Masterboy - Different Dreams

Polytel: 1994

Can't have a credible eurodance collection without at least one Masterboy album in it. And if there's any worth having, it's definitely this one. It's got their most recognizable hits, it came out during that scene's best year, the original line-up with Trixi Delgado is still intact, and... um... it's got the most comments on Lord Discogs? Heh, that's funny, in that the follow-up album, Generation Of Love, has none. Even their generic house debut, The Masterboy Family, has at least one review.

Let me backtrack. Was Masterboy that big a deal back in the day? For sure I remember seeing that iconic logo – how could you not miss such a vicious grin among all the Dance Mix collections? Yet what were their big singles? Everybody Needs Somebody, I Got To Give It Up and Generation Of Love seem like the obvious contenders, but they were just marginally successful on most charts, only once cracking the Top 10 in their native Germany (with Feel The Heat Of The Night).

Eurodance was massively spoiled for options when Masterboy was active, and some acts had to fall by the wayside when talk of the most noteworthy names carried on. I feel like the group Tommy Schleh and Enrico Zabler built turned into one such act, as the utter lack of Shuffle Dance videos featuring their tunes attests to. But hey, it's three decades later (!!), surely enough time to dust off some of their music to see if its gained overlooked gem status.

And the titular second track (first's an intro) bodes well: strong punchy riffs in that vintage buzzy, sawwave synth style, propulsive rhythms that get you hyped doing aerobic exercises, Trixi belting out an earwormy chorus and... Tommy just adequately doing the rap. Whoof, I know eurodance was never known for its brilliant lyrical wordplay, but even this stuff is some of the most basic material you'll ever hear. Gander: “If you wanna be in the galaxy; If you wanna take a trip inside a starship; If you wanna be President; If you wanna be from heaven sent; If you wanna be the guide of all; If you wanna be ten feet tall;” Okay, yeah, believe in your dreams and all that, but Mr. Schleh delivers such lines with all the enthusiasm of reading copy for a life insurance commercial, like he's afraid of tripping over every syllable.

It's far from a deal breaker, mind you, as all the other elements in play are peak-era eurodance, production as solid as anything you'll hear from '94. Those choruses from Trixi in Is This The Love and Do You Wanna Dance are just to die for, in that they'll get your heart rate soaring! I get the need for rap verses – it's was the successful formula everyone had to copy. When they don't even have a ragga gimmick going for them though, it's little surprise Masterboy isn't remembered quite so readily as other acts of the day.

Spiritual Fields - Dharma

Liquid Frog Records: 2021

And finally we come the last of Mr. Giacovino's aliases, Spiritual Fields. Not as robust as Natural Life Essence or as thematically specific as Yahgan or H:U:M, though I'm sure one can easily glean what musical lane this one likes to travel. I'm kinda' surprised we've already gotten to it this far along in this exorbitant coverage of Juan Pablo's entire music catalogue (up to a certain point), somehow thinking it'd be even further down the road. Then again, I think I've gotten through something like thirty percent of his music now, so time seems about right I'd stumble upon Spiritual Fields.

Funny thing is, if I really wanted to, I could skip most of the EPs of this alias, many tracks appearing on the self-titled album released after. That would, of course, slot any significant coverage of Spiritual Fields way down the queue. I don't think it's that necessary to do so – it's not like there's a tonne of Spiritual Fields releases out there anyway. In terms of reviews, it'd really only save me a couple. Yes, I know between this and Suntrip Records CDs, it feels like a never-ending barrage of the same ol' over and over. I'm sure it felt like that with Lucette Bourdin as well. Or those Neil Young box-sets. Or the In Trance We Trust series. Or the Fabric series. Hmm, speaking of, it is spring again, when my fancy thoughts of Fabric start anew...

Anyhow, Dharma. This was the last of the Spiritual Fields EPs before Juan Pablo consolidated a bunch of them onto an LP (released a mere two months afterwards), three out the four tracks making the cut. And I'm not surprised the one that didn't, um, didn't, as it's strictly an ambient affair whereas the other three maintain a groovy, reggae dub rhythm. Yeah, if there's anything I'd say defines Spiritual Fields among all of Mr. Giacovino's works, its the prominent leap into psy dub's territory. That honestly caught me a little off guard, in that I thought this was gonna' be more world beat leaning, and for sure it has those elements too. Just not so prominent as low end vibes these tracks offer.

As is so often the case, I can't help but think of what each particular track reminds me of rather than how it sounds on its own merits. There's elements of the ambient mix of Dharma that have me thinking of the lengthy, tranquil ambient jams of vintage Fax+ material. Happy Monks [ Rising Sun Again Mix ] gets me vibing to some dubby house via The Orb's jams with Youth. And there's just something about Hard Road [ Hard Journey ] that has me thinking more in line with a Loop Guru jam – maybe it's the flute? Really the only track that feels like a typical N:L:E tune is the main one, though obviously with some gentle chants and dubby rhythms differentiating it from actual N:L:E material. Not by much though.

ACE TRACKS: February - March 2024

Been a while since I last wrote one of these, eh? Yeah, I feel the two-month Ace Tracks playlist is almost necessary now, just to plug in more variety of music than all the psy trance that clogs these. Which means a bunch of updates to the blog that I must rattle off now!

Um, okay, there really isn't much, though I have noticed a bunch of older Ace Tracks playlists still linked to Spotify are dying off. Makes sense, since I haven't used that streaming service for two years now, and likely never will again. It's easy enough updating all those posts with the Deezer version now, as all that did transfer over. Gads, that's a lot of tedious work to spend an afternoon on. Maybe I'll just do it whenever I get around to the 'old review' Mastodon link, which will happen later this year. Yeah, that'll suffice.

Nothing else coming to mind (which is weird, because I could have sworn February was quite an active month for some reason), so here's the ACE TRACKS for the past sixty-two days:


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
H:U:M - Dark Matter
N:L:E & Kiphi - Crystal Vision
ReKaB - Counting The Days
Various - Decima Circuits_Cottage Industries 10
Various - Cottage Industries 11
Various - Cottage Industries (A Neo Ouija Compilation)
Various - Clockwork Manor (Cottage Industries 9)

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 6% or 12%, depending if you want to include The 13th Sign in there
Percentage Of Rock: 0% (unless you want to count New Order, then 24%)
Most “WTF?” Track: none, unless you just can't understand how Cypress Hill could kill a man

So little surprise none of the Cottage Industries are on streaming – Lee Norris remains quite resolute in that – but what's funny is not all volumes are. I spotted a couple of the compilations on Deezer, oddly the middle ones. Why none of the older or newer, I haven't a clue. Regardless, it's a shame none of the ones I covered are, as the various electro and IDM tunes would have nicely broken up all the psy trance.

It actually isn't that bad though, with variety of hip-hop, techno, tech-house, and such sprinkled about for the first 7/8ths worth. But yeah, that final stretch of just psy and New Order does get redundant.

Krystian Shek - Despite Our Silence

Carpe Sonum Records: 2021

Krystian's a frequent Carpe Sonum contributor, indeed among their earliest sign-ons. Probably didn't hurt he's also Fax+ alumni, debuting on Pete Namlook's print over two decades ago. Yet it's taken me this long to finally bite the bullet on one of his albums. Why? I mean, both Sometimes Not and Al-Qāhirah are blue covered releases, so surely Mr. Shek is a shoo-in for my interests. Well, I did sample some, and turns out Krystian fancies himself the minimalist dub techno style a fair amount. Hey, I fancy myself that as well, on occasion, but I tend to get my fill elsewhere, from names like Lars Leonhard and labels like Ultimae Records.

Still, I was likely doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least give ol' Krystian at least one chance, so nabbed this particular album of Despite Our Silence. Why? Cover art reminded me of some Silent Season vibes, and with that label now seemingly on permanent hiatus, gotta' get my naturalist dub techno tunes somewhere.

And the titular opening track bodes... slightly promising? I'm mostly reminded of Norman Feller's Frameless Structure, what with its deep dub atmospherics, minimalist sinewy synths, and distant field recordings. Whereas Norman wasn't afraid to lay some emotional tones on thick, however, Krystian keeps things about as restrained as humanly possible – I kept waiting for things to kick up another notch, but it simply doesn't, content remaining at the same tone for its seven minute duration. Well, this is the opening track, the mood setter, from where things can build upon. Right?

Typically, yes, but instead Mr. Shek goes ever more minimal for much of the remaining album. Sparse dub throbs, rhythms that barely tick and tock (if there's even any percussion), and exactly one (1) unique feature per track that comes and goes with little fanfare. Some acid in From the Depths Of The Hearts. Spritely synths in A Spot Of Dust that'll get your John Carpenter triggers flaring. Echoing synth leads that hint at something grander way, way beyond in Occupied By Night. Some gentle piano diddling in Morning Fog. An aggressive bit of post-dubstep rhythm that's over before it begins in Forbidden Forests. Only final track The Bells Of Kiribati offers something truly different, all layered bell tones, field recordings and sample manipulations. Oh, and a CD secret song after, something comparatively uptempo and, dare I say, hooky for dub techno. Holy cow, did this album ever need more of that!

But then I suspect Despite Our Silence is not that sort of album. Fair enough, but at just forty-five minutes long (sans secret song), it doesn't offer much either. There's some dub tones, there's sporadic melodic tasters sprinkled about, and not a whole lot else. Even if I'm down for the spacious emptiness of it all, without that exquisite Ultimae Mixdown™ Aes Dana provides for similar sounding albums on his label's releases, I simply don't get as lost within. An unfortunate case of 'it's okay, but I've heard better'-itis.

Various - Decima Circuits_Cottage Industries 10

Neo Ouija: 2020

If y'all are wondering why I ended up with a whole bunch of Cottage Industries, it's because of this volume right here. How could I resist nabbing something with such an awesome display of minimalist architecture and all the shades of blue? And hey, it's something from Neo Ouija, the Lee Norris label I'd heard so much about but never really dove into before. What's this? A bunch of Cottage Industries collections have CDs available? Sure, I may as well splurge! Shame I only ended up with, like, two of them. That's my fault though, not keeping track of all the orders I make. Not so egregious, mind you, as this one arriving with yellow on the cover, diluting Decima Circuits' blue purity as advertised! Makes me wanna'... ooh, argh! *impotently shakes fist*

Cottage Industries 10 not only has the best bit of cover art of the series, but may also have the best collection of tracks too. Right, I can't make that a definitive statement since I've only gathered half of them, but for what I prefer hearing out of these compilations, it hits the mark more often than not.

For one thing, it's only two CDs long, which is about the right length for music as deliberately leftfield as this stuff goes. Sorry, but three discs is just too damn much, Clockwork Manor turning into almost a chore to get through (so no, I won't be getting Cottage Industries 12). And a single CD never seems quite enough, barely an appetizer in showcasing all the esoteric artists willing to contribute. Finally, as this is one of the later additions, we're firmly in the era where electro and ambient techno tend to be more of a focus than stylized IDM experiments. There's still a few scattered, but give me the simple future funk of Zainetica's Soyokaze Park or sweet acid jams of Xylic's Basfoldintis 7 over the off-kilter broken-beats of illocanblo's Alma or twee electro-pop of Germain Fraisse's Everything Is Green any day.

Actually, I thought we were in for a real retro love-in after the first few tracks. Night Haze's Abandoning Safety is some vintage Jean-Michel Jarre vibes, while Milieu's Pan Of Green Fables will get your classic Aphex Twin flares firing. And it feels retro including an Ambidextrous cut, a staple contributor to Cottage Industries since the second volume. Soon enough though, its clear we're in latter era Neo Oujia, where the electro and techno vibes Lee and Árni have been cultivating on Móatún 7 amd Intellitronic Bubble start dominating. A few outliers like the urban slowbeat of Keiss' Behind The Glass and spaced-out acid d'n'b of Daveeth's Lélegur and Ruxpin's Ruffneck keep things fresh for a playthrough. And naturally, an ambient closer from Nike Vomita's Nymphaea Alba, though I was more surprised by the previous blissy chill-out track Anna Maggý from Futuregrapher, including a self-help spiritual speech. Huh, and here I thought Árni mostly peddled in rough electro. Maybe I ought to check out some of his works proper-like.

Filteria - Daze Of Our Lives

Suntrip Records: 2009

Khetzal's Cororlle may have been That One Album That Put The Label On The Map, but Filteria was the chap that gave Suntrip Records their early momentum. Indeed, three of their first thirteen releases, including compilations, were albums of his. Ask any fan of this whole neo-goa movement what are essential releases of this scene, and chances are high you'll see his debut album Sky Input within that list. Maybe this one too, but there seems to be some split of opinion on whether Daze Of Our Lives or Heliopolis is the worthy follow-up. Guess I'll find it in due time, since the entire Filteria discography was part of the Suntrip bundle.

Actually, I wonder if Daze is considered the black sheep of the lot. For one thing, it's got cover-art unlike anything else in the Suntrip catalogue. As is abundantly clear, the label loves its vintage psy aesthetics: fractals, kaleidoscopes, mysticism, far East iconography, fantastical sci-fi, and the whole lot. This one though has none of that. The landscape is realistic (if outwordly), the little space explorer looks like a practical model, and it all has that retro-future twee look I always associated with labels like Simon Posford's Twisted Records. This being early in Suntrip's lifespan, I guess they were still in a feeling-out process of where they could take their regular cover art (the mermaid-sporting Born Underwater from Merr0w, as an example, was the label's previous release). Interesting that Daze Of Our Lives is Suntrip's lone example of this particular kind, so I assume it wasn't a look they felt fit their mould.

Anyhow, for a producer so often hailed as one of goa trance's resurgent heroes, I'm surprised this album seems to lean more into psy's domain. Yeah, yeah, splitting hairs and all, but when folks think of goa, it's the more melodic side of the scene's music, whereas psy goes trippier and thicker on the acid benders. There's definitely melodic leads in the seven tracks presented here (plus a slower, prog-psy closer), but aside from a few prominent climaxes, aren't the driving force - holy Hell, does Earthrise ever have a blinder of one though! Mostly, everything's all about that forward thrust, with fluid basslines and rhythm's that have a real bounce to them. Even tracks where things are scaled back a little, like the overlong In The Heaven's Eye, still an undeniable spring in its step. Expert music for outdoor flailing, is what I'm sayin'.

Not being as ultra-melodic as his previous albums left a few folks a little turned-off, but that was in the past. Does it hold up fifteen years on? Solid enough, I'd say, in that this was more the direction neo-goa would go compared to the obvious homages early Suntrip offered. Whether Daze Of Our Lives truly is a black cheep of Mr. Tzikas' body of work, however, I can't say until listening to the rest. Ironically, due to alphabetical stipulation, his first will be my last. Maybe it'll be for the best?

Canopy Of Stars - Darkness And Light

Databloem: 2022

I do wonder what Databloem's legacy is at this point. What felt sort of like a proving ground for up and coming ambient, glitch, and chill techno producers has been supplanted by many more upstarts in the decades since the label's birth (a hefty chunk managed by Lee Norris, no less). You didn't need an album on Databloem to get prominent recognition in the scene at large, but it sure was a nifty feather in the cap for many producers. Yet though their output hasn't waned by any stretch, I sense there hasn't been as much of a rush to push product out since they finally surpassed one-hundred releases (only took twenty years). They've basically proven whatever it was that Dennis Knopper set out to prove (giving Anthony Kerby a place to shine when nowhere else would? Original manifesto seems fuzzy now), so every year is another victory lap.

That don't mean some ambient folks wouldn't like having their music on the label though. Indeed for some, it may still serve as something of a big break. While by no means an utter unknown, Christian Wheeldon mostly settled on self-releasing his Canopy Of Stars material for much of the alias' early career. He did get a tune or two on some reputable compilations from Touched and ...txt, and even provided a remix for an Autumn Of Communion track. Dream Sequence was his first album out on a label not of his own making though, Databloem giving him the green light to do so (including a green coloured cover!). This here Darkness And Light is his follow-up for the label.

There's no denying we're in for a space ambient excursion with this album, but what if I told you it was some real retro space ambient? Like, '80s era space ambient? Heck, maybe even '70s style, though Mr. Wheeldon's synths are far more refined than what you'd hear out of ol' school Vangelis. Nay, I hear more of that Hearts Of Space stylee in his work, bright and shimmery as the best of Kevin Braheny could provide. And opulent, oh my God is this stuff ever overflowing with the kosmiche grande. Some tracks, like the titular cut (and longest at a dozen minutes), are almost mini-albums in themselves, going through multiple movements as though a megamix of various themes from a planetarium show.

All well and nifty for genre connoisseurs, but what pushes this album just a little extra for me are the sporadic Orbital nods. Okay, I'm probably the only one hearing little Hartnoll Brothers riffs in tracks like Mist On The Water and Shinjuku Sunset. Wouldn't surprise me if Christian had more influence from ELO than Orbital in those cases (you can sure hear it in On My Way). Either way, it gives Darkness And Light enough pizzazz keeping it from being a strict exercise in '80s space synth. And quite an exceptional body of music compared to the more minimalist stuff I recently purchased from Databloem.

Dronny Darko & Ugasanie - Dark Source Of The North

Cryo Chamber: 2022

While I've kept tabs on Pavel Malyshkin's various going-ons, I can't say the same for Dronny Darko. Indeed, after my initial honeymoon with all things dark ambient waned (a dark honeymoon!), I let his catalogue slip from my interests. Part of that was the fact he basically fell back on collaborative works, sometimes with other Cryo Chamber regulars like ProtoU (of course) and Alphaxone, other times with new-comers to the Cryo family (Ajna, Radioactive Immersion, G M Slater). Felt a bit of a challenge keeping tabs if I wasn't already familiar with whoever he was working with, especially for an artist I came to realize I could only really take in smaller portions.

Yeah, that's the other reason: Oleh's brand of drone was a bit on the... crushing side of things. I gotta' be prepared to be put into a particular mood after coming away from one of his outings, one I'm not always so keen on being in. Ultimately, dark ambient's all about putting you into something of a negative space - sometimes I just want to feel the equivalent of being inside an isolation chamber, of which Ugasanie is extremely good at (a cold, frigid, remote isolation chamber, if you will). Dronny tends to paint specific pictures within such negative spaces, which can be fascinating to experience within your psyche, but rather disconcerting if you're not in the right frame of mind for it.

So you can see how the two would find sonic simpatico in their scenarios: one creates the space, the other provides the details. In this case, discovering something unreal in the frozen wastes of our Arctic. At least, I assume it's our Arctic. Maybe it's another planet's Arctic? They already did one album covering similar ground, Arctic Gates, but I assume this is simply another exploration of said territory. Still, would be neat if they ended up crafting some long-form narrative out of all their works. Maybe get a Cryo Chamber fanfic writer on it!

Actually, Dark Source Of The North reminds me mostly of an earlier Ugasanie album I've covered, Eye Of Tunguska. Not so clear-cut a storyline as that cinematic drone piece crafted, but more in how things play out. The early Search Of An Object, some sort of Anomaly in an inhospitable domain, coming within its terrifying awesome yet graceful Presence. Establishing some sort of Contact in doing so (ooh, here's were Dronny's effects really come into play), realizing in doing so has horrifying Consequences. You then Transition into... what, exactly? Another being? Into another realm of existence? A sort of permafrost state of mind? It's not clear – cinematic dark drone loves its ambiguity – but whatever it is, it can be found On The Other Side Of The Arctic Gates.

Ooh, seems crystalline, at first. Then... kinda' Altered Dimensions, come to think of it. Well, Dronny's next Cryo album was with Alphaxone, Beyond The Event Horizon. I'd like to believe there's some connective creative tissue there.

H:U:M - Dark Matter

Liquid Frog Records: 2021

Back in the summer of '21, Juan Pablo Giacovino released a pair of H:U:M releases simply titled Dark Matter. Only, he didn't title each one distinctly from the other (like Dark Matter II, or such as), creating a glitch in my music library sorting. Thus both Dark Matters ended up in the same 'album' folder, despite being separate sessions.

Or maybe they were all the same session, and Mr. Giacovino sold them separately? Even though each track is numerically titled, it's clear they all flow into each other. Yes, there's a fade between them, but that's more a consequence of the annoying streaming service handicap that doesn't allow for smooth, uninterrupted playthroughs between digital files. You either offer up a single, long track, or do light fades between so they don't abruptly start or end.

And I get that this is a bit of a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. Not everyone wants to hear a thirty-to-sixty minute session of music in one go, sometimes content skipping to preferred sections. It's the sort of feature even Pete Namlook realized was a nice point of convenience for the listener, many of his older, hour-long ambient jams broken up for easy CD indexing. That simply isn't doable with digital files though, always that micro-second gap lurking between tracks. Hence, all the fades. (note to producers: it's very annoying when that digital file fade makes its way to a CD copy, just sayin').

So I assume it went with Juan Pablo's Dark Matter session. He ended up crafting an hour-plus long piece, but figured folks wouldn't be interested in a whole outing, so split things up into ten-to-eleven minute chunks. Why split them into two separate releases though? Or maybe there was just the first one, and he carried on with another shortly after? I mean, the fade between Dark Matter 3 and Dark Matter 4 isn't so noticeable – indeed, doze and you'll miss it. And the music of Dark Matter 4, 5, and 6 is distinct enough from 1, 2, and 3 such that they could be considered two separate half-hour tracks. Why am I micro-analyzing such things anyway? I dunno', just find it interesting how artists present their art, especially in the fickle environment that is streaming services.

Anyhow, Dark Matter 1-3 is the most ambient of the lot, mostly spacious pads gently floating along for all your stargazing needs. The whispiest of effects gradually emerge in 2, while twinkling synths finally add a little rhythmic momentum in 3. If you are listening to all six parts in one shot, you'll definitely hear a tonal shift in 4, with slightly busier elements coming and going throughout 5 and 6. Oh, and be prepared for a vocal sample that will rudely knock you out of whatever state of bliss you're feeling, so abrupt and piercing compared to the general tranquility as it is. Also doesn't help it always seems to appear when you're least expecting it.

The 13th Sign - Da Story Never Ends

On Delancey Street: 1996

You want music rabbit holes, you got 'em!

The 13th Sign is a name I recognized via exactly One (1) compilation, the acid-jazzy, trip-hoppy CD from Waveform Records titled Frosty. You might remember it for its distinct cover shot of an ice-encrusted buffalo. Chill-out music indeed. The track included of theirs, Take Me To A Distant Bass, definitely fit the bill of an acid-hop, trip-jazzy excursion, one of those vintage 'nothing's off the table' '90s tunes of sampledelic dub vibes. I quite liked it, but not enough to dig much further into the artist, assuming it just some one-off project by an unknown individual. Well, I was half-right.

The 13th Sign definitely was a one-off, but Chris Bangs is far from an unknown. Or at least, to those well-versed in the UK acid jazz scene. I'm not, only having a passing familiarity with the label Eddie Piller and Gilles Peterson built (and all that followed from it), but as I said, it's a super-massive rabbit hole one can get lost down for quite some time. Shit's over thirty-five years old now!

Anyhow, Chris Bangs was a major contributor for them, releasing multiple albums and singles under multiple aliases and group projects. Names like The Quiet Boys, Break 4 Jazz, Original Soulboy, Extasis, Mr. Electric Triangle (hey, another Frosty track!), Boogie Boy, Galaxy 21, Two Dam Hot, and Yada Yada. When acid jazz' popularity started waning after the turn of the century, he tried getting into the garage and deep house scene (including starting a label called Dadhouse (!)), but that seemed to fizzle out, and he seemingly retired from production after. Oh, and in the middle of all that, he released a trip-hop, illbient-leaning record under the guise of The 13th Sign, as was the style at the time.

This is another one of those albums that deservedly flew under the radar, as trip-hop was getting quite overdone by '96, but ain't half-bad in its own right. Mr. Bangs was far from a slouch in the producer's chair, knowing exactly what sort of samples worked best with what sort of beats and solos, slickly produced with little fuss. Very meat 'n' potatoes stuff, is what I'm saying, that sounds solid as it plays, leaves a nice little impression upon your afternoon, but doesn't really spark much discussion about after. Perfect compilation fodder, is what I'm sayin', and so did Thievery Corporation for their DJ-Kicks CD.

Chris does mix things up though, offering some welcome spice to all the the street-level grooves. Come Off This Trip gets on some freestyle action, Someday gets brisk in its beatcraft hovering near jazzy d'n'b (with acid!), and Back In The Day raids funk's fathers for the b-boy throwdown. Elsewhere, Anthea Clarke gives us the soul singin' in Pressures, while Travis Blaque gives us the conscious rap in 90 Infinity (hmm, I wonder where he got that from?). Again, all solid stuff, but I'm not surprised few know of The 13th Sign's existence.