From Upaka Sent Sat, Feb 13th 1999, 18:47
Decoder- Dissection (Hard Leaders) Sounds kind of like a crazy seventies soundtrack gone horribly wrong, but in a very enjoyable way (I think I spotted some samples from Bullitt). Nice hardstep breaks and an everything and the kitchen sink approach to sampling. There is some jazz content but luckily (well lucky for me) there's none of that fusion style as favored by Squarepusher and the like. Very futuristic and very good. Sure to meet your need for those nice filtered basslines. colongib- upgrade to v2.0 (kracfive) Those charming folks at kracfive were kind enough to send me a promotional copy of this release. It's a tasty industrial flavored techno freakout, flecked with those video game melodies we all like so much. And, as an added bonus, every order gets a year's supply of digital distortion, absolutely free! Why, I wonder do these sort of records always have that amen break cut- up thing happening somewhere? And it always sounds like the exact same sample. Well, despite that minor irritation on my part (it only shows up on one song) this is quite a nice disc, sure to make your day a little happier. Child's View- Funfair (Bubble Core) A new alias of Nobukazu Takemura under which he has released this charming record. This is much more chilled out than I'd expected. There is one drum and bass track but despite its tempo it's quite relaxed with pretty chiming melodies. Two tracks of lovely fractured digital ambiance a bit reminiscent of Oval but warmer. Assi que dodo is very nice with a french vocal over a slightly loungy track that slowly builds and then drifts away. The last track is an acoustic sounding remix of the drum and bass track sans amen break that is very nice. It purports to be live but I am somewhat dubious of that claim. It says it's by the Dylan Group, but as it also says all tracks by Nobukazu Takemura, I can only assume this is another alias. Mmmm, it is all so very nice. John Tejada- Little Green Lights and Four Inch Faders (A13) I suppose this record is a bit predictable, nothing really happens that you weren't expecting to happen. Yep, the quality in this release is somewhat monotonous. Each track is just as good as the last. Very smooth stuff. Of course how can you resist getting a disc with track names like 'Prism War'. Hmmm? Oh, what does it sound like? Sorry, I was distracted by the music. I guess it's kind of tech-housey in an outer-spacy kind of way. Kind of like a more streamlined, housey Black Dog. Peter Benisch- Waiting for Snow (Fax) This disc has that nostalgic feel to it a la Bochum Welt and SAW 1. However it is by no means a clone of those guys. Reminds me a bit too of the quite underrated release by David Morley 'Tilted', although it's more experimental and chilled out. Off kilter elctro beats with weird atmospheres. This disc is worth getting for track eight alone which is quite a top notch track.