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Banco De Gaia - Heliopolis (The City Of The Sun Mixes) - 02-Dec-07 12:35 AM
This release demonstrates how a remix really should be in my view: a different slant, taking nothing away from the original and retaining enough so as to still be recognizable. It should be an enhancement rather than a non-descript reworking stripped of its original luster.
Here we have three top quality remixes by the people who know the music of Banco best; Toby Marks and his co-collaborators at Planet Dog.
The first: the Eedupolis Dog Mix is a techno/ trance affair. The second: the Liquid Light Mix is more acid/ techno and the Redwood mix: the third; is a slightly less textured version of the original album mix which props up the release.
Track one begins with dramatic drums, cascading synths and handclaps reminiscent of Pressure of Speech, before heading into trance territory. The original melody and vocal combines beautifully with the progressive nature of the piece to create a myriad of hypnotic soundscapes. Masterful.
Track two kicks in almost immediately; subtle ambience releases the acidic techno rhythm.Later it becomes a tad trancier but still maintains the acid feel with plenty of alien murmurings a la Eat Static. The misty background atmospherics complete the Martian picture. Superb.
Track three is basically a rearrangement of the original tune with a bit more focus on the rhythm section- another storming rendition though.
Perhaps this release would be more effective as a whole if the Redwood and Original Album mixes were placed between the other two rather than together, being fairly similar, but still you can’t take anything away from the excellence of the tunes themselves

Orb* - Asylum (Part One) - 07-Nov-07 09:05 PM
Ok. Let’s be honest; Asylum isn’t one of the Orb’s finest tunes, but it meanders along quite nicely with typical spacey ness and has rather a catchy melody.
The intro is typical Orb; layers of ambient bleeps supplemented with voice samples-instantly recognizable. Although the slightly Orbital-esque main tune is pleasant on the ear, the rather staccato, eighties sounding keyboards ruin it a bit. Overall though, not a bad listen.
Andrew Weatherall’s minimalistic Blood Sugar Mix (1) is a real letdown. In my view he has always been overrated as both a remixer and artist in his own right. Sabresonic wasn’t that great, though the critics raved about it, and Wilmot was catchy but tedious after a few listens.
I don’t see where he gets his lofty reputation from, but I digress. He proceeds to dissect Dr Paterson and co’s work here, stripping it down to a monotonous lecture given by some crusty old professor. Cue yawning. Once again I marvel at the choice of remixer. Mr. Weatherall is more suited to heavy machinery and factory grime-nothing like the Orb at all.
Andrea Parker’s mad house mix is an improvement, bringing back some of the Orb sound at least and incorporating some effective bass and percussion work. It’s still rather stark, though its rhythm keeps us mostly involved throughout. It reminds me a bit of an Air Liquide tune.
So, a bit disappointing on the remix front, but worth picking up if only for the splendid cover and sleeve artwork-a must for any true Orb fan.

Timeshard - Crystal Oscillations - 31-Oct-07 09:46 AM
Timeshard’s Crystal Oscillations is a real electronic journey, from the psy-trance techno of the first tracks to the spaced out ambience of the last, a must for all lovers of the genre.
Track one; Voodoo Chronometer-an ambient/acid techno groove- takes a while to get going. It ambles along amicably with no real intent for three minutes or so then finally gives us a half decent buildup and a bass-line almost worth the wait. The Orbital-like bleeps and hydrochloric mutterings which follow make for a quality tune from here on in and it even kicks off a bit more towards the end but it’s too little too late I feel.
In contrast, track two, 25th Century, gets rolling quickly and settles into a progressive ambient trance groove which moves along at a nice pace and holds our focus throughout with some subtle synth sounds, shimmering trance moments and a hypnotic rhythm to boot.
Psionic Lattice is next up. Another upbeat tune, it combines elements of techno, acid and trance with a bit of ambient thrown in. Lots of good stuff going on here but I can’t help thinking that the background synths don’t really fit in with the rest of the piece, especially the cascading waterfall of a melody which is sublime.
Metamind slows things down a notch or three. Lovely trancy intro then the succulent bass arrives right on cue. Great, crisp percussive work on this track and what could be Steve Hillage’s twin brother on guitar in the shadows. This piece is a lot more chilled than the previous three but captures the ear in a way that he others don’t. It lulls and enchants dreamily. Great stuff.
The mood changes again for Oracle-an acid, space dub, which bounces along as if a group of visiting aliens had commandeered some discarded seventies children’s space hoppers and are off on an earth adventure. As such, this is a very uplifting and cheerful tune, and we are in no doubt that our little green men are friendly, inquisitive wee chaps. After a day exploring forest, field and village, they return to their spaceship in the clearing, still bouncing, though now slightly more sedately after the day’s exertions. The paperwork can wait ‘til morning.
The album winds down further with track six; Cosmic Carrot, which is a slow, spacey sitar laced affair, bringing to mind smoke-filled Indian teahouses and snake charmers plying their trade in dusty, backstreet alleyways. This version doesn’t pick up pace as the one on the Peel Your Head release on Strange Fruit does, maintaining it’s leisurely amble throughout.
Crystal Oscillations, the title track and the longest on the album is a real spaced-out piece starting in a Namlook kind of mood with some really beautiful ambient swirls. The tribal drumming starts up around three minutes in and is combined masterfully with both the sweeping synths and stellar bleeps which really drag us into the soundscape. The sitar from Cosmic Carrot returns also to add its Eastern flavour to the mix.
Human Error is an ambient Orb-esque tapestry; best appreciated extremely late at night or just as the sun is coming up. Sweeping ambience dominates the piece, juxtaposed with alien murmurings and eerie voices.
Secret Song of the Sea starts off in the murky depths of some giant underwater chasm and moves slowly towards the surface. It wouldn’t sound out of place on an Ozric Tentacles album -lots of soaring synth work here. It lazily kicks in around the five minute mark as our submarine craft rises then the beat fades as we begin to see shafts of glinting sunlight slanting through the water from the world above, before we break the waves..
Track ten. Deep space or deep water, the choice is yours. Either way, it’s dark and I really don’t want to bump into The Others mentioned in the title.

Eat Static - Hybrid - 18-Oct-07 07:28 AM
The original mix of Hybrid has an intro that starts off way out in space somewhere, then blasts us into an acid frenzy before the bass has even kicked in.When it does, shortly after, we are in for a treat-the tune moves along at quite a pace, at first maintaining the acid feel combined with those ambient atmospherics from the intro, then moving into trance territory.This section is rather reminiscent of their first two albums on Planet Dog, though the beat is more aggressive.The next part returns to the acid techno vein and Merv and Joie entertain with an array of weird and wonderful sounds as the tune progresses-one mesmorizing loop sounds slightly off kilter but is very effective indeed.One thing missing perhaps are some of their classic B-movie samples, that would really top it off.Still a great tune though.
The PFM mix is nine and a half minutes or so of classic ambient drum and bass in a Good Looking Records kind of vein.Although it's pleasant on the ears and takes us on a relaxing, meandering ride it fails to sparkle and seems to be lacking something.A slightly strange choice of remix I feel and definitely one for the purists of this genre.Also, the original tune seems to have disappeared!
The Infinity Project remix shimmers in, then states it's intent immediately with a pounding beat as the trance begins.Certainly this version is less acidic and more melodic than the original-plenty of layered sounds to keep us interested and even a voice sample is added though it's rather muffled, reminiscent of an Optic Eye tune perhaps.The piece is five and a half minutes of decent techno/trance but doesn't really bring the house down.
Overall I'd say the original mix shines above the other two.

Banco De Gaia - Kincajou - 08-Oct-07 11:04 PM
For the remixes of Banco De Gaia's fabulous tune Kincajou,Toby Marks and Planet Dog,strangely in my opininon,opt for an industrial techno/trance theme which really doesn't do the piece that much justice.
Oliver Leib may be a top D.J/producer but his style doesn't really suit this tune-track one of the four track maxi single.The main voice sample is slowed down early on,almost in a mockery of the original,then later similarly speeded up.Although moody in a factory thump kind of way,this remix doesn't really offer anything particularly awe-inspiring and is fairly detached from the original.There's probably something their for Leib fans but not for those of Banco.If not for the aforementioned adjusted voice sample,we'd be hard-pushed to recognise the original piece-tenuous to say the least.
Track two-here come the norse gods-is a reworking my Toby himself and kicks along at a decent pace with it's crescendo drumbeat hinting at trance and spacey background atmospherics.Better use is made of the voice sample this time-it fits in nicely with the track's other components although it feels a little inbalanced due to the subtle nature of the vocal not really being enhanced by the tough,in-your-face drumbeat.
Ultimately the tune fails to deliver a knockout punch.
Speedy J takes the controls for track three.It's a solid techno remix with plenty of sound effects to keep the listener interested.As a remix it disappoints but holds it's own as an independent tune seeing as,again,we don't hear much of the original save the reworked voice sample which (again)seems out of place here.To me it's a piece that conjures up images of giant,cold storage warehouses-vast and frozen.This directly opposes the warmth of the original.
The original album mix reminds us what Banco is all about:masterful sampling,with layers of subtle sounds,melodies and drumbeats combined to create a blissed-out,sun-kissed ambient techno experience.
Reworkings more in the vein of Heliopolis(City of the Sun Remixes) would have been more appropriate I feel.

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