steady-j, Jul 31, 2005
Graham Sutton caused quite a stir in 97, the former idm/leftfield upstart who has effortlessly joined the progressive edge of the mainstream d scene, having (it is rumoured) been wooed by WARP among others in the process. His "Urban Space/Still" 12" remains something of a classic, and this album explored his patch of d territory, erring on the lighter side of things, producing widely differing reactions from his audience. Breaking off with "Soul Beat Runna", which had previously been issued as a single, a generally fairly dreamy track which features a fat buzzing b-line, and narrowly avoids the soupiness of much of this supposedly arty drum-n-bass. "Mind Control" follows, with a kind of techstep-lite feel - the atmosphere is dark but not evil and the breaks are powerful but not enormous. There are also some wicked blippy techno noises in this, and an interesting breakdown with a nifty little guitar riff and lots of reverb. "The River (VIP)" features a female vocal snippet, and pretty much amounts to a reprise of the sounds of Goldie's "Timeless" album. Washes past pleasantly but doesn't really go anywhere. "You Like it Like that" which follows, is, by contrast, a hard dark stormer of a track, a switchback ride of alternating breaks, massive basslines and the usual bag of dark sound effects. "A.C.I.D." seems like another Bukem/Goldie soundalike track until the bendy buzzy synths and occasional shock breaks start. Finally a wicked swopping and wiping acid synth line dances along with the track, providing an excellent counterpoint to the lush instrumentation and occasional female vocal samples. "Where it's at" features some Martin Luther King snippets over its jazz/techstep hybrid track, and "Secret Life" is a lush downtempo smoocher. With its 80bpm tempo it could be a really useful mellow interlude in a smooth jazzy d set. On the last side, "Still" was a familiar stormer from he earlier issued single, and "Lazarus" is another lush piece, though lacking some of the twists of earlier tracks on the LP. Overall, then a beautifully produced, cleverly positioned (between dark and light) album, very clever and innovative at its time, occupying perhaps similar territory to Goldie's "Timeless" from a couple of years before.
4.8/5 (