From Lance C McGannon Sent Tue, Apr 21st 1998, 22:47
Still trying to catch up. More reviews... . Recloose: So this is the dining room 12" (Planet E) This new ep on the Detroit Planet E label is a bit of a different=20 sound for them. These tracks, produced by Matt Chicoine and=20 Carl Craig, are in the trip hop, d&b and funky downtempo styles=20 sounding like a mix of Portishead, older DJ Krush and Tek9 or 4Hero. At times this ep is somewhat reminiscent of carl's 69 material but nowhere near as good. In all, this ep is an=20 entertaining listen but not definitely the usual Planet E style.=20 The cover features great artwork by Kenjii from Sigma6 too. 7/10 . Metamatics: Onyx/ Neo Oujia 10" (Clear) Lee Norris & Dom Kennedy release their sixth record on the=20 UK Clear label since '97. On this limited 10" Metamatics gift=20 us with two tracks of d&b. The a-side has a much darker flavor than previous Metamatic d&b tracks. But the b-side has more of jazzy melodic d&b flavor to it. Again fans of Photek, Source Direct and previous Metamatic releases will enjoy this one.=20 Nothing innovative but pleasant nonetheless. 7/10 . Various Artists: No 8, 8.5, 9 12" (Fatcat) Torsten Pr=F6frock, who records as Various Artists and Erosion=20 on the Chain Reaction label, is the man responsible for the third record on the UK Fatcat label. The a-side features two beatless ambient track in the classic basic channel/chain reaction style. The b-side has one long downtempo bc-esque cut with beautifully deep panning sound effects and light almost polyrhythmic percussion. Outstanding stuff. 9/10 . Third Eye Foundation & v/vm split 12" (Fatcat) A split ep of d&b and general sonic terrorism from Matt Elliot aka Third Eye Foundation and the mysterious outfit known only as v/vm. The a-side features one long track by Third Eye Foundation called "There's No End in Sight."=20 Supposedly it's a remix of something called KS Kollective. The track starts with typical Third Eye manic breakbeats over dark synth lines. But about 5 minutes into the track=20 the song totally changes directions to an john hassel or brian eno-esque ambient track compete with acoustic=20 guitar. The then finishes with 10 seconds of muted synth breaks. Very impressive. The b-side contains four tracks from the v/vm gang. The first two are dark crunchy jega- esque d&b tracks. The third track is a repeating crunchy=20 noise over a looped distorted vocal sample. The final track features a dark synth line accented by various electrical=20 pops, clicks, and buzzes. The third and fourth track both have an Autechre/Musik Aus Strom feel. Fans of Skam, v/vm, markant and third eye foundation will be very happy with this record. Fatcat continues to release some great records. 8/10 . Boards of Canada: Telephasic Workshop 10" (Warp/Skam) I was lucky enough to get ahold of one of these promo-only samplers for the upcoming BOC album. Two tracks on this one. The a-side features a deep bassy slow breakbeat track with cut up vocals and beautiful melodies drifting through- out. The b-side track is a slow melodic number with a hip hop beats and multiple intertwining synth lines. Fan of=20 Schematic, Gescom, Markant and previous BOC material will love this one. If these tracks along with the recent=20 Chinook 7" are any gauge for the material on the upcom=20 BOC album then you can expect a real IDM gem. 9/10 . Epectir: Surface Breaks cd (unreleased album) If you think Techno Animal, Scorn, Autechre, Aphex Twin=20 and other dark distorted electronic artists are the cat's meow=20 then you may want to check out the material by unsigned=20 Chicago artist Tim Niewold aka Epectir. On this 8-track cd=20 Epectir explore styles ranging from midtempo & fast crunchy=20 breakbeats to melodic autechre-esque idm to long synthy=20 journeys over beds of distortion and feedback.to experimental=20 musical chaos. Every track on this cd is impressive but my=20 favorite is the 13 minute night/day which is a beautiful=20 journey that shifts between distorted breakbeats and smooth=20 melodies. I would highly recommend fans of v/vm, autechre,=20 techno animal and older aphex twim check the epectir releases=20 out. The only problem is that at this time Epectir is unsigned so you'll have to wait for some proper releases. But any=20 interested labels contact Tim at xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xx.xxx.xxx 8/10 . Coil: Spring Equinox - Moon's Milk ltd 7" (World Serpent) The first of the ultra-limited 7" seasonal releases by dark ambient pioneers Coil. Two tracks of similar droning hypnotic electronics and chanting. One side adds sitars and violin the other adds hammond-sounding organ washes. Both tracks are=20 haunting pieces of ambience that all Coil and/or darkamibent=20 fans will appreciate. 7/10 . Cellvoice: One 12" (Delsin) Signum label artists Sandor Caron and Richard van=20 Kruysdijk collaborate together on the third record for the=20 excellent Delsin label. On this six-tracker the two artists=20 journey into the realms of downtempo dark breaky electronica=20 and d&b that falls somewhere between Black Dog and Ballet=20 Mechanique or Andre Estermann. Favorites on this one are the a3 which is synthy track over hip hop percussion and the b3 which is a melodic beatless number. Another good record from the Delsin label. 7/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon)=20 and I spin two hours of the music we speak so highly of... The show will be accessible by visiting http://www.wcsb.org every Wednesday from 9-11 pm EST. The show will be broad- cast in the AudioActive format (which is actually much better than RealAudio). You can download the Audio Active plugin for free at http://www.audioactive.com/player/ During the Inaudible show we will be giving away promo 12"s=20 and cds so yet another reason to tune in. -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states