The Sabres Of Paradise – Sabresonic

Weatherall handed my a 7" of Smokebelch beatless version in 93 at a club he was playing in in Dublin. Fuck knows where that is now.

A album that came out just before the legendary electronic AI album series released by Warp Records which included the now classic albums: Apex Twin 'Selected Ambient', B12 'Electro Soma', The Black Dog 'Bytes, Speedy J 'Ginger', R.H.Kirk 'Virtual State'. Sabresonic is a album that should very well be added to these AI classics due to its fusion and intelligent twist on techno-electro music which is now over 12yrs old, yet still holds a unique sound of its own. Sabresonic certainly is a interesting and wonderful musical journey through hypnotic melodies, club friendly electro-techno-house, chilled atmospheric downtempo beats, and also a couple of moving spine tingling movie like ambient soundtracks. Oh! plus the occasional moment of Sabres cool dub is also here. This is music you can't quiet pigeon hole but can certainly relate too with its various electronic genres that blend and work so well together. Each track tells its own story using a concept of moods and atmospheres that will engage the listener into its twilight clubby downtempo electro grooves, and melodic left-field sounds, that have a certain cool club indie vibe about them too. Listening to the album can at times stimulate thoughts as well as your feet, or even both together, and just maybe even evoke those memories of the rise of the UK AI techno-electro scene - if you ever were there!? as Sabersonic's music does have a nice twist of an old school feel(not dated), yet still remains modern and different and quiet diverse even today12+yrs on. A forgotten classic Warp-records release that has to be experienced!

My favorite "acknowledgment" of all time is printed on the back: "THE SABRES OF PARADISE would definitely NOT like to thank God!"

Apart from having an incredibly cool cover art, The Sabres Of Paradise debut album, "Sabresonic", is a wonderful acoustic experience, loaded with juicy and hypnotic melodies, club friendly beats and deep ambient soundscapes. Think of stuff like early Sensurreal and Speedy J circa the "G Spot" era, just not as great.
The Sabres Of Paradise come around full circle here; this album really goess all over the pitch before making touch down. It is elegant, at times melodic and toned down, but then when it's not it turns into a club orientated album, with uptempo techno tunes, which never become overly mechanical or hard. That's right, Sabres Of Paradise go from straight up ambient (Clock Factory), to more leftfield and broken beat IDM (Ano Electro, R.S.D.), back to some faster tracks; Still Fighting , Smokebelch I, Inter-Lergen-Ten-Ko, which despite their slightly more dance crowd orientation feel, do not lose challenge or edge.
Basically, this is what you expected of Warp Records anno 1993. Not everything here stands the test of time, but some of these tracks mightily shine on more than fifteen years after their original release. Light, catchy melodic sequences layed over beats which can serve the purpose during any given occassion - the album does not contain enough bump to be used as a party soundtrack, yet simultaneously it has sufficient intrigue and material to teleport you in one of those "I'm all ears" situations.
Overall, not quite up there with the finest of them all Warp releases, but The Sabres Of Paradise bring forth an album which won't hit hard on your wallet and will most definitely bring a positive surprise or two to you. Bottom line is that this is a lovely old school techno album, with really nice and harmonic touch, so if you've enjoyed stuff like the early Revelation, the Artifical Intelligence various artists compilations or even the debut album by german duo Alter Ego, do not hesitate to purchase this one. It may even cost you less than any of the aforementioned releases, and you might find it just as good. Early nineties Warp goodness.