An outstanding album. Regarding the comment of nothing much happens in some of the tracks, hmm, that's what we call groove mate, you get a good loop and you roll with it. Subtlety is one of my favourite nuances of music, and that's inherent in this album. Lush, deep, rolling and endless, you really don't want some of these tracks to end.
There are a lot of 'deep' producer's around at the moment, and it's becoming the norm to have lush reverb's, long dubby delay's and other trademark signs of deep techno/house, but groove is something very few producer's have a knack of capturing.
Want to know what i mean?? Buy the damn album!
I love this album, and with 18 years of hearing this sort of music that saying a lot, as for the production, this record could have been released 15 years ago in that respect, it's not dated, more like timeless.

In two minds about this. Jochem's warm, over-pumped (that's a good thing - this guy loves his sidechaining) production is unique and returns for a well overdue album length. The lush, funky space grooves on Dead Bears are very similar to the Twenty EP. If you liked that, you should try this.

But there's a problem: whereas Twenty was harrowingly short and none of the tracks outstayed their welcome, on Dead Bears the opposite is true. Most of these tunes start, and repeat, and repeat and repeat over and over for far too long. Kirana's Lament is both a highlight and a culprit, with its marvellously hypnotic, shuffled house rhythm. But NOTHING else happens. I can barely make out some mixing and filtering changes but that's it. For eight bloody minutes. The Force goes further, suffering the same problem for a whopping ten minutes. Star Power, conversely, continues to change around, introducing variations on its pretty sparkly minimalistic melodies, and makes its point within 3 minutes.

If you love the production, you will undoubtedly want this, but some judicious editing is recommended.

Astounding album by newworldaquarium!

'The Dead Bears' in my opinion, is his best output of works in a while, since the re-release of 'Themefrom/NY' 12" also on Delsin/Nwaq

Honestly there's not a duff track here folks. Admittedly, there's noting new in terms of sound & production from our favourite Dutch pioneer as such here, but then again, that's what I love about his sound, it is defiantly HIS sound.

Distorted bass sounds & the overlaying uplifting chords in 'The Force'. Always evolving minutely. Always fresh sounding too.

The sexy sounds of 'Star Power', drifting along, with slow hi-hats and background swathes of sound, drifting in & out. Not long enough but great.

Another great highlight is the 'oh-so' catchy 'Kirana's Lament' Immediately,the groove just grabs your attention & you don't want it to end. Play this doozy out & watch for reactions.

Dead Bears harks back in places to his seminal breakthrough EP 'Fragments' from 1992 i think anyway.

Only 7 tracks on here & with a full CD release at end of Feb 2008 (with 4 bonus tracks) this will & should be marked as a great work from this quite reclusive artist.

Note: This LP release is limited to 500 units only. Get your a$$ to your nearest dealer now!