Various Artists: sunset magnetic north Various Artists: sunset magnetic north (Waveform - 2001) Waveform has recently released a couple of comps which (finally!) come close to capturing the heady grooves of some of their earliest genre-defining collections... these Various Artists come from the north-of-the-border zone of Interchill, and appropriately the tracks of sunset magnetic north are indeed cool, though throbbing with warmly grooving life one might associate with a steamy nightspot in the tropics. The Legion of Green Men inject pulsing basslines and lightly spattering rhythms into "Beyond the Borderless", a simultaneously murky and peppy outing with whispery words. Elasticized e-funk from Manasseh, "Mossman Skank Remix" oozes with sensual fluidity and ethnic flavorings, then shifts into a hypnotic dubbier mode. Laced with ambient textures and other electronic phenomena, "Mossman Zion Train Remix" (5:55) is (of course) by Zion Train providing an islandic flair from Wales (really). Apparently a source for several other tracks, "Mossman (Original Elongation)" (14:51) by Ekko opens on a looser bit of tribal chillage for the global village before launching on more-urban instrumental explorations. Makyo envelops the closing moments in draperies of resonant piano notes and sitar drones which become the bass-heavy wail-and-drum of Skin as Soft as Moonlight. Other artists include Watershell, Adam Shaikh and Pilgrims of the Mind. Don't expect to feel any iciness in sunset magnetic north's Canadian-spawned electrons; the seductive activities of these sound-molecules keep temperatures up and pulses thumping for more than 72 minutes. Enticing explorations into ethno-tinged electronica garner a blissful 8.6. See also voodoo roux, another groovin' new gathering from Waveform. This review posted November 4, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).