Baked Beans - Baked Beans

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous review. Whilst this album is never going to split your mind wide open, it is one of a select few ambient releases from the early nineties that I seem to return to frequently.

The opening track, Bake Daga, is one of the most sublime pieces of ambient-electronica I've ever heard; made all the more impressive by it's almost childlike simplicity. To take a bass / percussion loop, add a few drone effects and improvised piano, and manage to keep it interesting for its full duration is a testament to the talent involved in this (and the other) Baked Beans albums.

It's certainly not music for attentive listening, but I've found that it is one of the few releases in its genre that is perfect for any environment or mood.. Not quite melancholy, not quite 'nice', it seems to sit somewhere in between, and it does so brilliantly. This is the perfect album for chilling out after a long day, working, or (and I apologize for the cheesiness of this statement) curling up in bed next to someone that you care about.. And as far as the latter goes, I've found this album to be a beautiful experience every time.

If you are a fan of early-nineties ambient music, or similar artists such as Woob, Global Communication or any of the other Recycle Or Die / Em:t artists, I simply can't reccomend this enough.

Baked Beans, with their eponymous debut album, remind us of the good old days of ambient, when 10+ minutes of music was the norm. “Bake Daga” takes a simple bassline, a gently drifting melody, and loops it, adding some semi-improvisational piano just to keep things interesting. “Desert Bean” goes into Bedouin tribal territory, where the long notes conjure wind-swept sands, intense heat, and Arabic percussion. Some chanting adds authenticity. “Heintz 1” takes us to outer space, with some metal synth pads and drawn-out tones to accompany us on the journey. Halfway through, a bass and a drum pattern enter -- some slight turbulence in space. And the final track, “Has Bean,” is content just to be there, like sonic wallpaper. While this isn’t the best ambient music ever, it certainly makes for a nice atmosphere.