The Martian – Particle Shower / The Voice Of Grandmother

As skope says, Voice of Grandmother is all that early morning ethereal vieb...maybe a small tent at the edge of a big festival, or a basement where you can touch the ceiling, a loft with the view of the city buildings laid out below... all with the heady scent of early morning techno in the air.

'Voice Of Grandmother' is exactly that. Guidance from a wiser being who's experience & knowledge you take for granted until years later, when you understand. This wasn't my favourite RP release at the time, but now I'm a bit older- you get the picture. Godly stuff for the future & for those with respect for their elders...

"The Voice of Grandmother", at least in my opinion, is almost a predecessor to UR's "Timeline" released 4 years later. Great stuff!

While I like both tracks, I have to disagree with brelson. Yes, in some ways "Particle Shower" is "typical" of UR of this period, but this one has a understated funkiness to it that upon multiple listens draws you in more and more - and won't let go. Even over 10 years later, I dare any DJ to play this - I'm betting you'll have the floor grooving nicely: not in that hands-in-the-air, screaming-for-more peak hour type way of "super-DJ's" like Oakenfold, etc...more like in that close-your-eyes, feeling-it-to-the-core way that only true deepness can bring. This one's from, and for, the real Techno underground, and 3:00 somewhere in a dimly-lit space might be "peak hour" for this joint. A fine, fine moment for RP/Mad Mike, who has blessed us with many fine moments. That said, "The Voice of Grandmother" reminds us that dark, hardcore 145-BPM "Computer Controlled" (303) and electro jams are nowhere near all that UR has had up its sleeve all these years. This one floats with a sweet, positive vibe.

"Particle Shower" is fairly representative of the UR/Red Planet techno style of the time - pacey enough, nicely layered without sounding overproduced, with an energetic funk-laden spikiness to the overall sound.

"Voice of Grandmother", however, is the standout track and the main reason for tracking this release down. In a lot of ways it's a lot more similar to material like Galaxy 2 Galaxy's "Journey Of The Dragons" or UR's "The Illuminator" than to a lot of the other Red Planet stuff. Its main melody is played with a whistling, high-pitched, portamento sine wave, with a particularly spine-tingling moment coming at the point when it drops down around two octaves, and features what are now considered the "classic" UR strings. I'm not sure what the logic behind the title is, though!