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Darren Price - Under The Flightpath - 21-Oct-09 01:56 PM
Its strange that "Lose No Time" was selected to be the single to promote this album, as the song is not representative of the album, nor is it really very good. Most of Under The Flightpath is much better, being largely a collection of energetic, anthemic themes from one of the few UK producers to really understand and be able to reproduce the Detroit techno aesthetic, at a time when most techno of this sort was no longer being crafted by anyone outside of the Underground Resistance collective.

808 State - Quadrastate - 01-Oct-09 05:11 PM
As a group which mainly specialized in a hybrid of house and techno music, 808 State was, at least in its first half-decade, highly enigmatic. After its first release, the tracky, deep acid house collection Newbuild, it avoided the clichés of each genre, and consequently never produced anything that fit comfortably into those styles, or into any others, for that matter. When the products of this labor were coherent, evocative songs that morphed, unfolded, and refolded upon themselves like self-aware works of sonic origami, any unfamiliar aesthetics in them were easy to regard as sheer creativity, examples of a higher order of synthesized dance music. Sometimes though, the results were churning, bombastic messes of percussion and melody working in competition rather than harmony, leading the listener to wonder if a techno band ever need consist of more than two or three people. The ability of the group to straddle this artistic boundary, erring just on the side of creativity, is perhaps never more apparent than in Quadrastate, a 5½-track mini-album released in 1989. It was a stark departure from Newbuild, instead opening with loon calls, melodic synthesized pads, and of all things, a saxophone solo. Ordinarily, none of those things would bode well, but with the addition of a battery of clever drum programs, a manic bassline, and a suspenseful breakdown, the lead track, Pacific State, was an instant classic played by every forward-thinking house DJ, and then some. Licensed by ZTT, mildly remixed and released as just Pacific, the song was a UK Top 10 pop hit. The rest of Quadrastate was further left-of-center, a set of densely arranged, not-so-radio-friendly material more for the DJs and collectors, but no less adventurous or melodic than Pacific. The hopping, skipping Disco State is almost fully techno, but is built on disco-style octave basslines and seems to be a favorite of my friends despite being the weakest song on the release for me. The strongest track for me is Fire Cracker, a tune which dramatically emulates its title with every instrument while somehow remaining both listenable and danceable, an astonishing feat still unrivaled two decades later. The repetitive State Ritual alternates an ultra-hypnotic casade of staccato flute samples and multiple rolling, roiling basslines against incessantly hammering drum programs, easily earning the title of the busiest, noisiest proto-trance track of its day. State To State is an uplifting, anthemic epilogue reminiscent of State Ritual. By the end, one wants to hear it all over again.

Various - Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit - 27-Sep-09 12:40 AM
Although its importance in the history of dance music, and of techno in particular, cannot be understated, this incestuous compilation is not exactly brimming with the most innovative sounds and engaging compositions. With the exception of the #1 club hit Big Fun, the tunes are not very well constructed or at all memorable, perhaps a reason why it only attained modest sales when it was new. Listeners may be further surprised to hear how housey and dated the tracks are. This situation largely owes to the fact that the fledgling Detroit aesthetic, at the time, was nearly overwhelmed by the influence of the house music of nearby Chicago, and by 1988, repetitive, incongruous samples were all the rage. In fact, the word Dance in the album title was originally going to be House until the last-minute inclusion of the song Techno Music, a Speak-n-Spell sample-laden electro-house demo which is cute, but hardly a gem in the Juan Atkins repertoire. Further detracting from the listening experience, at least with headphones, is the fact that 7 of the 12 tracks, including Big Fun, are recorded in mono, their only stereo content seeming to be just artifacts of analogue transfers. Nevertheless, the tracks on this compilation fit right in with the rest of the 1987 and 1988 releases by the same crew, and it clearly inspired UK producers like Bizarre Inc, Nexus 21, and A Guy Called Gerald.

Seal - Newborn Friend - 22-Sep-09 11:58 PM
Although the man is in fine vocal form and the song is as poppy as any of his other hits, this ended up being one of Seals dud singles, not even making it into the UK Top 40 when it was released in late 1994. However, thanks to one brilliant remix, its my most prized Seal record. Who would have guessed itd be Ollie Dagois and Robin Hancock who would craft a captivating and relatively timeless garage house version of this song? Yet there it is, their soaring, anthemic, yet restrained Friend For Life vocal mix standing head and shoulders above the dated-the-day-they-came-out efforts by David Morales and Brothers In Rhythm. Its gem in the dollar bins; dont pass it up.

Klaus Schulze - Blackdance - 19-May-09 09:52 PM
I first heard this album in 1994 or so, and its one of about a half-dozen Klaus Schulze records Ive been exposed to. Qualitatively, it ranks somewhere in the middle. However, its a bit different from his other work, being a little colder and harsher with its rhythmic bits. At the time, I felt that were it to be reissued on the Rephlex label with no artwork or details on the packaging, itd be hailed as some new secret dark ambient / hard techno DJ-tool project of that labels luminaries. Filed under just "electronic"/"experimental", though, with Klaus Schulzes name and dated psychedelic artwork on it, it was bound to languish in the bins, unknown to all but the most adventurous of young DJs. Nowadays, 15 years on, I never listen to it, but I still remember it fondly as being part of an intense period of zoning out to cold, deep drones and aggressive, industrial-ish machine music.

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