Various Artists
EXPERIMENTA
A13 Productions
AA 001 CD
1995
Tracks:
Drax Two-'middle earth'
Connective Zone-'amecia'
Terrace-'intervalid'
Tura-'letter'
Stasis-'clank'
Kape Ill Musier-'gaspar'
Plasma-'formation'
Dave Angel-'artech'
Mono Junk-'another acid'
Tura-'soft key'
Kinesthesia-'speng II'
Edge Of Motion-'memories of the future'
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At last, I finally have the most important IDM compilation of '95. Well
worth the wait. Quite a good quality selection of some A13 artists, as
well as some tracks previously released.
'middle earth' opens it up with some nice trancey moments, and quite
uplifting. Most of you may have heard this one on MODULATION &
TRANSFORMATION. 'amecia' sounds more like the trance from Steffan
Robbers FLORENCE project on N.E., and trods along quite nicely. I really
loved the intro! 'intervalid', 'letter', 'artech', and 'formation' were
on the Experimenta EP released at the same time, and my pick of the 4 was
'intervalid', with its military marching style percussion & dark sounds.
'letter' was another favorite, and right up the Black Dog/Plaid alley of
quirkiness and "bustling" percussiveness.
'clank' is a (you guessed it) clanking, percussive workout that reminds
me of J.Burger's 'icing on the cake' track on MODULATION &
TRANSFORMATION. Quite a fast number from the usually melodic Steve
Picton. 'gaspar' and 'another acid' are two shining examples of how to
intelligently use the 303 to great effect. Where 'gaspar' sounds more
like the calmer, acidic side of REPEAT, 'another acid' is phreaky, and
scarily futuristic. 'gaspar' makes more use of the pure squelchy sound,
as opposed to the 303 bassline used ever so gently in 'another acid'.
Two absolute stunners.
'soft key' sees the Black Dog/Plaid(?) collective make use of some
strange percussion moments, and 'speng II' is 100% pure "robodisco" for
the 22nd century. I think I love this track more than any of the others
because of its "disco-like" sounds. Definitely one for the head AND the
feet. And, i'm sure we all know about the slow-plodding 'memories of the
future', which came out about time when TRIP HOP was popularised. A 13
minute journey that still shouldn't be missed...
10/10
Derek Jordan