MACRO DUB INFECTION VOL.I - VÁRIOS (1995)

Macro Dub Infection Vol.I was compiled by Kevin Martin, leading member of God, Ice and Techno-Animal, and contributor to The Wire.

Disc1: The Disciples, Spring Heel Jack, Two Badcard, Automaton, Bedouin Ascent, The Rootsman, Coil, Omni Trio, Laika, New Kingdom, Tortoise, Skull vs. Ice >>> 320k

Disc2: Bud Alzir, Extremadura, 4-Hero, The Golden Palominos, Mad Professor, Wagon Christ, Scorn, Tricky, Iration Steppas, Bandulu, Earthling. >>> 320k

AMON TOBIN - Permutation (1998)

Amon Tobin's mixing of jazz noir with breakbeats on Permutation resulted in one of the most infectious electronica discs of 1998. Using hard-bop drum samples, extended horn passages, and a constant groove, Tobin succeeded where others have fallen short: he captured the essence of jazz and made it ready for the dance floor. Thoroughly enjoyable and swinging. JASON V.

With its lush strings; its deep, snaking bass tremors; and its odd patches of percussive irritants, Amon Tobin's Permutation album sounds at times like the kind of noir-ish drum & bass that Luke Vibert has left behind. Such torch passing seems fitting since Permutation's focus on jazz sample sources grew out of Tobin's own career switch: dropping, if only for now, the Brazilian percussion and pop flavors that have long infused his home-brewed electronica. A languorous dollop of bossa nova closes this album, but otherwise it almost exclusively explores jazz: hard-bop drum solos, luscious horn lines, and mellifluous fusoid guitar. Tobin programs all this expressly analog material into his small battery of synthesizers and produces one of the strongest albums of 1998. MARC W.

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PROCESS - Various Artists - Caipirinha (1997)

Process, a classic compilation from Caipirinha (1997), includes tracks from Nonplace Urban Field, Subhead, Mika Vainio, Critical Mass, Freddie Fresh, Khan, Surgeon, Si Begg, Dj Cam, Vibra. >>> Link320

PAN SONIC - Katodivaihe (2007)

The duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen have been around now since 1994 (they started as a trio mind you), and have a huge discography to their name, but recently they have experienced an upsurge in popularity thanks to Richie's Minimal possee and Sleeparchive re-discovering just how forward-thinking and crushing their early Sahko releases were. It would be easy to pass over their umpteenth album by thinking you've heard it all before - but that's where you'd be so totally wrong. Blending together everything they do best, this is to my mind Pan Sonic's most successful album to date - we have grinding noise-laden beats, bass so heavy it could flip over monster trucks, ambience that sounds like it's been twisted through masses of iron machinery and then little bits of seasoning thrown in liberally just so we realise the guys have had their ears wide open all this time. The album starts with 'Virta 1' and we're introduced to that patented analogue grind - the sound of real machinery at work : filthy, bleak and obscene. Suddenly and without warning however, we are introduced to a blackened cello sound (courtesy of Hildur Gudnadottir) and the album moves into another realm entirely. Taking cues from Murcof or Deaf Center, Pan Sonic side-step the teutonic pulsing they are known for and bring in an entirely new layer to their sound, and what's more it works, it works beautifully. What Vainio and Väisänen don't do however is repeat the trick over and over ad-infinatum, when the track is over the idea is put to rest, and we're onto the next experimentation. I think it's the awareness of current musical practices that makes me so excited by 'Katodivaihe', Pan Sonic manage to incorporate so much into every track it just drips with knowledge and with a deep understanding of music itself. Just flip over to the album's highlight (for me) 'Hyonteisistä' - this is Pan Sonic taking on the same murky world that gave us dubstep and coming out with a track that transcends the genre like nothing else : the bass is thicker, the beats are heavier and the mood is darker....and then before you even realise it the track has morphed into a half-tempo crunk monster - I'm not kidding, and if you've heard this track piped through gigantic speakers then really you will know the true meaning of low-end DESTRUCTION. Elsewhere we have the duo re-visiting the classic sound of those early Sahko 12's with the bleeping, reduced genius of 'Laptevinmeri', they tap into the sort of beatless atmospherics that would send shivers down the spine of Ed Gein with 'Kytkennat' and by the time the album draws to a scraping, screaming close you're left gasping for more, and ready to experience the whole thing all over again. Pan Sonic are a band who transcend classification -they do it all and they do it so well, and with 'Katodivaihe' they have put together the electronic album of the year. Whether you're an avid follower of the noisy sadism of Wolf Eyes or Throbbing Gristle or a dedicated techno devotee, there's simply something for everyone here - open your mind and trust me, the rewards will be endless. Essential purchase. BOOMKAT >>> Link320

MUSLIMGAUZE - ZURIFF MOUSSA (1997)

Numbered edition of 700 copies in hand-made digipak sleeve.

All tracks recorded in 1997. From original sleeve notes: Zurif - Palestinian Village. Moussa - Hamas martyr.

Dedicated to Abdullah Kalil Abdullah, Palestinian, killed by Israel.

Your blood will not be wasted, and the answer will be in Tel Aviv - quote from a chant at his burial.

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MONOLAKE - Gravity (2001)

This third full-length from Berlin's Maverick Robert Henke and his seminal Monolake project was originally released back in 2000. This a truly majestic LP - not even remotely contrived, Henke always somehow manages to make you think that you are listening to a completely new kind of music - one which our lexicon is ill-equiped to describe... and yet all the constituent elements are borrowed from the now much-established Berlin sounds of fellow producers in the BC, Chain Reaction and Din Camps. One of the finest Monolake releases - spacious electronic constructions of the highest order. Recommended. BOOMKAT

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AMON TOBIN - Out From Out Where (2002)

Amon Tobin continues his adventures with the breakbeat on this, his fourth album. Darker, more complex,even more rhythmically driving and intense than ever before. Out From Out Where takes a step back to use some slightly more traditional sources (displaying in particular, a love of guitar licks). But when Tobin takes a sample source he is never happy until he has warped, filtered and messed with it until it sounds like something almost visual. Chronic Tronicsounds like martial music for giants, listening to Searchers you're gripped by a terrible sense of foreboding. Back >From Space and the intro to Hey Blondie have a genuine alien sense of wonder about them. Meanwhile, the beats, as exemplified on Triple Science, sound like an entire bloco band having a bad trip in the dirt under your fingernail. And as for El Wraith. Well, let's not even go there... In fact, this has to be the most straight-up nasty album that Tobin has made yet - music with the power to genuinely disturb. Shut the door, close the windows. Be afraid... BOOMKAT

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SI-CUT.DB - From Tears: Beach Archive (2005)

With an alias as quirky as the music he releases under its banner, U.K. producer Douglas Benford Si-(Cut).db work combines sharp, fractured rhythms with sensuous, enveloping melodies and electronic textures, the results sounding far less opposed than one might first expect. The founder of the Suburbs of Hell label, Benford has released most of his music over the last few years on that imprint, including EPs and full-lengths as Media Form, Radial Blend, and Minimal Resource Manipulation. Like artists such as Bisk or Atom Heart, Benford manages an unlikely coherence from the most disjointed of materials, playing rhythmic chaos and sample-born sound-collage off of calm, often quite lovely melodic figures. Although each project carries with it its own focus, Benford reserves Si-(Cut).db for his most frenetic work, and has released two albums to date under that name: Nuisance and 1997's fantastic Behind You, a collaboration with Scanner, released in cooperation with the Sprawl imprint... S. COOPER

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THIS IS HOME ENTERTAINMENT - Vol. 1 (1995)

Tracks from: Sub Dub / Dj Spooky / N2O (2) / Alien Mind / 4E / Byzar / Elijah / Yah Yum

Illbient is a term allegedly coined by DJ Olive to describe the iconoclastic music being produced by a community of artists based in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in 1994. The word Illbient is a portmanteau of the hip hop slang term "ill" (a positive expression: bad meaning good) and ambient. Though there are many individualistic variants of Illbient, the music is characterized by interesting dub-wise layering of soundscapes, hip hop-influenced use of samples and a progressive approach to beat programming that encompasses all genres of world groove and electronic music. Illbient was introduced to the public at large in 1996 through the Asphodel Records Incursions in Illbient compilation and a feature in The Wire magazine.

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LIMINAL LOUNGE - Pre-set (1997)

Danny Blume (guitar, bass programming, tapes);

Marc Ribot (guitar);

John Medeski, Tony Maimone (synthesizer);

Jonathan Maron (bass guitar);

Ben Perowsky (drums);

Lloop (sampler);

DJ Olive (turntables)

Audio Mixers: Rob Grenoble; James McLean; Danny Blume.

Recording information: Knit Fac Studio; Liminal Lounge.

Creator: Danny Blume.

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