"Amenity" is quite possibly one of the most beautiful Reload tracks ever created. Beautiful and haunting, and unlike most of the Reload catalogue, this track is more like a Global Communication song with heavier beats....

...at least, if you play it at the wrong speed. I had this for YEARS without realizing that it's supposed to be played at 45, not 33 RPM. Oh well. It's still great, just a little faster than I thought.

In its last days, Merck seems to have opened up to more than just electronified hip-hop. "Easy Pieces", along with the albums by Tiki Obmar, give us a small glimpse of where the label may have been headed. The second track off this is a real winner- mellow groove with a synchronized organ/bass duet that shuffles along quite nicely. Sure, this album is a bit of candy floss, but every label needs a break from all the seriousness sometimes.

Cold, dark and oppressive, just the way we likes it. Lots of nice nasty voice samples overlaid on top of some hideously creepy electronics and ambience. Nice to listen to with all the lights turned off, my precious.

Where are the Coldcuts of yesteryear? Not only is this not innovative or interesting in any way, it also sounds utterly dated and smacks of a poorly-timed rap/rock attempt at relevance in a musical world that has grabbed hold of the Coldcut sampling aesthetic and moved far, far ahead. Embarrassingly bad, "heavy" guitars and shoddy beats, combined with some truly lame generic "political" lyrics. Look, I hate the King Bush II regime as much as anyone else, but this is really just sad.

Regarding the "500 copies" - This cassette has been re-released by Ninja Tune, so there are many more copies circulating these days that are, for all intents and purposes, virtually identical. Still, it's a pretty amazing release, and even better now that it's readily available!

Suprisingly not quite as good as I'd hoped. Where the gel-sol album is vibrant and uplifting, this album is ponderous and downcast. There's a few bright spots, such as the majestic "Calibrations" (similar to Vangelis or Peter Benisch's "Soundtrack Saga"), and the broken beats and gloopy synth warbling of "Quest", but generally the album suffers from a lack of cohesion in it's disparate parts and a sense of overwrought experimentation that fails to solidify into anything cohesive.

This is an absolutely stunning album. There's similarities to mid-period Orb releases, especially "Orblivion", as well as Irresistible Force and Pete Namlook's collaborations with Bill Laswell. Layers of warm, comforting synths and some dub-influenced basslines and beats, weirdo samples and a general feeling of detached, enveloping harmony. The only oddball track on this is the somewhat Squarepusher-esque "Numby Numbs", which is a bit of a breakbeat departure in the middle of the album but doesn't derail things too badly. Overall, a superb album and a welcome addition to the em:t lineup.

Looks like the brilliance of "Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts" may have been a sophomore fluke. While "Before the Dawn Heals Us" is a stylistic continuation of the previous album, much of the propulsive pyrotechnics of songs like "Unreleased", "0078h" and "America" are minimized in favor of slow-churning, syrupy ballads with some pretty bland lyrical content. The only songs that really turn up the analog rock fire are "Fields, Shorelines and Hunters", "*", "A Guitar and a Heart" and "Teen Angst", which sounds conspicuously like an Ulrich Schnauss out-take.

Fans of Mr. Lundvall's other works should be advised that this album has very little in common with those later albums. "Passing Through Alone" is a blend of mid to late 80's-vintage synthpop sounds and some darker industrial noises. While not bad in most respects, there's definitely a vast difference in sound from even his second album.

For their third album, Circular ditches the chilly sci-fi ambience and Biosphere references and brings forth a warmer, more organic album than ever before. There's still some sci-fi movie samples but they're not nearly as pronounced in the mix, and the focus is put squarely on the music itself. A combination of slow and low synth builds and jazzy instrumental touches, there's many layers to this album that aren't immediately apparent on a cursory listen.