Various Artists: Low End Recon Various Artists: Low End Recon (Hed Nod/Empty Light - 2001) The 15 international Various Artists enlisted for the Low End Recon project were selected for their uncanny abilities in negotiating dark-hop terrains... A menacing blend of music and tortured surrealism where often-caustic rhythms mark time in twisty subterranean passages... if that description sounds good to you, then you'll dig it here! Mick Harris' "Cards" will test the patience of all but the most devout... growling up-and-down slurs squall throught the opening track as cymbals, drum and bass attempt to steer. Lighter and more spacious (though still dark and thumping) "Jackal Head" from Ocosi tosses almost-random drumhits into a faint, hovering void. "Pressure Drop" by The Dustmite takes a spooky sci-fi detour by way of ghostly chimes and spacemovie samples (plus steady rhythms, of course). The droning expanse of "Genetic Talk Radio" receives a topping of perky (though somewhat vaporized) beats courtesy of Zero ID vs. Shinitaika. Similarly not-so-assaultive are "201" from Su8m3rg3d and Olivier Moreau's "Dash Kop"; each of these tracks wafts in a deep bump-bump-bumping murkiness. Hypnotic waves and slow beats laze through NOS' "Elephant (Erem/Spirit Vacating Mix)" (7:10), a literal fogbank of flatly converging sounds. Organic mutations seem to swell all around the sassy drum-riffs of Montagnn's bass-heavy "You Kant Skip Hegel" (3:03). The full-frontal beat-assault of "Red Line" by Larvae gives way to more sedate movements, then back again. Other agitators include: Silk Saw, I-drik, Turn, Dijslov, and Not Breathing. I do have to wonder where Alien Radio Station got its bizarre movie-speak samples... For almost-75 poundingly brooding minutes, selectively-chosen Various Artists pummel the shadowy side of the sonic spectrum with pulse-quickening beatronics... Thanks to Hed Nod (a noisier division of Hushush) and Empty Light for the 8.5 dark hop excursions of Low End Recon. This review posted June 30, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).