I began as a lukewarm appreciator of this release after having sought it vigorously for some time--it's not an easy (or cheap) CD to come by.

But here I am, it's 2008, and I'm listening to this compilation as I work, and it's positively thrilling as a body of work. Some serious inspiration was flowing through the Hardkiss blood during the 1994-1997 time period, this compilation falling towards the beginning of that period. Particularly impressive is how dynamic each track is, and together how dynamic these tracks make the album. Listening to "Delusion" from start to finish is no test in patience. This music has vibrancy and moves whether you do or not.

A few elements I find a little silly, particularly the rainforest-style atmospherics; I think one track actually has a few monkey screeches in it. Here and there new-age female vocal hums come dangerously close to one of those "mood" compilation CDs you buy off the television. But these minor complaints shouldn't deter anyone from hearing this music. I suppose they're more directed to people who've already heard this album and have contributed to its superlative 4.8 discogs rating, which it nearly deserves.

Scott, Gavin, and Robbie were all great producers, and this is a good portion of the cream of their output. So, believe that it's as artful as people say; because even if it's not, who cares? The pleasure this compilation provides from start to finish comes so wonderously easily to the listener and lasts after repeated listens.

It honestly doesn't get much better than this one here. Thomas Fehlmann is a proper electronic producer. (Mr. Fehlmann happens to be that guy who wasn't Dr. Patterson in that wonderful group The Orb circa 1991--"Little Fluffy Clouds"!)

But nonetheless, this album is a stunning tapesty of aural fabrics that resist conventional description. Fehlmann has that golden touch--which was also strong with brave Sir Richard D. James--of great producers that will absorb your attention while you're still deciding whether this type of music is "for you." You'll find yourself (in the right circumstances) concocting absurd abstractions in a silly fight to articulate what you're hearing: "Oh this VELvelty organ hoof was being cushioned by a four-to-the-floor" beat that screamed "precious" every three beat."
Ookaaay...SEEyuh!

Just simply beautiful stuff. One that stands apart from some of the stale sounds being recycled these days. Check out Kalabrese's "Rumpelzirkus" as if you enjoyed this one. He deserves more attention than he gets.

My personal rating would be about 2.4.

This album reeks of crossover pop nonsense (check out the putrid "One in Ten"). Ian McEwan's cameo on "Moses" is unremarkable at best due to the lazy, uninteresting chorus.

In addition, the breakbeat-house-style tracks (which I think are generally among 808's better stuff--such as "San Francisco" of Ex:EL) are here laced with frustrating decorative FX that distract from the beats--which aren't great to begin with.

The bottom line is that their previous album "ex:el" is exponentially better than this album. This album just doesn't MOVE. Where's the funk, fellas?

This is the sound of 808 going off the deep end after a solid run. PLEASE check out their previous two albums if you hate or even LIKE this album.

This is a decent collection. In other words, most of the material is pleasant, albeit somewhat forgettable.

The best track, hands down, is Ed Rush's "Skylab." It's a careful production that is dark and seductive.

But as is the case with the other Artcore releases, too many tracks on Artcore 3 try too hard to convice the listener that the "chill-out" state is transcendant.

The fact is that in most cases the strive for chilling-out your listeners results in boredom after a few listens, not to mention the fact that, as a producer, you give less attention to more timeless porduction values such as momentum, aesthetic individuality, and texture.

It's true that saxophones, synthetic strings, and bongos sound damn smooth when layered over a tinny jungle rhythm. But Jungle is a genre in which melody takes a very distant back seat to rhythm. To sum up my point, chill-out jungle provides a shallow well of ideas from which to draw. It cannot sprout more than a few dozen classic tracks, to say nothing of entire compilations.

The rating above is a little higher than it should be. Some of the tracks here are excellent, namely Optical's "sleepless." It is far and above the best on the album. Another highlight is T-Power's "Mutant Remix," which actually employs a nearly identical drum pattern as the Doc Scott's disappointing "Drumz 95," and manages to surpass that track musically.

Some of the later tracks on the album, particularly LTJ bukem's remix, suffer from that tendency of so much "intelligent drum n bass" where new age chill-out effects fill the void of more interesting and important musical avenues, namely texture and momentum--which are both so important to this style of music.

First of all, this guy is a production virtuoso. Villalobos is in the same league as Alex Patterson and Richard D. James.

This release is no exception to his brilliant catalogue of music. The album is bookended by the two best tracks: "hireklon" and "true to myself." They are two of the most hypnotizing electonic music tracks I've heard.

While tech-house and especially minimalistic techno can begin to eat away at your consciousness after a while, Villalobos's work is a ray of sunshine.

In the case of this album though, that ray of sunshine is warm but dark. These tracks wreak of menace and brilliance. Highly, highly recommended.

ps. If you are like me and rate the tracks on your albums, here's a tip: the worst track is "Hello Halo"--but since he's so far above most other producers, it's still pretty good.

This collection deserves a higher rating!

These artists packed this album with ideas that subsequently influenced a lot of artists who were doing the trance-thing in the mid-nineties. In terms of momentum and build-up, you'll find in this collection some of the most impressive four-to-the-floor beat tracks that were available at this time.

The style of this music isn't warm--just to forewarn you. These are ice-cold trance, techno, and acid bangers. And that doesn't mean that they don't bring the funk at times.

To anyone who'd refer to the sound of these songs as "dated" should realize that electronic music doesn't necessarily get "better" with new technology. The goal is maximizing the potential of available tools to create the most physical and invigorating experience possible. That's why chicago acid house still rocks, and that's why these tracks are excellent. Try to appreciate the aesthetic of ice cold techno and what it can do for your body and mind; it will make you a warmer person by virtue of its visceral quality.

It's a surprisingly solid record. You'll won't be bored or feel like you're listening to new age music, which is what i half expected to hear given their new age music band name. I'll admit some of the ambient drum circle music is litte silly, but the beat-based material that bookends those ambient parts is really well done. It succeeds in becoming greater than the sum of its parts. If you like this listen to children of the bong, which is another awesome band with a slightly embarassing name that you don't really want to say out loud to someone who asks, "hey, this is really good music. who is it?" I think i'll try writing it down on a piece of paper and handing it to the person if that ever happens.

A relatively undiscovered gem of glitch and hip hop explorations. Several tracks have really dizzying polyrhythms that put a bit smile on my face the first time that I heard them. Don't be distracted by the chintzy sounding name--this is a DJ Spooky project that is satisfying and intellectually impressive. I give him credit for using such esoteric names for his tracks. It ensure that most people would be discouraged from giving it a try--which is shame, because I think this is one of the best instrumental breaks/trip hop style albums I've ever heard.

I love italo-disco because the aesthetic of it is so precise: it's sinister, sexy, and sooo much fun. These artists really do a nice job of using that classic italo-disco style. The fact that a group of people enjoy this genre to create such an authentic album is really charming. And this is one darn good listen. My favorite tracks are those by Glass Candy. I highly recommend picking it up (if you can find it!).