From Lance C McGannon Sent Mon, Dec 15th 1997, 06:25
Now back to some reviews... . Daniel Ibbotson: New Stories cd (Reel) The New Stories sampler 12" released last month was a real treat with it's robotic jazzfunk housey stylings. It left me eagerly anticipated the subsequent album. Now that the album is out it doesn't disappoint. Twelve tracks of funky jazzy housey electronica that sound like a Morgan Geist, Ian O'Brien and Herbert collaboration. Several standouts to mention with Jazz by Design, Skyscraper Trees and Super Hi Resolution 1 & 2. As with all albums i felt there were a few filler tracks but as a whole this was a solid album that lazy jazzfunk house fiends will relish. 8/10 . Midnight Funk Association: white label 12" (SER 506) Mark Broom & Dave Hill take a break from their Repeat, Rue East and Pure Plastic guises to serve up two cuts of some deeply funky MoWax-styled electronica. The a-side starts off with a few gunshots then proceeds into a bassy uptempo triphop number that sounds a lot like faster dj shadow. The b-side doesn't improve things much with another triphop track this time with a guitar sample as the staple melody giving it an unappealing chemical brothers sounds. I guess for a funky triphop 12" this release isn't too bad but it is nowhere near the usual high quality release that broom & hill are known for. It's by far the worst of the Midnight Funk Association tracks i've heard. Avoid this 12". 4/10 . Morgan Geist: Pushed 12" (Multiplex) Yet another new Morgan Geist release this time on the Multiplex label out of Denmark. Three tracks in all including a remix by Mark Broom all in the groovy electro- house style of his recent Clear album. The title track, Pushed, is an excellent upbeat funky electro number over smooth strings. The off-kilter melodies, bleeps and beats are offset nicely by the intermittent lush strings. The next track, Room 120-4, a much faster number that in- corporates the electro and house elements as the first tracks with the same appealing end result. The final track is the Mark Broom remix of Pushed. Mark retools Pushed into a long building tech-house track very much in the Ferox vein. A delightful 12" that fans of the recent Clear lp will be very happy with. 8/10 . Dilemma: Chip Tunes cd (Irdial) The newest full length on the legendary Irdial label showcasing the quirky techno-electronica talents of Ken the Streetfighter who released a well-recieved 12" earlier this year on the Irdial sublabel, Colette. Many of these tracks have a hard electo-techno feel especially with all the computer-esque sounds that also reminds me of The Exciting World of Octagon album that came out last on the Electron Industries label. Other tracks on this release have a very quirky electronica feel similar the Mariopaint release or early Aqua Regia. All seven of these tracks are very entertain and very "Irdial." Highly recommended. 9/10 . W-Moon: Strong Nature 12" (I-220) More dubby basic channel-styled techno from Tomoki Tsukamoto out of Japan. W-Moon, who has previous releases on G/Swim, Metrojuice, and Eukatech, have really mastered the sound that Basic Channel, Maurizio and Chain Reaction have been gifting us with. His tracks all have that enveloping BC feel while still having a sound of their own. Tracks on this ep that really wow are the gritty pounding "Tayphoon" and the and he gurgling percussive "Mountain Bumm" but all are pleasing to the ear. If you love really good Basic Channel/Chain Reation material then this 12" is definitely for you. W-Moon is fast becoming a favorite producer of mine. 9/10 . Steve O'Sullivan: Version x3 12" (Rework) The man behind the excellent Bluespirit, Ephebe & Green label 12"s is back with three tracks quality techno. The a- side is an dubby BCish number with a deep bassline but no real percussion. The b1 is an excellent tech-house number very much in the style of Steve's Ephebe releases. The b2 is a lock groove in the pounding dubby techno style. The b3 is more of a straightforward techno pounder but very much in a good way. Once again Steve O'Sullivan doesn't disappoint. 8/10 BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast every Wednesday from 9-11 pm Eastern Standard Time. Hear John C (Bent Crayon) 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 and cds so yet another reason to tune in. If you need any more info email us at xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx or xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states