Phil Western / Tim Hill "Dark Features" The Record Company recd001 2001 (61:35)
Colour Speaks (4:56)
Fight
No More (4:08)
He
Never Showed Up (5:16)
Dirty (4:26)
The Imploded Man (6:25)
Chaos / What Are You Gonna Do? (3:20)
Seeing But Not Seen (5:37)
Bring That Home, Buffalo (4:08)
Embryo (5:40)
Be
the Fool (6:00)
Duke (4:51)
DMT (4:58)
The Machine Elves (1:50)
Therapy (5 Mins) (5:13)
Powell (3:40)
We Don't Know (3:23)
Phil Western has at least a decade of experience in electronic music and is currently a member of Download and platEAU. "Dark Features" is the debut release from Vancouver based The Record Company and it picks up right where Western's 1998 solo album "The Escapist" (co-produced by Tim Hill, who has also played with platEAU) left off. This is premium textured techno: a thick mesh of synth and sample ambiance and programmed beats with additional organic elements like voice and guitars. Phil's vocals appear on half a dozen tracks - they're more unnecessary than they are annoying, ditto for many of the numerous, seemingly random spoken samples. "Fight No More", "Dirty" and "DMT" ride strong bass/guitar grooves, the latter one being as active as the psychedelic substance it is named after with Western singing the word 'dimethyltryptamine' over a bright and bouncy pop riff. Gorgeous ambient moments endure in several tracks, most notably the tail ends of "Embryo" and "Duke". "Bring That Home, Buffalo" is downright peculiar by throwing banjo playing into the mix. But the most surprising and stunning track of all, the one which will surely confound many a listener, is "Be the Fool". Here Western sings and plays acoustic guitar solo for an emotional and atmospheric song that approaches the sound of late '80s American Music Club. Great stuff. I hope Western further explores these heretofore unrevealed singer songwriter and pop proclivities. Act now and three more techno oriented tracks are available on a bonus orange marble 10" with the first 300 orders direct from the label at colourspeaks.com ...
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via The Record Company.