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Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 13:13:21 +0100 (BST)
From: Stephen Hebditch <steveh>
Subject: UK-Dance Reviews #9
These are getting a bit behind... still in the pile: Air Liquide, Model
500's newie on R&S, Moody Boyz and Nyx going ethno techno, EBI, and the
Concentrated Underground, Euphoria, Rush Hour 2, Saturday Night At
Heaven, Rave Zone Montini and Fnac compilations and Laurent Garnier's
X-Mix 2 'soundtrack'.
In this collection of reviews...
Cosmic Baby: Thinking About Myself
Horizon 222: The Three of Swans
Influx: Unique
Lemon Sol: Environmental Architecture
Locust: Weathered Well
Renegade Soundwave: Howyoudoin?
Resistance D: Ztringz of Life
Sandals: Rite to Silence
Luke Slater's Seventh Plain: The Four Cornered Room
Urban Cookie Collective: High On A Happy Vibe
Various: ESP Volume 1 - Extra Sensual Perception
Various: ESP Volume 4 - Trance Atlantic Highways
Various: New Electronica Vol. 3 - Global Technological Innovations
Various: Parasols
Various: Serious Listening Music Vol. 1
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These and other reviews are available on the World Wide Web or by
request via e-mail. On the WWW you will need to point your client at
<
http://www.tecc.co.uk/public/tqm/uk-dance/reviews/>. By mail, write to
'listserv@tqmcomms.co.uk' with a message body that starts with the line
'index uk-dance' to get a listing of reviews available. These can then
be retrieved using the command 'get uk-dance filename'. 'get uk-dance
everything' will retrieve all the reviews to date.
Ratings at the end of each review are as follows:-
* Dire - avoid like the plague
** Poor - not original and not even very capable
*** Competent - just not very inspired and doesn't stand out
**** Good - well worth seeking out
***** Excellent - one of the highlights of the year
All reviews Copyright (C) 1994 Stephen Hebditch.
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Cosmic Baby: Thinking About Myself
Logic 74321 20348-2 Germany 1994 72:30
Thinking About Myself; Treptow; Tao 2000; Another Day In Another
City; Brooklyn; Au Dessous Des Nuages; Cosmic Greets Florida;
Herbst in Berlin; Fantasia; Loops of Infinity (Contemplative);
Moments In Love.
All the bloody same these musicians. A little bit of fame sends
them off round the world performing in a different city each day
and then they come back and inflict their road album on you.
Still, at least the lack of vocals means there's no opportunity for
the usual self-pitying lyrics and tales of mini-bar excess. We do,
however, find Cosmic Baby in more reflective mode than on his last
outing. He also draws further on his time studying classical piano
at the Nuremburg Conservatory, attempting a marriage between that
and the looped sequences of trance. It's an ambitious attempt which
sadly doesn't come off.
The solo acoustic piano tracks, such as Thinking About Myself and
Herbst in Berlin, show up the shortcomings most obviously. The
structures that might work as an element in a piece of trance are
just too basic on their own. Coupled with a concert hall ambience
which lends the tracks a certain portentousness, it starts to seem
like Rick Wakeman and prog rock circa 1975 all over again. The more
straightforward trancers are better, like the rather gorgeous
Fantasia, but even here Cosmic puts in these naff little piano
flourishes. Cosmic Baby does have an undeniable talent but really
he's overstretched himself here. Stellar Supreme, his last long
player which comes as a bonus on early copies, is far superior.
**
Horizon 222: The Three of Swans
Charrm CHARRMCD18 UK 1994 62:32
Justice (Long To Rain Over Us); Walking On The Air (Leap Airy
Version Version); Hemp (For Fun And Profit); One Small Dot
(Stardust Micromix); Love Shakuhachi; Liberation (Om-pa-na-da); As
You Let Go; The Last Supper (Massacre Mix); Illuminum (The One True
Name).
The Three of Swans comes across as being very much a product of the
hippyish / free festival side of the ambient / trance spectrum,
encompassing all the usual styles and themes you'd expect from
that. There are four main tracks here, long slowly evolving
workouts every one, the odd-numbered tracks being only really
linking passages, featuring lots of echo-laden cuts-ups. Walking On
The Air is the digeridoo and dub track, but a rather cack handed
attempt with a tired vocal sample. One Small Dot is better,
reminding me of the Irresistable Force's first album. Liberation is
the best track here, going more tribal in sound and dumping the
superflous samples - even has a main theme that's based around the
moody riff from the KLF's What Time Is Love. The Last Supper is
based around a backwards loop over which sounds move in and out of
the wash.
***
Influx: Unique
Sapho / Rising High SAPH CD1 UK 1994 76:19
Love Song; Monday; Emotions; Still; 2 A.M.; VS128; Braineater
(Cylindrical Mix); Dreamscape (Ambient Mix); Dreamscape (Dawn Mix);
Poly-Mod; Unique; The Future; Floating.
Influx is the trancey techno side of James Bernard, who also has an
ambient album out at the moment on sister label Rising High. Like a
lot of trance this works at two levels. Pitched down low it comes
across as well-produced easy listening music that melts happily
into the background. Ideal for whacking on the CD player when
you're doing something else. At more neighbour annoying wattage
there's a few sections that stand out but Bernard rarely carries
this off across a whole track. The structures used in the music are
fairly simplistic, with tracks usually built up around one main
repeating theme. Rather than developing though, elements just sort
of get replaced. There's definitely potential, but at the moment
this one goes into the also-ran pile.
***
Lemon Sol: Environmental Architecture
Guerilla GRCD 014 UK 1994 66:06
Sunflash; Memorandom; Natural Ratio; Polymorph; Red Drift; Powers
of Invasion; Fuse; Universal; Environmental Architecture; Hybrid;
Aura.
Each time I put this album on my impression of it seems to change.
On my first attempt at writing this review I loved the middle of
it, but didn't like the beginning or the end. Then I decided it was
rather ordinary and bland throughout and only really worth 3 stars
so I scrapped what I wrote originally. Then I put it on late one
night quietly while relaxing and decided the whole thing was Really
Beautiful Man. Now I'm back to I Don't Know. Let's try some basics.
Lemon Sol are a London duo who make multi-textured 'progressive'
trance. Unlike a number of other British artists to jump on the
trance bandwagon though, there's more depth to the tracks and the
melodies are better developed. The sound is clean and electronic -
perhaps digital would be more appropriate a word as it's not
especially warm, definitely a Guerilla feel though. Clutching at
comparisons I'd probably go for Orbital as a band with similar
ambitions, particularly with the scuttering bleeps and buzzes that
overlay each track. Ultimately though it needs more to pull you in
to become something special.
***
Locust: Weathered Well
Apollo / R&S AMB 3929 CD Belgium 1994 67:44
Prospero; Moist Moss; Xenophobe; Weathered Gate; Tamed; Still;
Music About Love; Lust; Fawn.
Despite hailing from London, Locust's Mark Van Hoen gives the
impression of coming from far more arctic climes. Either that or
his heating packed up in September. This is an extremely bleak
album which I find difficult to stomach at one sitting. There's
minimal use of melody, most of the tracks sticking to a formula of
repeating rhythms which although fairly uptempo convince you
otherwise by hiding amongst the background fuzz. The opener
Prospero is the most accessible, something akin to Biosphere
atmosphere with a Reload melody. Moist Moss is the sort of thing
anyone can dash off given a few spare moments but quite likeable
nonetheless: slow-moving breathy chords which give the impression
of a slumbering choir. Music About Love's frantic noisefest will go
down well with the Aphexites, who R&S are obviously hoping to tempt
back to the label with this release.
**
Renegade Soundwave: Howyoudoin?
Mute CDSTUMM 100 UK 1994 41:58
Renegade Soundwave; Bubbaluba; Positive ID; Funky Dropout; Last
Freedom Fighter; Howyoudoin?; Liquid Up; Brixton; John Holmes;
Blast 'em Out.
Renegade Soundwave are one of those bands that splay themselves
over several musical styles with varying degrees of success and
probably take a hit on their overall popularity as a result.
There's more tracks that work than on their last album proper,
1990's Soundclash, but it's still a mixed bag.
Positive ID is the most chart-worthy, an excellent slice of pop
that's got it all: the scrummy break from Snap's The Power, funky
guitar, power chords, saxophone, street effects and Gary Asquith's
wide-boy rapping. For the opening track and Brixton it's back to
conjuring up stylised images of London lowlife as in their previous
minor hit, Probably A Robbery. -10 on the dodgy lyrics scale for
Brixton's Botswana / charm her / marijuana rhyme though... Last
Freedom Fighter is an ambitious statement track, which sees AJ
guesting on vocals. You can see what they're getting at, but Gil
Scott Heron and The Lost Poets do it so much better. Howyoudoin?
follows the Primals on Rolling Stones copycat trail, Bubbaluba and
Funky Dropout are two reasonable funky instrumentals, Liquid Up and
John Holmes get more dubby but the elements seem rather disparate.
RSW close with a sub-Public Enemy destroy the neighbourhood attempt
that hijacks The Shining. Oh, love the packaging with a logo inside
that goes across the two halves of the transparent case and also
onto the CD itself when it's in place.
***
Resistance D: Ztringz of Life
Harthouse HH-CD-004 Germany 1994 60:04
Pain of Sensibility; Paranoid; Day of Rebirth; Sonntagsmorgenruhe;
Skylinie; Space Baby; Beautiful Silence; Cosmic RMX.
You want lots of big fat analogue strings? You want mid-tempo
beats? You want trancey uplifting melodies with just a hint of
wistfulness? You want to know when I bought a thesaurus? You have
any idea where I left my German dictionary? All this and more,
coming up on UK-Dance, but first... the new Resistance D album.
Maik Maurice and Pascal F.E.O.S., who's worked under the Magnifica,
Bi-Face and Hearts of Space aliases amongst others, have been
mainstays of the Harthouse label since its inception and are now
rewarded with their first album. Although Ztringz of Life retains
the Harthouse corporate sound, Resistance D have followed the usual
path of dropping the beats in both intensity and speed for the
album. To me though it's the faster paced tracks, like the
excellent Sonntagsmorgenruhe, which work best. The first half of
the album is definitely the better, towards the end it starts
seeming a bit samey - one for dipping into I think.
***
Sandals: Rite to Silence
Opentoe / London 828-488-2 UK 1994 60:37
Feet; Nothing; No Movement; Change; Ardens Bud; We Wanna Live; We
Don't Wanna Be The Ones To Take The Blame; Lovewood; Here Comes The
Sign; Profound Dub.
Support acts always seem to have one unique feature to enhance
their future recognisability. Transglobal Underground were always
"the ones with the belly dancer". Sandals are "the ones with the
megaphone". Rite To Silence, their first album, fits broadly into
the acid jazz pigeonhole although Sandals update the formula
somewhat, drawing on more recent clubland moves for inspiration.
This is most apparent on the Leftfield produced tracks Nothing and
Ardens Bud - first Leftfield mix for a while that's actually at a
reasonable BPM too. Elsewhere we move between spliffed-up mellow
grooves, dubby bits and Galliano / Lost Poets style rap. Ideal
nod-along stuff. There perhaps isn't enough top-notch material to
fill out the whole 70 minutes but it's a promising start.
****
Luke Slater's Seventh Plain: The Four Cornered Room
General Production Recordings GPR CD3 UK 1994 76:41
Time Melts; Reality of Space; Surface Bound; Lost; The Needs of the
Many; 7th Plain; Astra Naut-E; Trite; Seeing Sense; Real Life
Ceremony; Grace.
After the hard techno of his last album on Peacefrog, Luke Slater
mellows out and spreads his wings on this new release. Well, sort
of mellows - there's still a persistant beat throughout but it
doesn't whack you against the wall and rip off yer ears. The tracks
here have a slightly rough, bedroom studio sound to them, but
what's lacking in production gloss is made up for by material that
offers rather more to get your teeth into. The Four Cornered Room
does, however, take a while to get into its stride. Lost is the
first track that really made me sit up - mad percussion, space
bleeps and a gentle piano theme that hides just beneath the
surface. The best is kept till last though. Seeing Sense opens with
this gorgeous low noisy rumbling which sounds like your speakers
are setting up some dangerous resonance in the room. It then turns
into the sort of trance that you'd usually expect to come from
across the North Sea. Real Life Ceremony is simpler, but employs
this understatedly beautiful plucked refrain that sets it alive.
****
Urban Cookie Collective: High On A Happy Vibe
Pulse-8 PULSE 13 CD UK 1994 56:20
The Key The Secret; Feels Like Heaven; Walk Right On; Yours Is The
Love; Dreaming In Colours; Sail Away; Worldwide Reunion; Bring It
On Home (Family); Hidden Land; High On A Happy Vibe; The Key The
Secret (Kamoflage Club Mix); Sail Away (Judge Jules & Michael Skins
Vocal Pop Funk Mix).
Steps to writing an Urban Cookie Collective review. 1. Make it
clear that this is *pop* but as you can dance to it you feel an
obligation to review it. 2. Show your trainspotter credentials by
pointing out that they ripped off Glam's Hell's Party for their
first single which in its original form was a jazzy hip hop number
before remixers The Development Corporation got their hands on it.
3. Admit sneaky admiration for main man Rohan Heath's ability to
pack each belter of a track chock-full-a-hooks with exactly the
production that's required. 4. Point out that on the minus side the
formula doesn't change much through the album and it can't really
be accused of taking dance music forward. 5. Stick in something
about how pre-teens will love this but serious music fans shouldn't
go near it with a bargepole just in case someone might get the idea
that it's really rather good. 6. Omit to mention that Yours Is The
Love has been on auto-repeat on the CD player for the past two
weeks.
****
Various: ESP Volume 1 - Extra Sensual Perception
ESP ESP 9199-2 Netherlands 1992 73:56
Cosmic Baby: Cosmikk Trigger 2
Nighttripper: Megatone
Beyond: Opus 1
Format: Solid Session
Ghetto Brothers: Bass Manoevres
Paradise 3001: Tribatol
Brersoul: Flow (Zweef)
Format: Damn Right
Nighttripper: Tone Exploitation
Time Warp: The Owls Are Not What They Seem
Cosmic Baby: Hear Yourself Dreaming
Paradise 3001: Normizon
Time Warp: Birdrave
Various: The Hyperspace Megamix
'The Cyberspaced Transcendental Dancefloor Experience' no less!
Doncha just love these compilation compilers. Back in the shops
again is the first of ESP's collections of less fierce techno and
trance. While this is a welcome break from the heavy stuff, the
tracks here never seem to quite reach their expected peak. It's
possible that some may be edits and consequently fade too soon, but
this can't explain why all of them just sort of fizzle out.
Nighttripper's Megatone assaults you with loud horn blasts in a
standard acidic builder but leaves you wanting when it fails to
make the final ascent into spine-tingling territory and returns
prematurely to base camp. The two Cosmic Baby tracks, taken from
his first MFS EP, don't even seem to leave the intro. The Owls Are
Not What They Seem chugs along with haunted house style melodies
and the obvious bird noises, appearing in slightly remixed form as
Birdrave. It's all quite likeable but a little on the bland side.
***
Various: ESP Volume 4 - Trance Atlantic Highways
ESP ESP 9195-2 Netherlands 1994 73:19
XMT: Liz Ambiente
Nighttripper: Keep On Rising
Beyond: Silver
Paradise 3001: Secret De La Coeur
Walter One: Sunny Days
Nico: So Light
Format: Take Me Home (Love Cut)
Astronuts: Sputnik
Wax: Coyote
Beyond: Opus (Velvet)
Cosmic Baby: Oh Supergirl (ESP Mix)
Time Warp: Astral Heart
Wax: Sun Drums (Nyonga Groove)
Nico: Dream March (Outro)
And up to date with the very latest ESP compilation. Wot? No silly
subtitle? :-( Despite the year and a half since the first comp it's
generally more of the same, though perhaps with a nod towards the
growth of ambient on several tracks. XMT opens with distorted
choirs that continue to swirl around when the beat kicks in and a
deep pulsing then moves the track along along. Paradise 3001's
Secret De La Coer reprises *that* Opus III sample again - okay but
Orbital did a much more interesting job with it. So Light is a
standard 303 workout with a vocal sample from someone like Earth,
Wind and Fire to provide an odd twist. Robert Meijer's Coyote has
glockenspiel arpeggios moving up and down while very Cosmic Baby
sounding string melodies carry the main line. Cos's own Oh
Supergirl is more of an edit than a remix adding nothing over the
original.
***
Various: New Electronica Vol. 3 - Global Technological Innovations
Beechwood Music ELEC::4CD UK 1994 64:35
Sandoz: Ocean Reflection
Infinity: Think Quick (Remodel)
2000 & One: Sensitive Space
The Geep: The Geep
Clip Talk: A.M.D.
Max 404: 6am in Eindhoven
As One: Asa Nisi Masa
Quadrant: Dytiq
Underground Resistance: A Moment In Time
Underground Resistance: Mindpower
The latest installment in the New Electronica series moves further
away from the mainstream towards the realms of experimental
electronic music. Well that's the theory anyway, in practice many
of the artists just seem to be climbing out of one straightjacket
and into another. They're just too content to sit in the shadow of
Detroit when they should be moving on. In the case of As One,
Quadrant and even Sandoz's Richard Kirk who should know better, the
programming isn't even terribly good. From the home city itself,
Underground Resistance come up with something more interesting,
fusing jazz saxophone and techno on A Moment In Time before a new
piece by Mills and Banks in more their usual style. The Geep,
apparently The Orb in disguise, take a leaf out of the Sabres of
Paradise metallic dub school - could this be a taster for their
vaunted new direction? Clip Talk is fucked-up electronics arty
Irdial style; Juan Atkins' Think Quick reworks an earlier track
into dark floatiness; 6am in Eindhoven and Sensitive Space round
off the better tracks.
**
Various: Parasols
Plink Plonk PLK CD 001 UK 1994 75:19
Rameses: Digi Space
Mantrac: Apok Dub
Underground Science: Protosynthesis
Mantrac: Coaster Dub
Somnambulist: Nightflyte
Animus Amor: And On
Megalon: Darkness
Wild West: Citric
Underground Science: Metamorphic
Megalon: Semblance
Pluto: Plutobeat
Stranger: Krakatoa
'Plink Plonk is a London label residing somewhere between the
neighbouring borders of deepest trance and silky techno with a
weekend penthouse on the planet dub' it says here. To me though a
London 'progressive' / dub house influence seems to be just as
pervasive here. Most of the tracks settle into a mellow groove
early on and then stick with it, which is less of a problem when
you're out partying before dawn but a little tedious for straight
home listening.
***
Various: Serious Listening Music Vol. 1
Delirium DEL S CD 1 Germany 1993 71:56
Solar Eclipse: Human World
Redeye: Green House
Redeye: Floating Community
Atom Heart: Nice Days
Acid Jesus: 7 A 7
Pink Elln: X-PHB
Ongaku: Mihon 5
Rebel Youth: Deep Star
Atom Heart: Rhizom
Arenatrax: Pejuca
This album pulls together releases from Frankfurt's Delirium, After
6am, Klang and Ongaku labels. Not sure I'd particularly go along
with the title but there's some good stuff on it. The Solar Eclipse
and Redeye tracks all feature on the After 6am compilation reviewed
previously: sophisticated light trance. Atom Heart again gets the
thumbs down from me: too many obvious moves and poor programming.
Acid Jesus continues with the more acidic style and although not
exactly unique at least manages to conjure up some excitement. Pink
Elln gets the album back on course with a mid-tempo track where
simple loops fall over each other and send you into a trance.
Ongaku's Mihon 5 opens in dramatic mode and builds slowly, its deep
stabs straight out of those Frankenstein movies with the electrical
discharge tubes. Rebel Youth's Deep Star is the stand-out track for
me. A happier, more uptempo sound and some rather 'ardcore-ish
rhythms nestling behind the fat synthlines.
****
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