From Aaron S. Gregory Sent Wed, Dec 3rd 1997, 06:06
From Aaron S. Gregory Sent Wed, Dec 3rd 1997, 06:06
OK, people. i have to get LOUD here. i can't take it. darrell deserve some major PROPS...so i've got to do it... i dug these reviews up from the ASG archives. please, keep in mind that they were all written at different times, so if i keep mentioning that DARRELL FITTON IS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED ARTISTS of our time.... well than so be it. it's about time this lad got some fucking props damnit! i don't give a fuck if he's on a major label or not... i just want MORE from this man. his new album is going to be THE shite....hard, funky, jazzy...JUST YOU WAIT....he's going to knock you all on your arses with this one. ok, on to the reviews (ska 5, mask 2, skampler, 0161).... asg * * * Bola : Bola 1 EP : 12" : Skam (SKA 005) Interesting 4-track ep from Darrell Fitton, who collaborated on Gescom 1. Forcasa 3 begins the Fitton experiment with an ambient tune that quickly evolves into some what of an atmospheric piece. The sounds are not all that new, but it is a movement with an uplifting message. Krak Jakomo (my clear-cut FAVE) digs deeper and really paints a dark canvas of eerie soundscapes and beat structures. A twisting, clanking, tinkering stew that just sits on the cauldron and gets BETTER with age. At times almost roaring (literally, like the sound of lions!), Krak storms through the mind and leaves the brain feeling RAW. Oh baby, this is raw, intelligent techno at its best. Kudos on this one, albeit for the cut-off ending. Metalurg 2 builds on a more random tone, not exactly dark. A collection of sounds, each with its own agenda it seems. Somewhat monotonous. Balloom takes you back to the dark side, via a time-warp it seems! There's some grating percussion going on, along with a slew of other hooks and twists. Definitely dramatic. Overall, a slab of vintage Skam material. Not as refined as Boards or Jega but worthy of any techno collection. Bola : [untitled track from Mask 2, personally i think it's another take on Balloom from the Skam ep...either way, this tune KICKS MAJOR ARSE....ok read on...] Within a few seconds of initiation, a viciously evil bassline from the depths of the darkest cavern infiltrates and takes firm grasp of your attention. A devastating horror begins to build as a few twisting, all-enveloping (everything except that wickedly evil bassline! ouch!) synth patterns (some disguised as galactic signals, the others closer to submarine pings -- all eerie as fuck) trickle into the system. however, what you have been introduced to (in the first 3 minutes) cannot prepare you for the angular assault that is to follow... enter: a seethingly endless array of sliding, shearing, pelting (need i say aggressive?) slabs of linear distortion programmed with a single, mindless agenda: seek and destroy till there's nothing left! it's that simple. simple, yet so fucking effective. an entrancing tune with some serious TEETH. rock on darrell! Bola : Cobalt I am sorry, but Jega may be the stud of the Skam clan (hell, ska006 was #1 in my book too), but Darrell Fitton must win the most underrated award. This tune just submerges you down to the bottom of the blackest pit imaginable...or is it a cobalt blue abyss? Regardless, it's DEEP and there is not a speck of hope in sight. Evil droning, sparse key rhythms, and some sputtering percussion put the mood somewhere between desperate and exploratory. Twisting and turning, but always evolving and enveloping (get a load of that aural ASSAULT at 4.14!!) it seems. I'm in awe over this one as it is one of the true jewels of the exclusives. Bola : 01706 Oh my goodness me...Darrell Fitton! What have you done to us? You've faked us out yet again, this time kicking some wicked jazz our way. >From his tracks for Skam and the Mask 2 EP (all very heavy, hard and almost sinister...but too fucking brilliant for this parenthetical note), you wouldnąt think it probable for this man to supply us with such an outright groovalicious tune! The key word here being "probable"....I didn't say "not possible." Sure, he gets nasty (but in a good way) with some mid-tune riffs of steel and quirky ambience, but overall this trackąs got "jive" written all over it. Brilliant and one of the best tunes from 0161.