INTELLIGENT DANCE MUSIC TIMES VOLUME 2 ISSUE 11
Another batch of fine toonz purchased through the ever helpful
Ear/Rational service. Bring the noise!
Parasols Volume One
Plink Plonk Plk cd 001
110 5:41 Rameses: Digi Space
133 5:15 Mantrac: Apok Dub
114 5:55 Underground Science: Protosynthesis
100 6:29 Mantrac: Coaster Dub
135 6:47 Somnambulist: Nightflyte
130 6:22 Animus Amor: And On
131 6:22 Megalon: Darkness
140 6:17 Wild West: Citric
136 8:01 Underground Science: Metamorphic
130 6:14 Megalon: Semblance
130 6:06 Pluto: Plutobeat
128 5:40 Stranger: Krakatoa
Yes, it's true that Mr. C is co-owner of Plink Plonk, but it looks
like his Shamen-derived earnings were well spent because this
compilation is really cool. In fact, it's probably the first batch of
aimed-at-the-dancefloor trance music that I've genuinely liked. Even
on a seemingly standard-issue 303 workout like "Nightflyte" there are
little dub touches that keep my interest piqued. Even the fastest
stuff is mostly in a mellow, early-morning vein - it's not hard like
that obnoxious German stuff, but it is still quite mesmerizing. It
reminds me stylistically of some of the newer Sun Electric stuff,
actually (weird, as they are Germans!). The slower stuff is pretty
good too - wouldn't be out of place on the Ambient Dub compilations.
Negatives? Well, I could have wished for more slower stuff, but
that's about it. Oh yes, one last thing - the liner notes say that
all artists on Plink Plonk work under assumed names, so you never know
what famous artists might be hiding out here. Hmmm!
Delerium: Spheres
Dossier DCD 9053
84 10:03 Monolith
96 13:36 Transmitter
13:22 Wavelength
93 12:06 Colony
7:30 Dark Matter
6:42 Cloud Barrier
Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber are very puzzling individuals. On the one
hand, they produce typical dance-industrial garbage as Front Line
Assembly and Noise Unit. On the other hand, they produce brilliant
cutting-edge atmospheric dance and ambient music as, respectively,
Intermix and Delerium. This is their 7th album under the Delerium
monicker and it is also one of the best. "Monolith" shows that
they've been keeping up on current techno trends, featuring glurpy
FSOLesque percussion, Vapourspacey sirens and the ubiquitous 303. The
really good bit is that it also features that unique Bill 'n' Rhys
style - with some dark bass hits that sound like plucked piano
strings, gothic choirs and other ephemera that define their style.
It's actually much closer to the first Intermix record, stylistically,
than any of the previous Delerium releases. "Transmitter" has some of
those Aphex/FSoL resonant distorted drum hits hiding out in the
background. "Wavelength" is a melange of ominous synth sweeps and
sparse drum hits that totally shows up Pete Namlook for the wanker he
is. "Colony" starts off shimmery and pretty, adds in tweaky 303 and
then huge choirs before moving into a tribal dance loop. The last two
tracks take us out to the edge of the universe on clouds of synthetic
sound. Wow.
Banco de Gaia: Maya
Planet Dog BARK CD 003
128 7:24 Heliopolis
100 8:02 Mafich Arabi
93 6:59 Sunspot
121 6:37 Gamelah (dub 3)
100 9:16 Qurna (mister christian on the decks)
95 7:45 Sheesha
120 7:31 Lai Lah (v1.infinity)
96 11:13 Shanti (red with white spots edit)
88 7:48 Maya
Funky tribal dub trance!? Yeah, why the hell not! Planet Dog
Records, relentless innovators that they are, have coaxed a full
length release out of Toby Marks (Mr. Banco de Gaia) and it rips.
"Mafich Arabi" mixes a wonderful melody with housey drums, funky drum
loops, sampled funk vocals, sampled ethnic chants and probably 10 or
20 other ingredients that I can't identify. Nice stereo imaging, on
top of all that. Some have said that it just sort of goes on and gets
boring but I don't think so. Besides, who can resist a smile when the
bassline on "Gamelah" suddenly quotes Jah Wobble's wonderful "Blue
Room" riff? I like the electric guitar on "Maya" as well - a slightly
mournful closing track. Overall, this is one fine record for trippy
late nights and mellow spaces.
David Sylvian and Robert Fripp: Darshan (The Road To Graceland)
Virgin SYLCD1 7243 8 39380 (25)
112 16:07 Darshan (translucent remix by The Grid)
78 10:11 Darshana (reconstructed by The Future Sound Of London)
112 17:17 Darshan (the road to graceland)
You wouldn't think that a teamup of David Sylvian and Robert Fripp
would be likely to heat up a dance floor. You'd be wrong. Even in
its original incarnation, "Darshan" is a funky slinky track that would
definitely work in a downtempo set. Sylvian's lyrics are minimal.
Fripp's guitar is jagged and spastic - a perfect compliment to the
hypnotic drum loop. Hey, it's even got sampled vocal snippets.
The Grid's remix adds a spaced out synth intro, then drops into a
solid housey re-work of the song. Lots of new electronic sounds pop
in at various points and there's a grandiose synth outro, which takes
us into...
The Future Sound Of London (oooooh!) mix starts out with swirling
synth textures then drops in some acoustic-sounding drums, and some
sampled Fripp guitar turned into a loop. Add subsonic dub-style bass.
As it builds up you might realize that it doesn't sound anything like
the original, but who cares? Instead it's more like what would happen
if FSOL got Fripp to come in and do a Frippertronics jam all over one
of their pieces. Which is essentially what it is. And it's
essentially fantastic. But you knew I was going to say that, didn't
you?