Ceephax* - Exidy Tours

Squarepusher’s little brother, known here as Ceephax, tosses off some science on EXIDY TOURS, a group of mostly short songs that drip acid. “Exidy” takes the drill ‘n’ bass aesthetic and makes it an analog experience, while “Camelot Jostle” goes for a jittery baroque. “Vladijenk” is a coolly-subdued hardcore track, if you can imagine it. The two longer tracks, “Moor” and “Essex Remblance” span from ambient to digital drum ‘n’ bass, respectively. There seems to be a surfeit of ideas on this album, but not all of them are fully-baked -- a few tracks, like the fast and tough “Hull Drum and Bass” or the frenzied “Trolley Service,” end just as they’re getting going. And the sound mix for the album overall seems odd; the medium tones seem overly muffled in favor of the bass. Perhaps next time, Mr. Jenkinson will even out the levels some, as well as bring his ideas to completion.

An absolute stonker of an LP, Although very different from Ceephax's self titled lp on Breakin, this firstcask release has some absolute classics on it Exidy been one of the most obvious choices, Not forgetting Camelot jostle for its medieval cartoon madness and Rolls Royce for that everso familiar voice!! Any Squarepusher fans or people with half an ounce of good taste should buy this NOW, Hands in the air for Hull Drum and Bass!!

Surprisingly, this album steps outside its genre in a big way. The self-titled double album was great -- but it fit into a certain niche (acid techno) and didn't really concern itself with doing anything outside that genre. Exidy Tours is another story, however. Boards of Canada-ish ambient interludes (clearly recorded on fuzzy cassette tape... lovely!) break up the album, which is comprised of acid-y broken drum-n-bassy IDM. Some tracks are really strange (the Casio ones), some are very beautiful, and some are very worthy of a dancefloor. Overall a very, very well-rounded album and some of the best IDM I've heard in 2003.