Various - "Touch Sampler" (Touch T_ZERO_1)
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H3OH - "Mind Loss"
Philip Jeck - "PS One"
Soliman Gamil - "Valley of Kings and Queens"
Sandoz - "Orgasmatron"
Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson - "Sudurgata"
The Hafler Trio - "I Remain......"
Chris Watson - "Mara River at Night"
Daren Seymour and Mark Van Hoen - "Supermind's Light Becomes Part of the
Earth"
Eli Fara and Luiza Mica - "Mule Driver of Grebene"
Sweet Exorcist - "Ghettoes of the Mind"
Drome - "Mesmerized"
Rax Werx - "In the Compound"
Z'EV - "Radio KPFK"
S.E.T.I. - "Knowledge"
Soliman Gamil - "Supplication"
Koji Marutani - "Calcutta"
In short, this is an excellent compilation. Laid-back, introspective,
soothing, sometimes disturbing, and always captivating. For the most
part this is ambient listening which sounds best late in the evening.
The most striking feature of this record for me, apart from its overall
high quality, is the sheer variety of musical styles it encompasses.
Remarkably, all these diverse artists are, or have been, signed to the
small, presumably independent, label Touch, or its subsidiary Ash
International. "Touch Sampler" veers from intelligent techno to
neo-classical, Eno-esque wallpaper ambient to Aphex-style drones, and
even incorporates some world music along the way.
H3OH (an alternative guise for The Hafler Trio) kick things off with
what turns out to be something of an epic. An unusual, medieval-sounding
chant ("Ooh-what-a-won-derful-world...") intros, before complex tribal
rhythms slowly emerge to claim the attention. The percussion builds,
then fades, and then builds again giving the piece an expectant
intensity. A climax is never reached but the anticipation is probably
better. Philip Jeck's "PS One" is similarly outstanding and even more
intense. Simplicity and unrefined power are its main characteristics.
Loud, menacing hum/buzz/drone sounds (think swarm of bees meets electric
guitar distortion) form the basis of the piece, remaining largely
unchanged throughout, while a raw, pounding bass drum (someone banging
at a closed door) occupies the foreground. Changes in the pace and
volume of the beat provide "PS One" with its third and final dimension.
Soliman Gamil's middle eastern folk freshens the palate and provides a
nice interlude before the full-on techno pop of Sandoz's "Orgasmatron."
Another outstanding piece but this time for different reasons: frantic
rhythms, bass you could cut with a knife, and the gorgeous looped rifs
and melodies which characterise so much of Richard H. Kirk's work. The
next track, by Hilmar Orn Himarsson, is perhaps the best piece on the
record. Modern classical music which literally oozes melancholic emotion
and knocks most electronic ambient for six. The Hafler Trio's second
offering, "I Remain...," sounds like part of the soundtrack for a
low-budget, seventies sci-fi movie, does little for me and is the first
track to let the side down. Chris Watson's "Mara River at Night," on the
other hand, is rather good. It apparently amounts to nothing more than
the recorded sounds of frogs and crickets around a tropical river at
night, but it does the trick. Daren Seymour (of Seefeel) and Mark Van
Hoen (of Autocreation) combine forces to produce a spooky little number
(I can't get "If you go down to the woods today..." out of my head)
which is very nice but all to short. More eastern promise from Eli Fara
and Luiza Mica, before Richard H. Kirk returns, this time as Sweet
Exorcist. "Ghettoes of the Mind" is unmistakably Kirk's creation but is
quite different from the Sandoz track, the emphasis being on soothing
the mind rather than moving the feet. The jazzy funk of Drome's
"Mesmerized" is low-slung, laid-back and loose, and takes "Touch
Sampler" into yet another field of music. The following two pieces (Rax
Werx and Z'EV) join The Hafler Trio's "I Remain...." in the waste
basket, but these are the only three poor tracks. The offering from
S.E.T.I. is deep, surging Orb-esque ambience of the beatless variety: a
powerful piece which starts to bring us down before the close. Soliman
Gamil returns, this time with a solo cello, before Koji Marutani finally
wraps things up with "Calcutta." Indian street babblings gradually fade
as a soft, repeating guitar melody emerges. The guitar is underlain with
glorious, sweeping cello before the music ends abruptly and we return to
the Calcutta street scene.
Out now.
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s e n d c d s f o r r e v i e w t o :
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||||\\ //|||| ___ //////////////////////
|||| \\// |||| ||// \\ /////
|||| |||| |||. ____ ///// Paul Jarvis,
\\\\\ ///// John Innes Centre,
\\\\\ ///// Norwich Research Park,
jarvisr@bbsrc.ac.uk \\\\\// Colney, Norwich NR4 7UH,
England, United Kingdom.
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