CJ Bolland - The Analogue Theatre

Aah, yes. What to say about "The Analogue Theatre". An album own to its time, that is to say 1996. Where Big-Beat was heavily popularized, thanks to the Chemical Brothers. Well, this album seems to make sense in its own timeframe. Heavy bassdrums, many distorted techo sounds, yelling screams by Jade4U. It's not one of my favourite CJ Bolland albums (I'm much more of an Electronic Highway man myself). Even so, listening to this album nowadays still makes sense. It has this "fresh" sound, which never quite bores.

Like many groundbreaking producers of the early 90s, Bolland's later output never quite had the same sparkle as those early classics. His second LP, Electronic Highway was limp techno and diabolical drum n bass, and his third, The Analogue Theatre is even worse.

But who cares about any of that when you have Obsidion as an opening track? 6 minutes of mighty rumbing slo-mo techno, nashamedly euphoric and eye-wateringly over the top. Utterly fantastic, even if it did take 3 albums to get there.

Bolland's breakout album with a larger crowd continues to display his roots in hard techno while springing a more percussive, wall-of-sound aesthetic closer to the Prodigy than Joey Beltram. "The Analogue Theatre," "Counterpoint" and "The Prophet" are up-front trance stormers, and "Electro Power" is an intriguing pastiche of big-beat and acid-rap. Armand Van Helden's mix of the stellar single "Sugar Is Sweeter" adds a bit of polish to the affair, and Bolland's feel for mixing gives the album a good flow.