As per the usual, it's a little of this, some of that, and always quite a bit of the other at the old AmbiEntrance overview section... that's why it's here. Amon Tobin: bricolage   (Ninja Tune - 1997) (9.3) A leisurely stroll down Stoney Street leads right into Amon Tobin's jazzy/loungey/electronic world, seething in cool urban/noir atmospheres of nostalgic soundsamples spiced with tasty e-beats. Dreamlike Easy Muffin lulls and excites with mutated horn blurs, scattershot drumhits and whispery voices. Beatier though similarly-entrancing in its soft surreality, Yasawas includes swirling guitar-like strands amongst its various layers of intrigue. And those stunners are only the first three of fourteen (ranging from 4:35 to 7:19)... bricolage delivers 79.5 minutes of jazz-inflected beatronics which incorporate copious experimental touches with cool, cool instrument sounds. I love this stuff! www.amontobin.com serves up a Flashy experience for your eyes and ears. Clock DVA: Buried Dreams   (Nextera - 1998) (8.2) An homage to evil, these pitch black electrotunes should appeal to children of the night, Goths, S&M practitioners as well as anyone who appreciates a musical exploration of the darker side of the human psyche. Born in the late 80's, these Buried Dreams were exhumed by Nextera in 1998. Malevolent whispers (and occasional horror-movie-like spoken phrases) are backed by dark synthsounds and primal rhythms. Some tracks harken back to historical figures (several, including the title track, refer to Countess Elizabeth Bathory who apparently murdered over 1000 young women in her castles) while others cast a pale eye upon more-modern machinery, as in The Hacker (7:25), The Hacker Video Mix (3:29) and Connection Machine. All in all some pretty creepy (yet danceable) stuff... no wonder Brian Lustmord Williams likes these guys so well! Crown Invisible: C I 4: Cinema   (Cursor Club - 2001) (8.3) Crisp, clean synthmusic is daubed with tasteful electrotribal percussions and lolling basslines as V 16 (1:30) opens 41 minutes (six tracks) of smooth flows in this long-for-an-ep ep... The long drifts and bubbling sequences of V 12 (Medical Mix) (5:58) eventually receive a light dosage of urbanistic beats. Revitalizing a previous release, minor tweaks are added to the lush bass-and-drum-driven swirls of V 8 (Dark Arc Mix) (8:50). Sparkling V 7 (Y Mix) and the brooding piano-flavored loveliness of V 17 (CI Pastoral) close the show. Keep an eye on the Cursor Club website. L. Gaab: The Sacred and the Profane   (Morphosis Music - 2001) (8.3) More shapeless electro-orchestral visions from Larry Gaab. Gaseous floes of gossamer glimmer and drift through Instinct (5:13). Mutedly squawking brass resounds sporadically amid increasingly eerie Shadows (11:35) of softly swirling murk and crystalline tinkles. The Profane turns out to be rather enticing, swelling with symphonic currents and eddies, sometimes veering off into edgier electron convulsions. Spacey tones warp and weave through Essential Illusions sometimes stark, sometimes plush. Nothing exactly profane about The Sacred and the Profane... Kinda like when you swirl all your watercolors together... sometimes things get a little muddy, though there are often some intriguing patterns in there too. E-mail Larry to learn more about his various amorphous self-releases. Global Communication: Remotion   (dedicated - 1995) (8.3) Dance or drift with sedate synthgrooves and their tasteful beat injections... Lush swells are topped with pretty piano notes in Chapterhouse's "Delta Phase; dreamy/creamy Natural High from "Warp 69" similarly melds shapeless soundflows with loungey musical elements. Hypnotically tweedling flutes, melting chimes and soft bassbeats are only part of the sonic tapestry which is "Le Soleil Et La Mer" (8:08) by Reload. The soft surreality of Nav Katze's "Wild Horses" (15:11) ripples and echoes in a hazy tunnel of psychedelic sound where various musical presences come and go. Summer Kelly: Spilled Drinks Can Lead to Chaos and Mass Destruction and Summer Kelly   (Purewicked Records - 2000/1) (8.5) A pair of eps from New York's Summer Kelly show much promise for fans of ethereal-yet-beaty electronics decorated by feminine vocals. Summer constructs the soundworlds and lets various female friends supply voices and lyrics on both discs. Spilled Drinks... (3 tracks/ 9:22): The soft vocalizations of While I'm Gone and Regarde are carried easily along by intriguing electronic currents and artfully-applied percussion. Ephemeral instrumental Waterdrops takes on Oriental-ish hues over its organically percolating backdrop. Summer Kelly (4 tracks/ 15:59): Moody Still Breathing incorporates sweeping strings, haunting vocals, thumping rhythms and sparkling synthsounds into its beautiful melancholia. Subdued-though-energetic Elysium Fields precedes the slow, sweet poptronic she-rap of Strangely Fine which wafts upon ambient waves. Where I Wake Warm closes on danceable grooves and spacey shimmers. Nicely done, Summer; I hope to hear more. Visit Purewicked Records for further enlightenment. Scorn: Lick Forever Dog   (Relativity/Earache - 1992) (8.2) While much of Mick Harris' work (expecially as Lull) falls into appropriately ambient (albeit dark and noisy) territories, this 1992 ep springs from a more-rocking metallic vein (albeit dark and noisy). The sludgy power chords and thundering drums of Lick Forever Dog (3:10) are wailed upon ... Ominous rhythm arrangements and menacing basslines imbue On Ice (Disembodied in Dub) (7:54) with a decidedly black moodiness. Bass-heavy undulations surge through Heavy Blood (Ambient Freak Mix) which is more freaky than ambient. Even freakier is the molten-metal flow of Heavy Blood (The Blood Fire Dub) with echoing voices and weird electronic accents. Venice 13: Spiked   (Neurodisc - 2000) (8.2) A lot of neo-aggro attitude is injected into these testosterone-fueled electro-rock-rap hybrids... forget ambient content; it's balls-out here! Imagine a collision between Korn and the rowdiest of the Manchester scene... If you don't want to admit you listen to this kind of thing, then just put on the headphones and have a moshpit of one. Distorted bad-boy utterances snarl against the hypnotic grooves of Psycho Spell (3:31) or Getting On One, seeming like part of the tough, dark fabric. Other times though, the mentality (or lack thereof) of the lyrics (obviously using the term "lyrics" quite loosely) get in my way... like the oft-repeated "Stick out your ass like a funky dog... stick out your ass like a funky dog..." from Funky Dog or "You got a kooky itch, you got a kooky itch, baby..." in Kooky Itch. I have a much better time with instrumentals... Worm, for instance, sincerely kicks ass, twisting and turning in joyous electronic abandonment amid pulsing bass and explosive technobeats. Thundering Fire in the Hole (8:08) closes the disc on more word-free percussion-powered electronica... Nicely executed really, but I obviously like it best when the boys keep their mouths shut (and hey, maybe it's an age thing... I just turned 38 earlier this month, and frankly, would feel a little silly sticking out my ass like a funky dog... in public, anyway.) Check at: www.venice13.com. Posted August 31, 2001 | 1999/2000 Overviews Index

AmbiEntrance © 2000-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).