Various – Macro Dub Infection Volume One

This compilation was a real boon to Americans who, pre-internet, had a very difficult time keeping up with electronic music overseas where most of the action was happening at the time. This compilation introduced me to: Coil, Omni Trio, Laika, Tortoise, 4-hero, The Mad Professor, Wagonchrist, Scorn, and Tricky. I think the next best compilation I ever owned introduced me to 3 artists I ended up loving.

So for me, this compilation was the beginning of quite a few long-term love affairs with the abovementioned artists. It was a very odd and eclectic collection of musicians that truly didn't (and still don't) have much in common, and on top of that, the songs featured on the compilation really don't represent the artists that accurately either. These songs are nearly all experimental one-offs that don't really fit in with the normal sound of each respective artist. Yet somehow it worked.

All that said, it introduced listeners to a lot of fantastic musicians, which is the point of a compilation, so mission successful. It's a little piece of 90s electronic music history, and although mostly buried by the sands of time, it's not forgotten.

This collection of offbeat, abstract music loosely connected to dub (think 'experimental' within the context of the genre each track is from) is most definitely ambitious. Some of the tracks work better than others, but I still regard this as a superior compilation that drives the listener toward so many different directions in music.

The one-off 4hero track on here really makes it worth checking out these discs. It looks like it was made during the Parallel Universe period, but it takes the idea of that LP a bit farther. In eight minutes, it spans bare, abstract hip hop (although the beats themselves manage to just fade in and out), edgy, time-stretched ragga jungle and eventually roots itself firmly in the area of moody, drum-machine driven Detroit-sounding techno. But it's much more than just the sum of its parts, so do give it a listen.