Welcome once again to the AmbiEntrance Overviews, storage bin of miscellaneous audio delights, encapsulated in easy-to-digest short-form reviews. As usual, it's a pot pourri of assorted sounds, so there's bound to be something you like... L. Gaab: Resurrections   (Morphosis - 2000) (8.4) If you ever wanted to hear symphonic instrumentation melted down into a glowing, everchanging ooze, here's your chance... As in most of these 11 tracks (which expand through 66.5 minutes of mellow obscurity), shapeless symphonic gusts billow and boil from Wonders like big orchestral clouds. Pensive moments of filmic trepidation are Within Reach (8:45) as light, woodwindy currents sway to and fro; washes of sound waver, varyingly more or less tonal. Darker moods are explored in Safari as are sparse percussive effects. Hints of assorted styles ebb and flow through Fresh; like aurally changing personalities, beauty brims with subtle menace. Busy xylotones rattle and roll through brassy blares, creating Unlikely Tensions. Quite nice stuff... be assured that we'll be hearing more from Larry's world. Bob Holroyd: A Different Space   (Six Degrees Records - 2000) (8.7) As if heading up a musical United Nations, Bob Holroyd demonstrates an uncanny knack at allowing a host of various cultures to shine together in zesty harmony. Drumming Up A Storm is an apt enough title for this energetic multi-ethnic festival of tropicalia; the opening track blends a steady tribal-like rhythm with wispy synth rays, lo-fi chants and glaring brass. One extended trumpet passage positively sizzles! Sliding in on a cello drone laced with various serpentine ethno-strings and flexible flutes, A Promise to Return (2:20) all-too-briefly swelters in a percussion-free zone of surging magic. Sweet Dark Waters flow from a beatless haze to a region of smooth amalgamated beats infused with etheral synth, dreamy guitar passages and a tasteful bit of an operatic presence. Intoxicating jungle rhythms are bolstered by hypnotically pulsing bass in the chant-laden African Drug (original tribal mix). Acoustic/electric guitarplay and echoey beats achieve a retro-tinged Balance with jazzy, freeform explorations, while Something Understood drifts through a hip-hop cloud of sublime synthwaves and elegantly wafting piano notes. Gentle calm falls as A Different Space (8:41) spreads like dusk, to be illuminated by sparkling mutli-layered beats and elastic bass. Spoken word, chants and Cretan lyra are only part of the spunkily evolving nightlife and its many moods. Learn more about Bob Holroyd at his own soundscapemusic site. People Like Us: Lassie House/Jumble Massive   (Caciocavallo - 2000) (8.2) From Staalplaat and Soleilmoon, this "mid-priced" re-issue compiles two limited editions featuring the amusingly sardonic collage talents of one Vicki Bennett. Vintage cut 'n' paste dialogue and dozens of characters from entertainment-oriented Brit TV/radio recordings give an undeniably Pythonesque impression... T424PLU Part 1 focuses on the never-ending hostessing travails of a young Englishwoman ("Would you like a cup tea?") while T424PLU Part 2 covers a broader-range of "topics", borrowing some truly funny soundclips from an assortment of sources as varied as bouncy children's programming, weather talk, frenetically obnoxious brass bands, artificially-induced stammers and plenty of talk show banter. Cheesy little musical interludes are scattered about the disc, but kitschy music is the main course of three middle tracks beginning with Sound Escape Part 1 (10:45); disjointed orchestral movements are sliced-and-diced, then riddled with warbling electronics and other chaotic effects. Fun with miscommunications! The mangled mixed media of Acoustic Mud "doesn't carry on in a logical order" and features some ludicrously chipper cleaning-products commercials. The fascinatingly corny clips probably didn't need all the re-alterations to reek with humor. Bran Mash and Crushed Beans includes commentary (and pops and hisses) from the wonder days of 33-rpm vinyl as well as references to golfing, ceiling tiles, cameras. 24t4PLU&ME Part 2 (3:36) closes with cloying commerciality involving knitting, bowel movements, astrology and "thatching without tears", often amid schmaltzy lounge music. The PLU offers a visual counterpart as well as links to samples and more... pole: 3   (Matador - 2000) (9.0) Fizzy, reggae-flavored microsounds abound... silberfisch snaps, crackles, pops and echoes in a faint rhythmic scatter... reminiscent of a scratched, faded Jamaican poster with scarcely legible lettering. Disintegrated voices are barely heard wafting around in the effervescent soundwaves of taxi. The islandic feel of Rodell Zwei is reinforced by digitally chittering insect life and tribal-esque beatsystems. Rippling tones and light melodies seem to dance far beneath the syncopated glitchery of Überfahrt (8:04) (what does *that* translate to?) Is it cold like radiostatic or warm like a cracking fire? Somehow darker, Fohlenfurz (3:11) shifts, thrums and blits then fades to spaciously sputtering occurrences, concluding the disc. A nice blend of obtuse "microscopic" elements with more "musical" auras... recommended! 8 tracks = 54.5 minutes Sasha & John Digweed: Communicate   (Kinetic Records - 2000) (8.7) Featuring top-notch electronics, this 2-CD beatfest steers mostly clear of the dance genre's most-overused cliches, making it recommendable to AmbiEntrance readers in need of a percussive fix. In the hands of the dynamic duo of Sasha & John Digweed, 22 tracks bound through 148 minutes of aural excitation. Eventually shaking free of a shapeless ambient slur, Jaimy and Kenny D's smoothly grooving "Like A Bitch" is the first jewel on Communication One's continually streamed string of beats. Eric Clapton (!?!?) appears next as "Get Lost - Stereo Dub" pulsates in a dancefloor-ready frenzy. As Bedrock, John Digweed proves he's more than "just" a DJ; his energized and trippy "Voices" is remixed by Slacker, whose own driving "Fusion" is infused with ghostly ripples and buzzing voltage. Trisco's "Musak - Wonderland Avenue Remix" moves the body and spirit by stirring deep percolating synthsequences and ambient dreaminess with infectuous e-percussion. A rhythmically-fragmented vocal pattern and bouncy bass sways beneath the somewhat tribalized "West on 27th" (10:39) by Killahurtz, topped by twinkling tonelets. A shower of spiraling notes swirls around the brooding symphonic-Goth core of Breeder's remixed (and unfortunately short) Tyrantanic" (3:08). Spacey trance atmospheres are explored as Communication Two opens on "Narcotic" by Mainline. Spattering cymbals flail a different take on Bedrock's "Voices" (4:42), this time remixed by Freelance Icebreakers. Expect to be hearing more "voices", but this time in The Orb's "Once More" as it plows down a spooky groove into an enchanting synth vortex. Schiller high-steps it through the slightly eerie dreamtones and brassy radiance of "Ruhe" lingering in a beat-free zone of amorphous convolutions before resuming its syncopated journey into P.F.N.'s whispery-sampled "Put Your Earphones On" (8:14); the track takes a mind-altering tour through beat-heavy psychedelia. Because the disc accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, Communicate receives its high rating; definitely not for the rhythm-shy, it allows you to shake it with friends, or under the headphones, you can have your own personal rave. Too-numerous-to-review artists in this non-stop mix include Sven Vath, Trancesetters, Luzon, Killer Loop, Jimmy Van M, POB, Chemical Brothers, King of Spin, and others . More info can be uncovered here, here and here. Posted November 29, 2000 | 1999/2000 Overviews Index

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