Fluxion "Vibrant Forms" Chain Reaction CRD-07 1999 (69:02)
Hallucinator "Landlocked" Chain Reaction CRD-08 1999
(74:56)
"Round One to Round Five 1993 - 1999" Main Street MSD-1
1999 (79:57)
Three new cd offerings from the Berlin based Basic Channel / Chain Reaction family: Fluxion "Vibrant Forms" and Hallucinator "Landlocked" on Chain Reaction and "Round One to Round Five 1993 - 1999" on Main Street Records, all available domestically in the U.S. via EFA/Caroline. CR have thankfully done away with the frustratingly impractical metal tins in favor of biodegradable or glossy digipacks which are made to look like the tins. No more breaking the cds when trying to get them out! The same descriptive words can often be accurately applied to the majority of the CR artists: minimal, techno, dub, washes, textured soundscapes, subtle shifting etc. You either love or hate this music ... it will either bore you to tears or grab you and not let go. Two words set the Fluxion and Hallucinator discs apart: tedious and enthralling, respectively. Most of "Vibrant Forms" is missing the "it", the subtle ebb and flow of changing rhythms and textures, that makes this music so beautiful. Most of these tracks put the beat in the forefront and do little to pull you in thanks to less than exciting and rarely shifted loops. Two of the 10 tracks, which happen to be the longest at 9:30 +, have "it" while the rest are difficult to sit through. "Landlocked" on the other hand has "it" from start to finish. These tracks are ambient journeys, most of which happen to have some sort of beat and/or bass line. Hallucinator use a wider set of styles (ambient, techno, bits of dub, tribal and jazz) and palette of sounds (thick textured washes, water, sampled clankings, bell tones, synth noises) to create one of the more diverse, yet cohesive, set of tracks of any CR cd to date. "Round One to Round Five 1993-99" collects all of the Main Street 12"s released between 1994 and 1999. The first two rounds are thumpin' upbeat house tracks featuring Andy Caine on vocals. In all honesty, I have trouble discerning a good house track from a bad house track ... but these 2 are at least somewhat tolerable. I much prefer the "Chicago's Twisted" and 2 dub mixes which strip out most of the vocals and are more in the CR style. The next three rounds feature Tikiman's smooth reggae vocals and corresponding dub versions. These tracks are in the exact same spacey-dub vein as the Rhythm and Sound w/Tikiman "Showcase" cd from Burial Mix. Great stuff, but only if you want more. To recap: thumbs up for the Hallucinator and Round One to Round Five, thumbs down for Fluxion. Bang for your buck: "Vibrant Forms" is the 'shortest' of the 3 clocking in at just under 70 minutes while "Round One.." comes in just shy of 80 minutes! Next up from the Chain Reaction family are Arovane "Atol Scrap" and Vladislav Delay "Militia" due out February 8th ...
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via CD World.