From Lance C McGannon Sent Wed, Nov 5th 1997, 21:11
From Lance C McGannon Sent Wed, Nov 5th 1997, 21:11
Guess what... more reviews. . Ian O'Brien: That Was Now 12" (Pacific 016) Techno jazz wizard Ian O'Brien with his first 12" on the respected Pacific label. Two tracks on this one, an original and a Bo Frazier remix. The original mix is typical light jazzy techno-house in the style that you've come to expect from O'Brien. But the Bo Frazier remix strips away alot of the jazz melodies turning the track into more of a minimal tech-houser. I personally prefer the remix because O'Brien's techno-jazz styles is starting to get a little too formulaic - not bad just somewhat predictable. But this 12" is consistent with other Pacific and O'Brien releases. No surprises or letdowns. 7/10 . W-Moon: Envisionary 12" (Metrojuice 02) The first Metrojuice 12" from earlier this year is still one of my favorites of 97 so i was really looking forward to MJ #2. It does not disappoint. Three tracks of ultra minimal deeeeep hypnotically repetitive dubby techno. All three tracks are fairly simple but surprisingly listenable. All these tracks fit in very well with the best of the maurizio/basic channel/chain reaction stuff. Are the Metrojuice/W-Moon releases on Eukatech and Swim/G labels as good? 9/10 . Plug Research & Development comp 2x12" (Plug Research/PR10) This is the vinyl version of the cd PR comp that was released a few months ago. This double pack features a drastically different track listing than the cd including four previously unreleased tracks by Low Res, Mannequin Lung, Lucid Lung (Lucid Dream & Mannequin Lung), and R.E.A.L.M. The new tracks on the 2x12" are all much percussive and more dancefloor oriented than the tracks on the cd. But by no means are any of the new tracks typical dancefloor tracks. Each new track gives you a healthy share of experimenting while still keeping it floor-friendly. It very difficult to pick a favorite here because all tracks are so good. But remember the cd has six tracks that the 2x12" doesen't so you really need to get both to get the full feel of the plug research comps. 9/10 . Octave One: The Living Key to Images From Above CD (430 West) The first full-length cd by the burden brothers is really a compilation of sorts featuring six tracks off their The Living Key 2x12" and five tracks off their earlier Images From Above 2x12" plus one previously unreleased track. All twelve tracks are in the funky detroit techno style with a few dabblings into minimal techno and tech-house. A vast majority of the tracks on this release a exceptional detroit techno pieces. This cd is recommended for detroit techno fans and is a good introduction for the vinyl-impared to the 430 West Label sound. 8/10 . User: Habit Form 12" (Organised Noise) San Franciscans Jon Williams & Darin Marshall with their second release on the excellent Organized Noise label. Four tracks of excellent minimal techno with just a touch of funky house. All four tracks have nice punchy percussion and funky basslines. This 12" reminds me of memory foundation or some of shake's harder moments. Great stuff. 9/10 . Bluetrain: Street Sadness 12" (Bluetrain 02) The second release on Steve O'Sullivan's Bluetrain label sees them going after the funky tech-house sound. But on this 12" elements of dub seem to be added to tech-house making the tracks very bassy. More proof of the dub thing is the b2 track which is a 1 minute classic dub track with muted rastafarian banter in the background. the end of the dub track goes into an echoic lock groove. The three other track on this 12" are very good with the tech-house-dub-jazz fusion of the a1 being my favorite. nice to see something a little different. but i've come to expect that from the as it is stable. 7/10 More reviews still to come. BTW: Don't forget our Inaudible netcast !!TONIGHT!! (Wed) from 9-11 pm EST. 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/ Hope you tune it! -->-Lance--- p.o. box 450715 westlake, ohio 44145 united states