Mitch Walcott - Europa

Mitch Walcott joins the esteemed company of those techno artists who have been fascinated by, and wish to evoke a sense of, the moons (and rings) of Saturn and Jupiter; Mark Gage (Yes, Vapourspace's famous track is supposed to be titled "Gavitational Arch of Io" (another moon of Jupiter), Underground Resistance in the shape of X-102, Sequential (Pete Namlook), Photek, Goldie... I'm sure the list is far longer. Maybe its the influence of 2001 A Space Odyssey, or maybe the pictures that came back from the Voyager probes in the late 70s had a lasting impact on some of these musicians.
Whatever the case, Mitch has come up with a very strong addition to the canon, and a highly recommended piece for any collection of darker ambient sounds (not to be confused with the trippy fluffy post-club ambient stuff).
Each track is rich and evocative, from the gentle spacey opening tracks, to the machine sounds of "Drilling Through the Ice", the powerful chord-driven orchestral sound of "Reaching The Subsurface Ocean" (highly reminiscent of Pete Namlook meets UR in a beatless string moment), the static introed and overlaid "Crash Landing...", the Thomas Koner-esque darkness of "Sinking..." and the gentler release of "Descent..."
I cannot agree more with the previous reviewer - this is ideal listening for late nights and darkened rooms; be prepared for some scary moments and some very uplifting ones too, and expect to be absorbed by the richness and depth of these pieces.

A sonic soundscape to travel through time with. Mitch Walcott has recorded a CD that oozes texture and is great to listen to in the early hours, although track (3)'Driiling through the ice' can scare the sh*t out of you !!