Big shout from Boston to all the 303 bunnies and Acid Ted's :) in the
audience. Heres some reviews of new vinyl..Im out...Sasha
Koenig Cylinders II
Industrial Strength Trance
Produced by Disintegrator
10/10
LATE BREAKING NEWS: Sven Vath, german trance king, is found face down in a
Brooklyn
alley near the headquarters of Industrial Strength Trance. Lying in a pool
of blood and copies of
his mediocore trance records, Sven recounted his woeful version of what
happened to the
buzzing reporters and camera crews: "Ya, I dont know vat happened. One
second Im playing my
new world smash release multi-platinum trance album, and then all of a
sudden, Lenny and
Disintegrator, those goddamm Brooklyn punks, they smash my records and break
my didgeridoo.
Then they play dis heavy heavy music. It sounded like trance but it vasnt.
It was hardcore. Like a
Panzer Tank, you know?".......new IST record is muy phat. It's armor proof,
steel reinforced,
havoc inducing trance. Trust me.
Anlalogue Bubblebath 4
Rephlex/UK
Produced by Richard James
8/10
Lets see how I can rationilize this one. Its good, dont get me wrong, but
this territory has already
been covered before. If this was any other artist, I would be drooling over
this record, but this is
the Aphex Twin, knowwhatimsayin (higher expectations)? There are no titles
listed, so lets
improvise. The dancier side (you'll know it when you hear it) has two
tracks, one of which could
have been real fresh if he left out this majorly corny sample of someone
yelling. The second
song is schizophrenic analogue madness that would work well on the floor.
Flip to the second
track on the b-side for your basic AphexTwinism (defined in Websters as a
low, slow, booming
bass with lite melodic bits thrown in over it, while strange squelching
sounds appear and
dissappear over time). Damn good, but if you are looking for innovation,
plant you needle in
another groove.
Duece Mode
various tracks
produced by Drewsky, Andre Bryson
DanceMania, Chicago
8/10
Chicago's secret weapon, DanceMania, strikes again, unleashing 6 tracks of
minimalism to jack
your body. "Jazz Session" and "Feel So Good" will turn the party out with
bare bones beats and
funky samples. If you thought that "Minimal Nation" by Robert Hood was good,
wait till you hear
the stuff on this label.
303 Nation
Strobe Jams Part III
Dance Ectasy 2001
Produced by Vuillame Patrick and Sanchez Fernando
10/10
No sooner than I had said "whatever happened to 303 Nation?", this nasty,
nasty 12" dropped
right on me like a 100 pound brick. All the cuts on Part III are taken from
the same sessions in
92-93 that launched parts 1 and 2. Sometimes slow, sexy, funky acid is what
the acid ted in you
needs. Other times, you just want brutal, mindblowing, squealing,
squelching, panic inducing 303
madness. Vuillame and Sanchez take the prize for blasting minds with their
frenetic style of
hardcore acid. Im not going to say anymore to convince you that this shit
pumps. All I'm going to
say is that the back cover reads "special limited edition for fans and
supporters"....
Cracked
Totally Cracked
Superstition/Holland
Produced by Roger C and Pino G
8/10
This record is a trip. Style? not really one confined style. These guys jump
around from off-kilter
trance to experimental to ambient to bits of acid, all in the same song. And
it works. Check out
"A Man from Nam" and "Totally Recracked". Weird, though, very weird. After
listening to it for a
few times, I am stuck between thinking this is brilliant new material that
covers new ground OR
hashed up styles that make no sense. You decide.