23 Degrees – ...An Endless Searching For Substance

This album is a shining beacon in the field of 90s ambient works. Many longplayers from this era can be - dare I say - a bit flimsy, very reliant on the atmosphere created by pads or simple arpeggios. Pleasant, but often not rewarding multiple listens. "...An Endless Searching For Substance" is different: It is a varied collage of sounds and genres, incorporating Dub ("The Other Side"), stare-at-the-wall ambient ("The End of New Beginnings", "Dissolver of Sugar") and contemplative chill out-room techno ("Radio Free Ian"). The opener "The Start Of An Unfinished Chain Reaction" showcases the potential of this melange. But what sets the album further apart from similar experiments, for my tastes, is the influence of 90s deep house on some of these tracks. "Floating" could be an outtake from DJ Sprinkles' "Midtown 120 Blues" with its prominent bassline, spatialized, chugging percussion and some freeform piano playing. That album is itself a destillation of the best 90s NYC sounds, so that should indicate how special this track is. "A Love You Never Knew" is a bit more skeletal, but retains a similar palette in dub territory.
Maybe one for the 90s ambient reissue labels to bring out on vinyl after all these years!

What no reviews or comments! Not even one!
Ok here it goes.
So this is one of the superb early releases on the Silent Records label out of San Francisco a label that released some amazingly good electronic/ambient music compilations i.e. From Here to Tranquility series (all of them are must listens for ambient aficionados with hungry ears).
Endless Searching was the debut by an artist that seemed to have had a 2 release run and has now disappeared into the cracks of the electronic music history.
What you get here is semi lo-fi DIY dub infused electronic music mostly slower bpm but catchy with a nice dab of ethnic vocal samples but NOT Enigma or Deep Forest just a tasty smattering of chants and Jamaican voices. I love the warmth of the synths which I am guessing are of the Roland Juno variety. 23 Degrees manages to be groovy and laid back without the aural wall paper pitfalls. The bass-lines and melodies are tasteful and the feel is so much so the bong calls for the proverbial blessings! Excellent release!