808state* - Don Solaris

In 1997 when Chemicals and The Prodigy thought they wiped the boards clean of the funkiest extreme, 808 State already arrived with this bombastic masterpiece - quite compact this work, opening with a Banacheq-variation 'Intro', sliding softly menace into 'Bond' and every next step you're on your own with this album - play at maximum volume but then again watch out for the bruises... 10/10

After wandering around turntables for so long, making intelligent pieces but actually getting nowhere particular, 808 State's 'Don Solaris' is their most organised, or better say ambitious album to date. It flirts heavily with drum'n'bass but it's still their own trademarks and equipment acknowledgements they make it sound so unique and of their own. They always hated the 'dance-music' term so by escaping that reference to their stuff, they were fairly experimental, and 'Don Solaris' crossed that expermental edge at its most impressive level. Rhodes and Bradfield decently fitted in with their vocals to accompany amazingly peculiar pieces which in their nature don't directly serve the purpose as if being songs, but mesmerizingly beautiful installations for occasional vocals and massive, melodic noise. To expect more than this is a sin. Let's face it, this album is a masterpiece in the group's own right.