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AMBIENT,TECHNO, ELECTRONICA

AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS - THE ISNESS (Artful)

After 1996 and Dead Cities the original state of The Future Sound Of London was at an end. Gary Cobain was sick of machines and sick himself. They made a big psychedelic collage of a broadcast , performed it in Brighton and then called it a day. Cobain travelled extensively in India and began a purification process. Back in Brick Lane he and Brian Dougans would buy Ananda Shankar albums and dream of 1970s kitsch design. Yes the once kingpins of Ambient Techno have gone all psych, macrobiotic, Donovan, George Harrison with a pinch of John Barry, ELO, Verve and the flute ragas of Hariprasad Chaurasia.

The Isness with its multi fold-out design and hippie-hippie shake begins like a 4 Hero album, all jazzy smooth as silk techno before breaking into a sitar track with that weedy '60s keyboard sound. There are plenty of interludes 'Goodbye Sky', 'Elysian Feels' where they've adapted a Chemical Brothers mixer but 'Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead' is pure inspiration - a collision of Neil Young dobro country with some kind of Donovan whimsy. 'Divinity' is a pitch at the big psychedelic ballad and 'Osho' sounds like a stoner's sitar lesson. There are strings, birds and a lovely ballad of a thing called Meadows' with a wonderful slide guitar and banjo. The lot ends with a huge dynamite of a crescendo in 'Galaxial Pharmaceutical' inspired by Bowie's 'Space Oddity', The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' and big feedbacking guitar crescendoes. Cobain assures us all that drugs weren't the inspiration but a new post-electronic consciousness. They call it Progtronica and you can check it out at www.futuresoundoflondon.com

DAFT PUNK - DISCOVERY (Virgin)


Bangalter and De Homen-Christo came out of the same scene as Air and Etienne de Crecy ie French dance music. You've heard 'One More Time' with its combo of potato crisps sound and pulsating disco beat. This is retro-futurist music by two robot men. It's so authentic that 'Nightvision' uses the same pulsating 10CC beat as 'I'm Not In Love' and swings you back to that amazing time in the 1970s when that song ruled every disco slow set. Best song is the delectable 'Something About Us'. Load down more music at www.daftclub.com


AIR LIQUIDE - X (BMG)

Meaning Ten, this is a tenth anniversary issue for Jammin' Unit and Dr. Walker which justs smooths along not allowing you to pin it down to any one genre. 'Fishes In The Sky' is tweedledee music and it persists until the album’s end end where there's a few techno re-mixes. Refreshing.

AIR - 10,000 HERTZ LEGEND / EVERYBODY HERTZ (Virgin/Source)

Messrs Dunckel and Godin stare out of a space-age studio in Monument valley. Their music has warped into something akin to electronic lounge but is daubed with anarchy. 'Electronic Performers' is heavy pulsating stuff and 'How Does It Make You Feel' is a splice between Floyd and The Beatles. There are loads of guests on here including Beck doing a Neil Young on 'The Vagabond'. 'Radian' sounds like Caravan on a good day with its foresty flutes and it's not until 'Sex Born Poison' that we get to Moon Safari territory. Everybody Hertz boasts 5 re-mixes of 'Don't Be Light' (one by Daft Punk), 2 of 'How Does It Make You Feel' (incl Adrian Sherwood reggae mix) , 2 of 'People In The City' and a dreamy new track 'The Way You Look Tonight' as well as a live video. Madonna’s got them in her sights to produce her next big album. See www.10000hzlegend.com

NATACHA ATLAS - FORETOLD IN THE LANGUAGE OF DREAMS (Mantra)

After having moved from Palestine to Morocco and then Brussels Natacha Atlas was born in Belgium but grew up in Northampton. She moved to Cairo for her fourth album Ayeshteni (2001) and began the Millenium by performing with Jean-Michel Jarre at The Pyramids Of Giza. Famous for her " soaring wind-blown microtonal vocals over Middle-Eastern rooted grooves " and her raq sharki belly-dancing techniques this new album is done in collaboration with Marc Eagleton and is inspired by Gurdjieff's Meetings With Remarkable Men. Recorded in Greece, Rome, and Britain this is probably one of the most eclectic, head-spinning album's I've ever heard. Rich stuff.

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - COME WITH US (Virgin/Freestyle Dust)

Eighteen months in the studio since Surrender and we get a bouncy happy-go-lucky record which boasts one classic Trance track 'Star Guitar' (yes the one with the train video) and Beth Orton doing a Rolling Stones on 'The State We're In'.

CAFE DEL MAR - VOLUME NINE (Cafe Del Mar Music)

Let's face it Cafe Del Mar is a big bar in Ibiza which is neither private nor quiet. There are much better places in Ibiza to catch the sunset but Jose Padilla has been making great compos for years. They even sound better in the sands of the Balearics during the summer as I experienced this year when I bought this to listen on the beach. Mixed by Bruno superb production makes for a wonderful listen. Exceptional tracks are : Lover's Lane 'Island Memories', Blank & Jones 'Desire', the incredible 'Troya' by Rue De Soleil, Jimmy Cliff's 'Many Rivers To Cross' and Swen G & Inusa's black-soul euphoria 'Morning Light'. CD comes with Rom film and bonus track for Mac & PC. See www.cafedelmarmusic.com

DJ SHADOW - PRODUCT PLACEMENT (One29) / THE PRIVATE PRESS (Island-MoWax)

It's six years since the incredible Endtroducing album of Ambient Hip-Hop and San Francisco's Josh Davis has not been idle. Touring with Radiohead, making The Dark Days soundtrack and the above albums. Product Placement is a collaboration with Cut Chemist of mostly promo-45s for all kinds of things - groups, The American Dairy Association, The Commodores, Isaac Hayes et al with weird titles like 'Cholesterol In The American Diet' and 'Rappin With Gas'. One hundred and twenty nine rare sides in all. There's a wacky version of Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' produced by Theodore as well as lots of Soul and R & B classics. The problem lies in the ever-changing slices of sound cooked up by two DJs having a lot of fun but producing a CD which has only two never-ending tracks.

The Private Press took Davis 16 months to put together and is largely sample-based. It begins with a recording of a letter to Lester Young and then goes into 'Fixed Income' which begins with a bass riff and works its way into the subtlest layering of percussion/guitar sounds you'll hear this side of Christmas. I swear there's a Hendrix squall in there too. 'Giving Up The Ghost' begins with a rarified percussion sound, high up in the register and reminding one of delicately falling rain. After about a minute there's a wonderful bass-keyed counterpoint. 'Six Days' samples the psychedelic soul of Colonel Bagshot's 'Six Day War' beautifully. And then there's the New Order string sample on 'Blood On The Motorway' with its piano and strings another gorgeous Shadow triumph. And then the mouth drops to hear the scratchy intro to Simon & Garfunkel's 'El Condor Pasa' on 'You Can't Go Home Again'. The album ends as it begun with that correspondence to Lester Young and for UK listeners a bonus version of 'Giving Up The Ghost' (a track I've already heard on TV documentaries). While the world is full of loud MCing Garage DJs and boring verbose Rap, DJ Shadow has once again plucked beauty from ugliness and made music for the head and heart which can only get better with time. See www.djshadow.com

THE ORB - AUNTY AUBREY’S EXCURSIONS BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY (Deviant)

We get Alex Paterson and crew's knob-twiddling versions of material by KLF, Primal Scream, Wendy & Lisa, Robbie Williams, The Cranberries, The Art Of Noise, Tubeway Army, Penguin Cafe Orchestra and System 7. The real surprises are pieces by Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream and Can which prove that The Orb were the heirs of the original Space Rock sound all along. See own site for alternative releases www.Badorb.com

KINDAI-TEK(I) - VARIOUS (Bambola)

XFM's Nick Luscombe's label proposes a new technological future. The music is Japanese electronica which he heard on his travels. There's a weird cut-up crowd called Tagomago (after Can), chill-out specialists Calm and interesting head music from Romp and Shiba www.bambolarecordings.com

BRIAN ENO - DRAWN FROM LIFE (Venture) / COMPACT FOREST PROPOSAL (Opal)

Drawn From Life is a collaboration with Peter Schwalm which draws Eno more towards the Ambient/dance genre. Laurie Anderson and Holger Czukay appear on two tracks and there are strange vocal effects (I suspect some distorted Eno vocal technique). In all though I find Eno's entry into this area uncommitted and loose, the total opposite to meisterstrokes like Music For Airports. But maybe that's the way he likes it. Compact Forest Proposal returns to the more aleatory forages of old. A bunch of CD players trigger sounds, one carrying two sub-strata of different harmonic material. Interesting results.

MOBY - 18 (Mute)

Number One everywhere, soundtracking films and TV everywhere and all over the media there seems to be little left to say about Moby's follow-up to Play. It's a happy , euphoric record steeped in Black music - blues, soul, R & B, gospel, beautiful samples with the added kick of lush production and Moby's multi-instrumentality. Most of it was written on tour with a guitar before before going back to his New York studio with forty songs. Guest vocalists include Sinead O'Connor, Azure Ray, MC lite and Angie Stone. My favourite tracks are 'Great Escape', 'Signs Of Love', 'Another Woman', 'Fireworks', 'Sunday', '18' and 'Harbour' some of them mini-soundtracks, others windscreen sound-paintings. Check out Pink Floyd intro to 'Signs Of Life' and it's jittery guitar solo. Heaven. See www.moby.org

THIEVERY CORPORATION - SOUNDS FROM THE VERVE HI-FI (Verve)

Washington's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza select an eclectic and intoxicating collection of rare Verve recordings and gems" shouts the yellow sticker on the front of this excellent compilation. Garza says when he met Eric in a Lounge in Washington DC they enthused about Bossa Nova and Carlos Jobim and the music recorded on Verve by producer Creed Taylor with people like Cal Tjadar, Joao Gilberto and Luiz Bonfa. This inspired them to make music on samplers, drum machines and sequencers that was up to this sound. Hence their love of Latin Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Indo-Jazz etc Hilton feels that many producers today should listen to the Classics before making bad music with great technology. So we get stuff from Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Richie Havens (the killer 'Something Else Again'), Astrud Gilberto's version of 'Light My Fire', Chico Hamilton, The Jazz Renegades and more . Enjoy. See vervemusicgroup.com

COLOURBOX/ M/A/R/R/S - Best of 82-87 (4AD)

Martyn & Steven Young began in 1982 and re-wrote the rule book on UK dance music. This compo includes Augustus Pablo's 'Baby I Love You', 'Pump Up The Volume' (the 1987 track which included AR Kane, CJ Macintosh and Dave Dorrell) and the important 'Philip Glass'. Includes enhanced video of 'Pump Up The Volume'.

BUGGE WESSELTOFT- MOVING (Universal)

I've had this CD for a very long time. It's opening bars remind me of early Chick Corea music. It shimmers with that kind of Fender Rhodes jazz quality. Bugge (Boogie) Wesseltoft is the pioneer of the Oslo sound where live instrumentation is mixed on the spot. And the album, subtitled ' a new conception of jazz' really hits the mark. This is his third album and though his music is often described as spacey, ambient and electronic the end result brings you back to those balmy days of early ECM and Oregon.

TRICKY - BLOWBACK (Anti)

Everything about Adrian Thaws surprises. The cover of Blowback is no exception as it shows Tricky getting a "blowback" from a very well-endowed girl indeed. (A " blowback" is reefer slang for inverting a joint in the mouth and blowing back the fumes into another's lungs). Typical of Tricky to make something so underground somehow erotic, urban and hip. The cover alone with its 105 mini-stills of the process arrests. The album is full of contrasts - Alanis Morissette, Cyndi Lauper, Red Hot Chili Peppers,samples of Eurythmics songs, recording sessions which sprawled Hollywood, New York and London and Tricky's re-birth from the brink of self-destruction. Famous for punching journalists who gave him bad reviews Tricky was diagnosed with Candida in 2000 (a heavy allergy to sugar and dairy) which sent his metabolism into an overdrive of excess and intensity. He smoked weed to keep himself calm but a proper diagnosis has helped him no-end. Everyone says Blowback is his best album since Maxinquaye and the quality herein never disappoints. From rocked out guitar tunes to a floating ending titled 'Song For Yukiko', the quality is maintained throughout. See www.trickyonline.com

TALVIN SINGH - HA! (Omni/Island)

Having won the Mercury music prize in 1999 and pioneered an Asian/Dance fusion, Talvin Singh's 2001 albumwas in my mind overlooked. He's done a Jennifer Lopez film The Cell and a Tomorrow's World theme and went again to Madras and Bombay to record his follow-up but the stress of overwork shows and this vocal-led (including Hothouse Flowers man Liam O'Maonlai ) potpourri of sound fails to take-off.

Detroit Escalator Company - Black Buildings (Peacefrog)

Recommended by DJ friend Nick Luscombe, this is the future of Detroit Techno. Absolutely cool stuff, as Ambient as a Blade Runner soundtrack this spaces out percussion tracks and keyboard traces. There's even an acoustic guitar but it never fails to deliver a new conception in percussion music. See www.detroitescalator.com



PETE NAMLOOK

SILENCE V (Fax 2001)
THE EVOLUTION OF THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOOG (Fax 2002)
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOOG 9 (Fax 2002)

Though prolific does not equal good the weekly output of Pete Namlook does produce some wonders. Silence V is awesome stuff, like flying across a desert landscape and picking out the animals and terrain underneath. All tracks are trance-inducing miracles especially 'Master Of The Sky' and 'Picnic'. The Evolution disc is a summation of the amazing collaboration between Namlook and Klaus Schulze from 1994 to 1999 (DSOTM 1 - VIII). Robert Moog intros and Bill Laswell joins in on two tracks. If you like Pink Floyd puns 'Be Careful With That AKS, Peter', then this is for you. But the best album is Dark Side Of The Moog 9 which recaptures those glorious big albums of Schulze's from the 1970s. On a big system it sounds totally unearthly and includes those strange Siberian winter chords of Klaus's Moog synthesizer.

Other fax releases:

HOME SHOPPING (with Move D)(2002) : Two interesting tracks - 'Arm Candy' and 'Detox'.

LIVE IN HEIDELBERG (with David Moufang)(Oct 2001) : Good soft Techno including 'Enjoy Jazz' with its jazz guitar at 10.29 and 'False Decodings'.

NEW ORGANIC LIFE 2 (2001) / 3 (2002) : Explores the idea of Granular Synthesis after Iannis Xenakis and Giovanni Di Poli which is "digitally encoded music to construct new entities in sound". Good idea but makes for difficult music. After a broadcast via terrestial antenna, cable & satellite Frankfurt Rundfunk, Namlook released the session as 3.

OUTLAND 2 (With Bill Laswell (1996): Recorded after a trip to Africa is equal parts dark, North African and funky Techno.

PSYCHONAVIGATION 5 (with Bill Laswell)(2002): Dedicated to Oskar Sala who died Feb 26th 2002. Premium cut 'Life Eternal'.

RATHER INTELLIGENCE 4 (Rather Interesting Compo 2002): Music from Erik Satin, Los Samplers, The Disk Orchestra plus four new tracks.

ROGER TURBOSOUND ENSEMBLE - Plays Just Notes (2002) : Fake jazz with Sun Ra and Monk samples, esoteric Wire territory.

SHADES OF ORION 2 (1995): Another reissue of deep galactical chill-out from Tetsu Inoue and Namlook. One single track!

SYN 2 (2002) : With Jenny Gibert. One track is called 'Meditation On Modern Philosophy' which is kinda leafy Technodelia.

THE AMBIENT COOKBOOK 2 (2002) : Another four-discer of Pete’s favourite Ambient tracks to cook by. Excellent Fax overview. Contains classic Enoesque Ambiant Otaku by Tetsu Inoue.

VIEW TO A CHILL (2001) : Compilation good excerpts from Pete Namlook solo albums

VIRTUAL VICES 3 (2001) / 4 (2002) (with Wolfram Spyra 2001): Track titles like 'Event Horizon' & 'What About God' may sound pretentious but 'Oscillations 3' just floats along. More floaty stuff with surprising funky guitar on 'We Don't Mind The Rain'.

WIRED (with Move D aka David Moufang 2001): Whose best track is the 25 minute 'Softwired'.

ALSO OUT

Nils Petter Molvaer - NP3 (Sula) : Amazing Norwegian trumpeter who is pushing the envelope created by Miles Davis, Eno and Bill Laswell. Has worked with ECM legend Manfred Eicher. Drained Ambient soundscapes meets beaty jazz soundtrack.

Herbie Hancock - Future 2 Future (Transparent Music) : Produced by Bill Laswell meeting of jazz and underground electronica featuring Carl Craig, Chaka Khan, A Guy Called Gerald, Wayne Shorter, Jack De Johnette. Heavily influenced by 70s Miles this is retro music at its most transparent.

Verve - Remixed - Following on from the Thievery Corporation project this disc features MJ Cole, Thievery Corp, Rae & Christian, De Phazz, Masters Of Work, King Britt and Tricky remixing Ella, Billie, Astrud, Nina and Sarah V. Best track is Tricky's reworking of Holiday's 'Strange Fruit' with its plucking bass and elephant horns.

Paul Oakenfold : Bunkka (Perfecto) : A proper album with guitars and beats with contributions from Tricky, Ice Cube, Nelly Furtado, Grant Lee Philips and Hunter S. Thompson! Ranges from pure pop through Soul, Rap and atmospheric modern electronica. See www.pauloakenfold.com

Various - Man Ray Vol 2 (Editions Milan) : French lounge compo featuring Zero 7, Nitin Sawhney, Deepak Ram & others.

The Blue Bar - Essential Collection (Blue Bar): Amazing compo from Gunther at Formentera's extremely chilled-out Blue Bar. This set will set you right for the night, especially Sons Of Silence, Deep Dive Corp, Nova Nova (with a native Islander speaking Formentera Catalan) and Watts & Joynes tremendous 'Blue Bar Dub'. See www.bluebarformentera.com

Richie Hawtin & Sven Vath - The Sound Of The Third Season (Novamute) : Mix album of Euro-Techno from Cocoon 2002 nights at Amnesia in Ibiza including 'reality' sounds from actual season. The return of Techno??

Amorphous Androgynous - The Mello Hippo Disco Show (FSOL) : New recordings by Cobain & Dougans featuring over 30 minutes of remixadelica.

COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE ABOVE RESIDES WITH MARK PRENDERGAST. ANY EDITOR’S OR PUBLISHERS WISHING TO QUOTE FROM THE ABOVE WRITINGS CAN DO SO AS LONG AS THEY ENQUIRE BY EMAIL markp@cdboxset.co.uk

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