ASC – Imagine The Future

A really massive masterpiece with above-average good tracks, which all fit together conceptually, great cinema and hardly to beat. Respect !

I reaaaally really hope this will get repressed some day, prices have skyrocketed...

One of my favorite albums all time!All tracks are great.

Wow! Seriously intense stuff, on the leftfield of even the most left field of electronic. It's superb. Unfriendly waters....

Adam X said this was his top album of 2015 in something I read a while back, which really got me interested in ASC and his Auxiliary label. Being a huge fan of Adam, I had to see what the fuss was about. Starting off with what could be described as an astral opera, the nearly 12 minute long opener is epic and grandiose in it's statement of intent before delving into the bass eruption of Bell Curve. I have no idea what to even class this tracks style as, other than heavy! Mental stuff. Dark Matter sounds like HTRK have been reading some Philip K Dick or something, which makes for an interesting dichotomy. The stop and start nature of Response Code's vibe lulls you into a false sense of security before it changes up into something special near the end. The vocal says "reaching out to other worlds" which is quite ept, as that feels what the whole album is doing. Other notable highlights include, well... everything really. You can't really skip anything here, as it just spoils the narrative of what's building steadily. By the time Cosm arrives, the album changes atmosphere once again and you're treated to something incredibly beautiful, in an ever-so melancholic way. It picks up the pace once again with Axis Shift and Negative Space, both providing dark and sinister tones that sound like the backdrop to some intergalactic space war being played out. But perhaps it's the Vangelis inspired (Event #4) that rounds off the album that really adds the sugar on the top. It's as though ASC saved the best for last!

Anyway, over a year later and this still sounds like nothing else out there and has led me to follow ASC's output almost to fanboy-like levels in anticipation of music that I just don't want to miss out on.

Amazing dark mechanical warm ambient in the vein of Reload's "A collection of short stories". If you like that, you'll love tihs.

This album is an aural excursion within itself. One can surely hear that ASC has reached a point where he is in a completely separate musical realm. Each track is innovative and captivating, just like his other releases over the course of the past few years. I dare say that the album as a whole is somewhat reminiscent of Vangelis's critically acclaimed soundtrack for Blade Runner (especially that arp that comes in once in awhile in 'Cosm'). Both have the ability to introduce the listener to a whole new world of sound.

Favourite tracks on this LP are probably Cosm, (Event #4), and Axis Shift. At the time this review is being written I personally feel like I haven't listened to the album enough times to pick out which tracks I enjoy the most - however, how can someone pick favourites on such a great release as this?