beef that bass”; lovely cinematic swells, though.

The highest praise I can give Passages is, should you somehow have ignored Ultimae for this long (a near-impossibility if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, but bear with me), this is a good jumping-on point. It doesn’t tell their whole story, but effectively portrays the sound they’ve cultivated their last couple years. I’d expect nothing less from their resident PR man.

Psycoholic - Parallel Universe

Psy Spy Records: 2010

Why is it that every time I kick off a new letter now, it’s with something ridiculously obscure? ‘O’ had Wyatt Keusch’s Object-Relations, ‘N’ featured Dub Trees’ Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her; ‘M’ was a little better with Macro Dub Infection, Volume 1 (can anything released by Virgin be rare?), but who’d have ever heard of Cheb I Sabbah’s La Kahena? You’d have to go all the way back to the ‘I’s for something everyone should have heard about (it’s an Aphex Twin album).

However, let me turn your attention back to the album that began my run through ‘G’, Aquila’s Gain Control. It was a free full-on psy trance album downloaded from Ektoplazm, and not a terribly remarkable one at that. I only bring it up because, coincidentally, our journey through ‘P’ begins with another free full-on psy trance album that I downloaded from Ektoplazm, Psycoholic’s Parallel Universe. And… if you look at some alphabet charts, ‘G’ is above ‘P’. Additionally, if you were to replace the letters by their sequenced number, ‘G’ is ‘7’, ‘P’ is ‘16’, which can be divided by ‘2’, giving us ‘8’. ‘8’ follows ‘7’, which means ‘G’ precedes half of ‘P’, and Boards Of Canada’s album Geogaddi starts with the letter ‘G’, which means… which means…

Which means I’ve wasted enough word count on this nonsense. Yeah, sorry about that, but sometimes my brain gets caught in feedback loops of silliness, wondering where it might take me once I’ve stepped onto that path. I could go on and on if I didn’t have a psy trance album I should be reviewing instead. So what information can I dig up on this Psycoholic chap… Uh huh, uh huh, is Russian, real name Mikhail Fedosov, released another album prior to this one called (*shudder*) Trance World Over, hasn’t released much since this one, though carries on a psy trance compilation series titled Psytrance Open Air. That’s about all Lord Discogs provides me on this front.

As should be abundantly clear by now, I’ve little to discuss regarding Parallel Universe. It’s certainly a fine collection of full-on psy, Mr. Fedosov’s production beefier than most acts I’ve come across in this genre. He’s also unafraid of getting his melodic trance on, some tracks sounding like psy coverings of classics of that scene, though more subtle about it than Alien Project’s blatant rip-offs were. Sevgilim could have been a proper Dutch anthem, Light Years Ahead has a charming melodic line to go with its ‘buttrock’ goa guitars, Alfaville has to have found inspiration from the Balearic trance branch, Kuzlaring features ethereal vocals (!), and We Will Make You Happy… ooh, I’m getting a bit of that vintage German trance vibe on this one. Minor key melodies and evil dialog samples for the win!

Parallel Universe has just enough cleverness going for it to check it if you need a little more full-on psy in your life, but won’t win you over otherwise.

Sykonee Surveys Spotify's Senseless Suggestions, Round 3

The good news is Spotify’s senseless suggestions aren’t quite so senseless anymore. The recommendation algorithm has apparently given up trying to push seemingly random, popular artists down my ears and actually pay attention to what I’ve been listening to. And while there was some hilarity in seeing just how off Spotify could get, I prefer some progress being made by the music service helping to discover acts I easily overlook.

The bad news is it’s also changed the way Spotify does its recommendations, more often suggesting specific releases rather than acts. It also seems to have clued into the fact I prefer electronic music of a less poppy sort over other forms, nary a rap, rock, or country artist appearing since those first two rounds. Since odds are high I’ll give this music a chance regardless of style, I’ll be ranking these by how obvious a recommendation a particular release is instead. These will also remain scored out of five, with 1/5 being Too Obvious, and 5/5 being Unexpected Gold. After all, what point is there digging through lists if it’s all material I’d have sought out regardless? Give me the obscure, surprising stuff, mate!

As an aside, because I listened to Faithless’ No Roots, Spotify won’t stop recommending releases they figure I’ll enjoy because of that. Though there’s some interesting music here, I’m not including them in these surveys, as I feel it narrows my focus too much into UK chart-friendly dance music. I prefer seeing diversity in these lists, and according to Spotify, Faithless’ peers occupy a very specific niche. To sate your curiosity though, here’s what I did get suggested:

Fluke - Atom Bomb
Renaissance Worldwide: Singapore – Mixed By David Morales, Dave Seaman, & BT
Armand van Helden - Old School Junkies: The Album
Superchumbo - Star 69 Presents: Let’s Go Chumbo!
Sander Kleinenberg - This Is Everybody Too
Basement Jaxx - Summer Daze EP
Orbital - Don’t Stop Me / The Gun Is Good
All Saints - Chick Fit
Fluke - Slid
Armand van Helden - Ghettoblaster
UNKLE & The Heritage Orchestra - ’Variation On A Theme’ Live At The Union Chapel
Kosheen - Spies (Remixes)

I honestly have no idea what Armand van Helden and Faithless have in common, other than being significant chart toppers. Maybe Armand remixed a bunch of Rollo tracks? Also, utter shock at the lack of affiliated Faithless projects like Dusted and Sister Bliss’ solo material. Okay, enough analysis of that list. Here’s what Spotify’s recommending me without that set parameter.

Swayzak - Loops From The Bergerie
Ooh, now this is interesting. I’ve long enjoyed Swayzak’s material, but haven’t checked many of their albums out. Part of that is the unfortunate weak reputation their LPs have, but also neglectful oversight on my end. I’m not sure why Spotify is suggesting this album though, the closest thing to their style of music I’ve played on Spotify perhaps a few fabric mixes. This particular album sounds like the duo’s trying to get their Underworld on while retaining their chill, dubby tech-house stylee. Not an outstanding album, but I’m not ranking these based on music quality, only diversity.

Recommendation Ranking: 4/5

Various - Highway & Landscape
Originally released as a 2CD set in 1997, the sub-line reads “Chill-Out Classics & Ethereal Anthems”. And holy cow, is this ever a find! Chill-out compilations with Balearic and psychedelic tunes weren’t doing much business at that time, so finding a collection with names like Sun Electric, Gas, Rabbit In The Moon, and Slam on it is cool enough, the sort of release you might luck out with in a used shop. There’s also tons of names here I’m not familiar with: Valleyman, Sie, T Tauri… half of ‘em, if I’m honest. I won’t deny some of the tracks are obvious choices, but that’s a pointless quibble with many more I’ve yet to hear. Well played, Spotify.

Recommendation Ranking: 5/5

Gus Gus - David
I kind of remember this track, though it wasn’t a huge hit in my crook of the world. David threads the line between funky house and a then-emergent electro house style, a fun bit of summer anthem bounce, but mostly forgotten these days. I’m guessing this comes recommended because of the King Britt remix? Not a surprising one, then, but certainly odd.

Recommendation Ranking: 3/5

Vitalic - Poney
Oh dear. I hate to do this. I mean, I love this single, absolutely adore it. Unfortunately for this survey, I’ve already playlisted all these tracks. It ain’t no sweat of Spotify’s shoulders to recommend music it should have a record of me playing, even if it’s not from this specific release. Yeah, it’s all because two-thirds of Poney are on OK Cowboy, isn’t it.

Recommendation Ranking: 1/5

16B - Escape (Driving To Heaven)
Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man! You know how you totally recognize a song, you even know you have it lurking somewhere in your library, but its location utterly escapes (heh) you? I’m getting a harsh case of that feeling with this song. Help me, o’ Lord Discogs! *checks* Ah, it’s on that Red Jerry Late Night Drive Mix. Okay, crisis of faith averted. I also figure this comes recommended due to the Topaz progressive trance CDs I’ve playlisted. Not a huge leap then, but certainly an unexpected choice of an artist and single.

Recommendation Ranking : 3/5

Plastikman - EX (Performed Live At The Guggenheim NYC)
Yeah, I’ve had a few minimal tracks playlisted. And who’s one of the biggest minimal guys around than Mr. Minimalisious himself, Richie Hawtin. Why look at that, he’s got a brand, spankin’ new album out this year too. You do want to hear it, right? Geez, the only thing more obvious would have been Spastik.

Recommendation Ranking: 1/5

Sasha - The emFire Collection
I know this is lurking somewhere in my library, but mislabeled, hence why it never showed when I reviewed all my albums titled with “E”s – probably down in the “S”s. Again, not terribly shocking having Mr. Coe as a recommendation after playlisting music he’s associated with, but quite odd seeing this particular one come up. Are the Involvers not on Spotify? Qat Collection, even?

Recommendation Ranking: 3/5

Hybrid - Can You Hear Me
Whoa, Hybrid are still around? Well, at least up to 2010, when this single was released. Heh, I’m just joshing, of course a duo with as grandiose musical aspirations as these two wouldn’t up and quit because everyone keeps expecting them to make Unfinished Symphony forever after. Still, I think only their most ardent fans would care for this overstuffed ‘rocktronica-orchestra-breaks’ track (Kill City Sounds Mix 02 is dope though). Spotify gets some props for suggesting a forgotten cut of theirs – heck, Hybrid at all, since I can’t think of a prior precedent to do so.

Recommendation Rating: 3/5

Gus Gus - Polyesterday
It’s that Sasha vs The Light rub of Purple on here, isn’t it. I’m starting to think, even though Northern Exposure wasn’t on Spotify, it figures I like all the associative music on those CDs. How can it figure that out just from search queries? David was a bit out there as a suggestion, but not so much this single.

Recommendation Rating: 2/5

Mystic - Mutations
Lord Discogs draws completely blank on this guy; same with the label Dalibor Brkic. The music on this album is… neo-trance? It’s got that minimalist melodic techno vibe going for it, and… oh wow, this is awesome! Reminds me of Peter Dundov, but with a house groove. How did Spotify ever worm this one into its suggestion list? Since I have no idea what Mystic’s background is, I’m assuming he’s new (Mutations is from 2011, so sayeth The Spotify). I gotta’ check out more from him (Mystic’s a ‘he’, right?).

Recommendation Rating: 5/5

Ulrich Schnauss & ASC - 77 EP
Surprisingly, I don’t have any Schnauss in my library – guess that’s another added to my never-ending list of ‘must gets’. ASC I do have though, and honestly, given my ultra-Ultimae whoring, it’s no surprise ol’ Ulrich would come highly recommended from Spotify. And hey, I playlisted ASC too, so here’s a collaborative single from both of them! Fair enough, but no bonus points for the low-hanging fruit, pal.

Recommendation Rating: 2/5


And our final tally of Survey 3 is 32/55. Hurray, Spotify finally got a score over fifty percent! Still not terribly high though. Yeah, yeah, the rules of the game have changed, but I feel this is a fair gauge of how effective the music service is at helping listeners discover new material. Now that it knows what sort of music I like, it’s at least making some improvement in specifics. Baby steps, baby steps.

Biosphere - Microgravity

Origo/Apollo: 1991/1992

Such an important album, this. Biosphere practically came out of nowhere, making his mark on a fledgling ambient techno scene before it had established itself as a distinct genre – most still referred to 'ambient with a kick' as ambient house, since The Orb was about the only act with enough clout to set trends. Microgravity didn't even get much notice at first, initially being released in Geir Jenssen's native Norway on Origo Records. Within the following year though, he was signed to seminal ambient techno label Apollo, bringing him greater exposure as he rubbed shoulders with other future stars of the genre like Aphex Twin and David Morley. And because this is such a quirky fun-fact, yes, Microgravity technically beat Selected Ambient Works 86-92 to the shops. Why isn't Biosphere more commonly name-dropped, then? UK press bias?

Whatever the case, this album remains one of the lasting curiosities of the early rave scene. Mixing space ambient and astro-chatter with house and techno wasn’t new, but Jenssen brought a fresh perspective to the formula. For one thing, he played things entirely straight, in that our ventures into the cosmos should be treated with gravitas – that the vast outer reaches of the endless black beyond can be a cold, desolate place we should respect and even fear. That icy tone went on to become something of a Biosphere trademark, but at this primordial stage in ambient techno development it was a stark contrast to the cheary, optimistic outlook most of his peers approached the subject with. Guess living in a region with long, cold winter nights will do that to a chap. Adding to that sense of emptiness are dub effects, sometimes cribbed from The Orb’s approach but also applied to Jenssen’s choice of sci-fi synths. The bell tones of Cloudwalker sound impossibly vast, and all the more alien with eerie melodies worming their way about.

Still, this is an early ‘90s album, and Microgravity does share some common traits with rave music of the time. For one thing, the UK ‘bleep techno’ sound is all over this, which makes sense since it was the hot new trend for producers aiming for a little ‘intelligence’ in their tracks (FSOL, LFO, Bobby BLO). Jenssen also can’t help adding in a few rave riffs (The Fairy Tale), standard dance beats (Chromosphere) and ethnic samples (Cygnus-A) here and there, instantly dating Microgravity to the era it sprung from. Meanwhile, the crisp looping samples, while giving these tunes a distinct flavour, shows Jenssen had yet to refine his production into something more musically flowing.

Of course, these attributes are all plusses for folks who can’t get enough of early ambient techno, roughness, warts and all. I’ve even seen a few bemoan the fact Jenssen took his Biosphere work away from the realms of techno groove so soon after Microgravity, but even here one can tell he was looking beyond what that scene offered. Remarkable aspirations for a guy who helped define a genre.

Emmerichk - Late Nineties

Offshoot: 2014

Sweet, a techno CD with a title recalling an era of techno that's no longer in vogue. Forget the logical assumption that Late Nineties won't be all on that tough, 4am bangin' shit - I've already convinced myself that's what will be on this album! Plus, it’s advertised by the intriguing ambient and experimental Psychonavigation Records label that released Oliver Lieb's Inside Voices earlier this year of Twenty-Fourteen. I’m not sure what that means in the long run, but it was enough for me to dive into this album from one Emmerichk Esquivel sight-unheard. Heck, I even sprung for the limited edition CD copy, which came in a thin plastic case that doesn’t open like traditional jewel or digipaks; instead, it has a spring load with a release in the top corner. Clever and crafty – I’m in love.

Of course, had I done some prior research into who Emmerichk even is, I probably wouldn’t have been so quick in getting this. His profile at Lord Discogs has musical jargon like “sound carpets” and “rhythmical micro-structures”, the sort stuff you’d associate with Mille Plateaux. Dear me, that’s nothing like what I imagined. Not even room for a fierce, percolating 909 rhythm? What have I gotten myself into?

A pretty cool album, is what. Oh, Late Nineties is definitely all about the dubby, minimalist sound associated with experimental branches of techno, but so was Plastikman’s Consumed, an album released – say it all together – the late nineties! Emmerichk states his influence in crafting this album was a paying tribute to the techno producers of that era while maintaining his own style in the process, so you have tracks with titles like The Hood andThe Jaguar, names anyone worth their techno salt should recognize. Alongside those, there’s Acid Twilight, Analog Fever, and assorted other stylistic points of reference. Alright, on board again.

Another thing that ties Late Nineties to that period of techno is the above-average BPM. Right from the opening cut (Deep Thoughts), things chug along at a brisk pace, far more so than most tracks in the dubby end of genre do these days. What’s remarkable about Emmerichk’s production is, without a good set of speakers or headphones, it won’t seem like it. You’ll hear the kick, but in most cases its very soft, barely a pulse as heard on weak sound systems – only Transforming The Past has anything resembling the chunky, distorted kicks of yore. Instead, Emmerichk somehow hides the propulsive attributes of his tracks within the sonic depth of dub effects, which is great for getting lost in the techno murk of his music but utterly reliant on quality playback gear. Don’t try playing this on laptop or smarphone speakers, is what I’m saying.

Despite not having what I (foolishly) expected, Emmerichk still turned out a mint album of high-tempo dub techno. Yes, I know those terms seem like an oxymoron, which is all the more reason for you to check out Late Nineties to hear how it’s done.

ACE TRACKS: April 2014

I had a good writing groove going for myself recently. Then a brutal weekend of work on a six-day stretch ruined that – now my brain feels like it’s taken an arrow in the ear. Oh well, at least I can still make Spotify Deezer playlists. Here’s April 2014’s big ol’ bundle.



Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Musik Non Stop
Prince - Musicology
Nobuo Uematsu - Music From FFV And FFVI Video Games
Various - Moving Shadow 99.1 & 99.2
Various - Motion: A Six Degrees Dance Collection
Various - Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Various - Mortal Kombat
Banco de Gaia - Maya (20th Anniversary Edition)

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 7%
Percentage of Neil Young: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: unknown - Izlel je Delyo hajdutin (sooo ethnic)

Though the actual releases are not on Spotify Deezer, this playlist has an abundance of tracks from The Music Of ‘Cosmos' and Muzik Classics: Techno. This makes for a weird combination of incredible diversity with batches of similarity – this, in a collection of tunes that’s already freewheeling through more styles of music than you can imagine. It’s remarkable that, despite having classic albums from The Prodigy, Photek, Boards Of Canada, and Solar Fields, their music gets a little lost amongst the symphonic compositions, dub techno, and harder rock.

This is also the longest playlist I’ve put together, clocking well over the eleven hour mark. Obviously that’s the full tracklist, but even without the missing tracks, it’s a lengthy listening experience. I honestly haven’t even given this one a full play-through as of this posting, sequencing tracks based on quick clips and gut intuition. If I’ve stumbled upon some amazing run of unexpected groupings, I assure you it’s almost accidental, perhaps sublimely or hilariously so. Reason enough to fire this playlist up, to sate your own curiosity of the result, I wager!