Celtic Cross - Hicksville

In order to appreciate this album you should listen the CD in a high quality soundsystem. I was amazed how differently it sounded on an old Sony with a pair of big speakers compared to a new Panasonic with a smaller set of speakers.

On a cheap equipment, such as my new Panasonic, the music sounds very boring, compared to other Downtempo projects of Simon Posford such as 'Mystery Of The Yeti' or Shpongle. On a more 'hi-fi' system you will enjoy the acoustic guitar work & the bass (as well as many other instruments such as the violin, oud, flute and various percussion instruments) and you will see that this album is just as great.

Most of the music in this album is done in Downtempo\Dub style, with the exception of the the violin driven techno of Darshanon and a part of Khatmandu featuring some dancefloor beats.

Vocal samples:
- Hicksville - 'Oh my god, are we EVER in Hicksville' - William S. Burroughs
- Jade Garden - 'I stumbled upon the philosopher's stone. I had the veil of illusion pulled out and was confronted by the many levels of energy and many realms of consciousness which were available to man. I opened the pandora's box of multiple realities. Describe how I managed control, I could say psychedelic realms I became tuned in on a network of neurological signals; on a cellular resonance that radiate hundreds of millions of times per second within my body. The last six years, I have taken the voyage out of my mind, into my head, into my cells, over 300 times. Each time I make this voyage, I tried to communicate with fellow voyagers, and to my fellow men. Partly there's a result of our experiences, at the present time, over a million americans, have had the experience of going the underline, into the irri, shifting, halucinogen' - Timothy Leary

If you like Shpongle, you ought to listen to this album as well - the sound is very much alike, even though Simon Posford is working with Youth here, and not Raja Ram. The opener "Hicksville" immediately had its grip on me when it starts away with that mighty clashing sound after the intro break. A wonderful journey through electronic music! The only disappointment are the last two tracks - "Louden", a wonderful guitar & flute ballad, end all too abruptly, and "Darshannon" is some sorta celtic-dancefloor-goa which doesn't fit to the rest of the album at all (I wonder who had the crappy idea to squeeze this track onto the album).