RetroSynther - Welcome To Technocity

Werkstatt Recordings: 2016

Synthwave isn't hard to find, but getting my grubby hands on CD copies of the stuff remains a tricky affair. Obviously digital is this scene's preferred method of distribution, but it seems even tapes outnumber the aluminum disc options wherever I look. Thank the Moroder God that Blood Music goes to bat for its synthwave superstars, yet I can't rely on a single label sating my sweet tooth for retro synthy cheese-pop. Looks like fortunes have favoured my searching efforts though, recently stumbling upon this Werkstatt Recordings print in my Bandcamp wanderings. CD options! Oh, glorious CD options! Only trouble is they take a darn long time to deliver, and I want to write a review of one of them now, while Alphabetical Stipulation permits me. Darn it, I thought that time away at Shambhala would have delivered the goods. Ah, screw it, I'll just review this anyway. Better than having another 'Lingua Lustra - Spaces' situation on my hands. It's not like I Instagram me holding each album anyway.

So here we go with RetroSynther, a project from Hungarian Sándor Máté. He's a couple other projects under his keytar, including Electro Potato, Tony (187), and part of a duo with vocalist Klajkó Lajos as Energy Voice. If any of these names ring a bell for you, then damn, daughter, you've got some serious italo-synth game, because I'm drawing a total blank myself. Mind, if Lord Discogs is to be trusted, Mr. Máté is relatively new to the music scene, only a handful of scattered items released throughout all his various projects. Welcome To Technocity is practically his debut solo album as RetroSynther or anything else. Despite my complete lack of knowledge though, I had to check this album out because, dude, that cover! Makes me want to watch some pulp sci-fi, or play Galaga.

However, Welcome To Technocity isn't a synthwave album. Really, it's about as vintage a space-synth LP as this music gets – the totally retro synths (it's in the name, people!), the vocoders, the peppy hi-NRG rhythms, triumphant italo riffs conquering the cosmos, and all that good stuff. Some of the basslines remind me of where '80s eurodisco ended up once its transition to eurodance of the '90s was complete, but if you've heard space-synth at any point in the past two decades, you aren't going to hear much different with RetroSynther's take on it. This is a genre that prides itself on remaining as aesthetically pure as possible, which is perfectly fine if that's your aim. I sure didn't come into here expecting anything less, this style of music fun for the occasional dip every few months.

In the backhalf of the album, Mr. Máté adds a melancholic downbeat tune in New Hope, plus a short closer that gets close to the realms of synthwave (Awakening). It's not enough for me to recommend Welcome To Technocity to anyone other than those already converted to retro space-synth jams though, whose audience remains ultra-niche.

Space Dimension Controller - Welcome To Mikrosector-50

R & S Records: 2013

While this album technically isn't Jack Hamill's debut as Space Dimension Controller, it sure feels so. His actual debut LP was a digital-only item released four years prior on Acroplane Recordings, Unidentified Flying Oscillator. I don't recall much buzz surrounding it though, most folks instead intrigued by a debut single released that same year, The Love Quadrant. R & S Records especially liked the cut of that record's space-funk jib, so ol' Jack hooked them up with a few lengthy EPs, earning him critical plaudits with Very Important music journals in the process. Naturally an album was expected following that buzz, but Welcome To Mikrosector-50 wasn't like anything folks anticipated. For Mr. Hamill sought nothing less than to take the Space Dimension Controller concept into the realm of a fully-fleshed narrative, concrete plot and all. Oh my, who even does that in techno anymore?

The year is 2357 A.D., helpfully parlayed by the opening chill track 2357 A.D. Jack Hamill moonlights throughout this story as Mr. 8040, introduced in the following track of Mr. 8040's Introduction, a proper throwback electro-funk jam complete with hippity-hop rapping. Then there's a brief ad-skit shilling for the marvellous Mikrosector-50 habitat, followed by the free-wheeling space-funk jam (you're gonna' read 'funk jam' a lot in this review) of To Mikrosector-50, with a little more info dropped by Mr. 8040 regarding who is and what he do. Following that, there's another brief skit, where our hero consults a computer regarding the whereabouts of his lover/wife/beneficial-friend. It's about here that you realize you're not dealing with a regular ol' clutch of tracks, but an unfolding story with music acting more as a soundtrack to Mr. 8040's journey to find the love he lost.

His trip takes him through various sections of the Mikrosector. A chill guitar-funk jam of Your Love Feels Like It's Fading. A rather synthwavey tune of Lonely Flight To Erodu-10. A failed club pick-up in the house-funk jam of Can't Have My Love (with heavenly vocals from 'Kat Kirk'). A seedy excursion into an underground acid-techno [funk] jam of Rising (Detroit called, it wants its retro-future back). A shameless hooker score in Quadraskank Interlude (about as down and funky low as you'd expect). And even a narrative excuse to return to the first SDC tune in Love Quadrant.

Yet it's all for naught, his search proving fruitless. Having exhausted any hopes of finding peace in this future, Mr. 8040 leaves to the bouncy Detroit techno of Back Through Time With A Mission Of Groove. It's a tidy wrap-up to the album's tale, save a cheeky stinger hinting that perhaps there may be more in store for the Space Dimension Controller in all our futures.

If you're the sort who wants new tunes with nothing attached, the various skits throughout Welcome To Mikrosector-50 will likely frustrate. Me though, I'm all about that album narrative score. If anything, I'd love to see this translated into movie format. Or at least a graphic novel a la Perturbator.

Genesis - We Can't Dance

Atlantic: 1991

The first Genesis album I ever got, since I didn't know any better. It didn't help this came out when I was at that very impressionable age of Twelve, with big hits of the day having much more influence on my interests than whatever the 'underground' was kicking. The first mixtape I made had stuff like Roxette, Michael Jackson's latest off Dangerous, and The Northern Pikes (it's a Canadian thing) – really, just whatever caught my eyes from MuchMusic, and happened to be in my old man's collection of CDs. Technically, the goof-ball blues of I Can't Dance falls into this category, as the tongue-in-cheek video (that walk!) had plenty of rotation on the music channel, and Daddy-O' had the album too. I'm not sure why he did though, as he lacked anything else from the band, new or old. I suspect I Can't Dance was such a hit, he needed it for all those mobile DJ gigs at weddings and office parties.

ANY-hootaney, I didn't get We Can't Dance for that particular song, but for a different one that struck quite a nerve when I first heard it: No Son Of Mine. As far as I can recall, hearing Phil Collins belt out that chorus was the first time I'd been mentally shook by lyrics, a cold chill running down the back of my neck as my pre-teen mind processed the implication such words coming from a father could have. What might a young man, boy, or teen do that was so abhorrent as to cause his father to reject him so emphatically? For that matter, could my father ever find some action of mine utterly contemptible as to turn his back on me? Might I even be capable of such action? It's a query that's stuck with me ever since I heard No Son Of Mine so many moons ago, long after such musings should have passed me by.

I know it's poor form spending a huge chunk of a review on an anecdote (or admission, or... whatever that above paragraph is), but let's be frank here: does anyone remember anything else off this album? There's twelve songs on We Can't Dance, but beyond No Son Of Mine (a kick-ass tune even if you don't have emotional scars from it), I Can't Dance, and maybe the peppy Jesus He Knows Me, nothing else had much impact on the airwaves. Oh, the album sold gang-busters, as most Genesis albums did back then, but I highly doubt most folks could hum songs like Tell Me Why or Since I Lost You or Hold On My Heart. The music's all slick, well-crafted, and nicely performed, everyone involved clearly experts in their trade. Yet aside from a couple extended jams in Dreaming While You Sleep and Driving The Last Spike, it all passes by with little vigour. As chided for its pure pop leanings as Invisible Touch gets, at least it had impressive compositions like The Brazilian in there too.

Etnoscope - Way Over Deadline

Ektoplazm: 2010

Back when I figured my post-TranceCritic hiatus wouldn't be so lengthy, I snatched this album from the ever-awesome coffers of Ektoplazm, anticipating it a good album to review upon returning. I'm... a little behind in getting to that, aren't I? You could say I've been... tardy in my timeliness. Why, this review should have been written... much longer before. What I'm getting at is the words you're reading are... really, really late.

I recall Way Over Deadline having some hype in the lead-up, a return of prog-psy's earliest heroes in Etnoscope. Their 2003 album Drums From The Dawn Of Time was hailed as among the early classics of that scene, fusing tribal drum workouts into a groovy time for all the forest ravers getting their flail on. Yet despite the initial positive buzz, Etnoscope receded from the spotlight, doing the occasional live gig and not much else. And it's not like the group's members were busy with other projects, Misters Englebert, Collin, and Alanne having little else to their Discogian credits. But with prog-psy having settled into a 'deep, minimal, plodding triplets' phase by 2010 (thanks, Iboga!), that these guys were coming forth with new material was welcome news indeed.

Still, as I scoured the web for reactions to Way Over Deadline, it seems as though the album came and went with barely a blip. Even review threads at the old guards of psy-trance discourse – psynews.org and Isratrance – had little activity beyond an obligatorily 4,000 word review, followed by a half-dozen 'this is great!' reactions. Kinda' makes me feel all the more negligent in my own failure contributing to the initial hype, as this is the sort of prog-psy that was so very desperately needed at the turn of the decade. Rhythms that are propulsive, live drumming that's funky, basslines that are gnarly-as-fuck, and melodic flourishes that capture the best of morning trance giddiness.

Specifics? Oh, how about the opening cut Odin's Kraft, featuring all the drum work you can handle, coupled with one Hell of an ear-wormy chant. Or Kaijko, which goes more subdued with its drumming and samples, but, mang', that rubbery acid! Sunset gets all operatic on our asses, while Might & Magic rips out one of the most infectious basslines you'll ever hear from the prog-psy camps (really, it's creeping up to full-on territory). Elsewhere, Jävla Sladdar adds a little guitar shredding to the fray, and Freedom opts for a bouncy, world-beat jig, plus a standard dubby closing cut in Floating Feeling. Really, the only two duds are Guitar Session and Medieval, for having a hand at the tropes that made prog-psy more a chore to get through back then (plodding minimalism, triplets, etc.).

Etnoscope music is rare enough as it is, so considering Way Over Deadline is still available at Ektoplazm, there's no excuse for prog-psy fans to ignore this. And who knows, now that's it's been another seven years since their last album, maybe we'll get another LP from them soon. One can hope.

ACE TRACKS: July 2017

Hey look, another month where I broke the 'twenty reviews' mark. That sure don't happen as often anymore, does it. I'm surprised I hit that mark at all, though perhaps I was eager to get at a few of the items in the queue, CDs with plenty o' talking points swirling at the floodgates of my... whatever it is that sends words from my brain to the fingers typing it all out. Is it an ether that does it? Like, some mystical fifth element that makes my words manifest in such a way that they penetrate your eyeholes, imprinting themselves in your memory membranes. No, really, think about that for a moment – it's practically magic that we can do that, man! At least, until we evolve antennae, where bio-chemical communications will render this clumsy electronic method moot.

Actually, another reason for getting more writing done is I've had less distractions this past month, the most significant of which is brushing off the ol' Hot Shots Golf 3 game again. Man, is that ever a time-warp of pop culture interests, what with playable characters such as the Aussie animal ranger, the Chinese martial artist, the mobsters, the John Daly clone, and all those Matrix clones. 2002 was weird. No music from that year in this playlist of ACE TRACKS, though.



MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Waveform Transmissions (Volume One)
Various - Wave Forum
Various - The Wandering II Compilation
Refracted - Through The Spirit Realm
Various - Techno Explosion
Jiri.Ceiver - Head.Phon

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 13%
Percentage Of Rock: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: You cannot deny hearing Mo-Do will turn your head unlike any other tune here.

Moar! reviews means bigger playlists, and Moar! diversity! Well, not a whole lot – ain't no '70s stuff on here. Still, added a couple more '80s albums to the archives, which is always nice because I seriously lack material released that decade. It's those 'greatest hits' packages, see;always gumming up the accuracy of Year Tags.

Various - Waveform Transmissions (Volume One)

Waveform Records: 2007

Considering how successful their initial run of compilations was, it's surprising Waveform Records hasn't returned to that well more often. Even when it appeared they'd struck upon another winner in the Voodoo Roux series, it was kitbashed after but two volumes. A couple one-shots later, and it looked the label was ready to launch a whole new series dubbed (heh) Waveform Transmissions. Hey, that word is in their long-standing tagline of “Another Important Transmission From Waveform”, existing as long as their charming Web 1.0 homepage. Maybe it would tie into their Starstreams radio show too, a yearly retrospective of their never-ending search for “exotic electronica”. We never got much of a chance to find out though, this series lasting only three volumes before it too went by the wayside after 2010. Although, if trends hold true, we could see a fourth volume sometime soon, like we did a Four A.D. seven years after Three A.D. dropped! Yeah, well, maybe not.

As I be telling truths, y'all, I must level that I was initially rather disappointed in this CD, for two totally stupid reasons. One, I was not impressed with the packaging, coming off cartoony and goofy compared to Waveform's usual fare. But judge not what lays within, young scribe, by which adorns yonder face. OK, fine, but problem two arose upon glancing at the tracklist: I already have these tracks, a whole... um, two out of ten. Trouble was Pitch Black[nz] and Phutureprimitive were so thoroughly imprinted on my music membranes that hearing Lost In Translation and Darkness again felt redundant. And it didn't help that the remaining tunes, though decent examples of dubby psychedelic chill, didn't reach the same levels of dopeness as those two cuts.

But hey, as I've said, a good compilation lures you in with a couple recognizable names, all the while exposing new, unfamiliar acts in the process. Waveform Transmissions Volume One definitely does that, although I can't say I'm in hurry to check out further material from Dymons, Flooting Grooves, or Potlatch. Heck, I couldn't even scope out extra music from Warp Factor, on account Lord Discogs lists this as their lone contribution to music ever. As mentioned, it's all perfectly acceptable takes on worldly psy-beat dub-hop, but little that stands out from the pack either.

A few notable names do though. Capsula, who'd get an album deal with Waveform, does the rubbery psy-dub thing that makes him a comfy comparable to Phutureprimitive's Darkness on here, Xerxes' Inhale gets more on that meditation mojo with breathy downbeat in support. The highly prolific Master Margherita gives us a throwback ambient dub outing in O Sole Mio/Sunset, a nice nod to Waveform's roots (heh). And International Observer goes full-on reggae dub on The International, which in of itself isn't remarkable, except that it's a side-project of Tom Bailey. You might know him as a member of new wavers Thompson Twins. Wow, going from that to reggae dub in the span of twenty-five years. Wonders never cease.

Various - Wave Forum

Wave Recordings: 1996

Pretty clear why I got this. Still, obviously I knew this couldn't be a CD from Waveform Records – if anything the big 'Virgin Import' sticker was enough of a clue. Yet while word association's a powerful thing, even that pales compared to packaging, the CD coming in one of the the strangest jewel cases I've ever seen. A shade of... navy blue? Duke blue? Ultramarine? Zaffre? One of those, according to Wiki's 'shades of blue' chart. Add to that an inner casing coloured a hot neon yellow, and there's no way you're missing that packaging popping out at you on the shelves.

Apparently Wave Recordings went to bat for their vinyl releases too, each record painted in marble-blue. Top that off with half-page magazine ads in Very Important UK dance magazines, and you've one aggressive marketing campaign, one that must have miserably failed, as very few Discogian folk have any Wave Recordings' releases in their collections; Wave Forum has less than a half-dozen owners, yours truly included. Top that all off with a mere four items listed in their catalogue, and I wonder if all that fancy marketing somehow bankrupted the label, folding almost as soon as they launched.

The truly tragic thing about all this is the music Wave Recordings peddled, skint though it was, wasn't half bad. Make no mistake, throwing one's fortunes into a bloated trip-hop scene was practically doomed from the start, especially when leading with such no name acts like Cherry Orchard and Wintermute (they're from Bristol too!). Damn though, if Cherry Orchard's No More Nightmares doesn't get to me, what with Deborah Kimberley's 'broken-waif' vocals of feeling lost in her “slumberland” over a steady languid rhythm with slowly escalating acid. Wait, 303 tweakage in a trip-hop song? Sure, I'll go with that, and Wintermute's Black Box gets in on that action too, though it's clear they're aping Tricky in their heroin-paranoia poetry.

It's not all complete unknowns on Wave Forum, though we're definitely in ultra-obscure territory here. Kapta had a micro-hit italo-house single in Shine On, given a trip-hop rub on here. Rama 1, an alias of Caroline Abbey, also had a house non-hit on Cleveland City Records (based in Wolverhampton, West Midlands) called C'est La Vie, given a world-beat reworking here. Cannot deny those sweeping strings and emphatic gospel chorus at the end do rouse the cheese-ball joy out of my cockles, as only Rollo often does. There's a little loose trance on here too, Gravity Wheel another of the very few acts to get the marble-vinyl treatment with Wave Recordings. Tears In The Rain and Mistral are chipper, acidy little numbers, the latter even appearing on one of Rumour Records' Goa Trance collections after the duo signed to Distance. Not long for Wave Recordings, they were.

Wave Forum won't convince you this label was some unjustly ignored print, but it is worth a listen should you stumble upon it. Considering the open-market price for this CD, it can't be that rare.

Various - Water

Altar Records: 2009

Hey, remember Altar Records' Elements series? I reviewed nearly every single one of them (including the 'hidden' sixth element) only, what, two or three years ago now? Eh, I could simply check my archives to verify? Oh, man, that was over five-hundred reviews ago – who has time to sift through that much backlog! Though I'm almost certain, should I skim them over, I'd find a hi-lar-ious claim that y'all wouldn't have to wait too long for Water's review, maybe even a ridiculously optimistic prediction of later that year.

Another thing I should probably do is go back to the other Elements CDs (Air, Earth, Fire & Ether) for a quick refresher in this series' development, but why bother? I have to admit, when I first got the collection, Water didn't stick with me on my initial run of each volume. Not because it lacked dope tunes or anything, but because I knew the other four (plus one!) would require my immediate focus for review, thus letting this one slip by the wayside. Now, with it finally up to the mic' with its chance to shine, Water gets all the solo glory it deserves, none of its elemental siblings crowding it out of the spotlight. At least, I'm assuming that's how I've approached this, because I honestly don't recall Water being this good when I got it way back when. Did I even listen to it before?

Like, the first track is Marianna Falls from Asura, with Charles Farewell executing at his Asuraian best. The languid pace, the spacious sounds, the sense of uplifting cinematic grace... holy cow, how did this song not make the cut on his 360 album the year after? And speaking of Ultimae alum', Aes Dana is here too with Cyan, doing that steady-paced prog-psy thing he often does so well. Androcell also shows up for a rather Balearic bit of psy-dub in Seahorse Dreams, which makes sense given the marine theme of this compilation. Man With No Name's oldie Sugar Rush is also given a lush reworking from a Kanc Cover, more known as Opsy around the time this came out.

But hey, enough about the outside talent, what of the Altar roster, how do they stack up? Pretty good for the most part. Chronos does a widescreen psy-chill thing in Planetarium, AstroPilot ups the pace to prog-psy's chugging domain in Voda, DJ Zen offers up a lengthy goa-breaks-psy-world-chill-trance remix on Zymosis' God Is Mine (it's so long, he kinda' throws everything into the pot), and RA brings Water to a close with a pleasant enough psy-chill cut in Creation Of Tefnet.

If there's any complaint to be had with Water, it's that the elemental theme is only loosely followed upon throughout. Perhaps this collection of tunes have a more 'flowing' feel about them compared to the other Elements, but that's about it. Really, Water is just another solid CD of music from Altar's formative years, which ain't no bad thing at all.

Mo-Do - Was Ist Das?

ZYX Music: 1995

It's remarkable that I should know of Mo-Do at all. Not in any post-eurodance, “haha, irony” sense, but when the act was fresh and new, their single Eins, Zwei, Polizei invading European clubs and compilations to such a degree, it breached Canadian shores too. Certainly many eurodance acts made it here, but they always had one thing going for them making it possible: their music was in English. Much like italo disco before it, the native language of the British Isles was somehow decided upon as the de facto tongue of dance club commercial success in Europe, helping it find a foothold across the Atlantic too. Songs sung in Spanish or Swedish or Swissish likely found success in their homelands, but no way they were gonna' make any bank in Canada, nosiree.

Then along comes an Italian pairing of Fabio Frittelli and Claudio Zennaro, the latter of which eking out a tidy career making house and trance as Einstein Doctor DJ. That Fabio fella' though, he had a good look to him, his Austrian heritage lending itself as a natural front-man for modelling or movies or music. He'd even dipped his toes in a couple rock bands, but found dance music more his calling. Hooking up with one Sergio Portaluri led to a couple singles as F&F, though these didn't attract much attention, pretty much standard English-singing eurodance of the day. Sergio co-produced some music with Claudio though, and when Mr. Zennaro was introduced to Mr. Frittelli, they felt enough musical chemistry to try again, only with a different angle: go full Germanic on clubland. Claudio was already making trance with a German bent, and Fabio felt Teutonic speech suited his voice better than English (or, heaven forbid, ragga!).

The result was Eins, Zwei, Polizei, a tune that celebrated the succinct punch of the German language, wrapped up in an earwormy minor-key melody straight out of the German trance book. Despite the absolute glut of eurodance in 1994, it was enough of a unique angle that it propelled Mo-Do to the top of the charts across Europe. Other German producers had hits, but none so wonderfully captured the Teutonic charms of their dance music. And all it took was a couple Italians to get there. Hey, an Italy and Germany allaiance found a way to conquer Europe after all!

The following album, Was Ist Das?, is about as you'd expect from eurodance of the time. A couple follow-up singles recycle the same formula that made the first such a success (Gema Tanzen, Super Gut), Hallo, Mo-Do does that Stadium House thing Scooter would make bank off, and Liebes Tango offers up a tune with a little English in it. There's also the requisite ballad (Fur Dich, My Love), plus a couple attempts at 'artsy' music (Hamlet, Das Konzert). They're fine in spicing the album up, but yeah, you're here for those tasty minor-key melodies and catchy German phrases, even if you're mangling them into 'engrish' as you sing along. Mmm, 'salty cakes'...

Ice Cube - War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc)

Priority Records: 1998

I feel the second volume of Ice Cube's War & Peace duo-album concept was better received than the first, as everyone finally accepted where Mr. Jackson was in his life. Sure, it'd be dope as all Hell if he came out with some fiery social commentary about The State Of The 'Hood, but after so much financial success, was he really the man for the task anymore? By the turn of the century, a lot of elder statesmen of rap were getting well paid, and couldn't realistically keep talking about 'ghetto shit' as a lived experience. Offer insight and commentary, sure, and perhaps provide helpful guidance to the young bucks coming up (but don't y'all think you can dethrone the G.O.A.T.s without a fight, no sir). If you wanted the serious conscious stuff though, there were other acts providing it, and Cube was more interested in maintaining a brand for himself than dropping heavy with the lyrical political.

Thus when he let it be known that The Peace Disc was going to be of a much lighter fare than anything he'd done in the past, folks were at least ready for it. Willing, that's another matter, many old Cube fans all but disowning the product sight-unheard, especially after the dismal reactions to The War Disc. On the other hand, It Was Good Day remained one of Cube's longest, endearing tunes, and he'd shown a somewhat friendlier side in his Friday movies. If anything, the aggro-gangsta posturing of The War Disc came off more disingenuous compared to club-ready singles like We Be Clubbin' and You Can Do It. Considering I heard the latter in even back-water 'clubs' of B.C. hinterland haunts, I'd say he succeeded in providing something fun.

And the bump-n-grind don't stop there, tracks like Can You Bounce? featuring a gnarly bassline, Gotta Be Insanity featuring the vintage P-funk, Waitin' Ta Hate featuring the vintage trunk-thump, and You Ain't Gotta Lie featuring Chris Rock dropping a bunch of hilarious brags. Elsewhere, Cube reunites with Dr. Dre and MC Ren for a little N.W.A. gangsta reflection, while hinting at a possible reunion (which they did do, but with Snoop Dogg filling in for the deceased Eazy-E). He also drops some knowledge on shady label businesses (Record Company Pimpin'), and offers an uplifting outlook for the youth with Krayzie Bone in Until We Rich. Plus a bunch of the usual gangsta crowing and hater grips scattered throughout, but who cares about those.

Frankly, beyond just being completely honest in its intents, what makes The Peace Disc better than The War Disc is the production. Vol. 1 somehow felt cheap and plastic as a lot of late '90s hip-hop does, but in Vol. 2, the beats bounce harder, the hooks land sharper, and the funk flows freer. Even the guest spots are of higher calibre (because who really gave a shit about Mr. Short Khop?). As a trifle hour of escapism then, War & Peace Vol. 2 succeeds, but that's all.