Various Artists: 5x Various Artists: 5x (Dark Duck - 2001) Another one from Dark Duck's X files... as per the usual M.O., the Various Artists are not individually recognized, but all contributions to 5x are mixed together as a series of communal ambient/electronic/experimental organisms... these follow the loose theme of "disconnect from reality", which, appropriately, they do. Blurting low ripples pulsate from the amorphous heart of Disconnect, accented by organically clicky accents and other cyclic occurences of unknown origin. The deep tonal shifts of dark, self-replicating Spiral (16:08) are imbued with the life-giving force of a murkily thumping internal rhythm, and touched by just the faintest bits of glitchery. Spattery almost-percussion courses through the high, shifty shimmers of Connect (3:01). With semi-tribal beats beneath its sweltering shapelessness, Spoken then mucks it up by dropping in a heavy-handed (in that it's too-often repeated) political message (not disagreeing with the sentiment, just don't like over-used spoken samples, even when they're variously effected...). Cool bass grooves and hearty (though buried) drumbeats mark the otherwise oblique electronics of Faint as anything but faint, and Disconnect II is even more percussive with good old rock-style skin-smackin' and cymbal clashin' amid an ambiguous morass of loose electroncs. All seven tracks are worth commenting on; the last, Final Connection, slips into more-expansive realms, rumbling and glaring with enticing otherworldliness... lovely! The definition-defying audioexperimentations of 5x generally tend to be alluringly blurred soundscapes rather than in-your-face antics. Fill your world with 62.5 minutes of odd, interesting 8.5-rated sonic deformations where music, noise and who-knows-what-else converge into something entirely different. My favorite x yet. Aficionados of such eccentricity, flock to the Dark Duck site. This review posted November 4, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).