Pistel "Pistel" Baraka Foundation bka 0007 1997 (68:49)
Colorful World (6:34)
Cheese (3:19)
Skin Up (7:11)
Millennium (5:30)
Train Jumping (6:25)
Experience (4:05)
You Could Jump 6x Higher on the Moon (4:29)
What You are Within, that You Will be Without (5:25)
Temporal Fusion (5:21)
Serotonin Coffee Shop (9:36)
We Look So Small (4:15)
Skin Up, Rolled Material (Jack Dangers mix) (6:38)
Mark Pistel (production, minimoog, serge modular, arp 2600, arp solus, oberheim ob-xa, rk388, novation bass station, guitar, bass, vocals, akai samplers, turntable), Mohammed (vocals), Tracy Blackman (vocals), Tsune (vocals).
Overall impression: very good. Mark Pistel is best known for his work with Consolidated, the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and Meat Beat Manifesto, but here he steps out of the shadows for his multi-instrumentalist solo debut. "Pistel" is about what you'd expect from Mark knowing his past musical ventures, except I'd say this is more akin to Meat Beat than his other projects. It's not a blatant copy of the MBM sound though, many of the usual MBM tricks are used throughout but you can definitely tell that somebody other than Dangers is behind the stacks of gear (besides ... having your music compared to Danger's music is certainly not detrimental!) What this is is very nicely done 'electronica'. Most of the music here is beat oriented, instrumental (there are vocals on a few tracks and various spoken/vocal samples throughout) and packed to the gills with samples, synth and bass lines. The tempos range from sublime groove to syncopated schizophrenia, the mood is relatively bright and fun, and everything from dub to ambient to drum 'n bass to break beats are thrown into the mix. A few specifics: "Millenium" and "We Look So Small" feature the melodic and rapid fire rap (respectively) vocals of Mohammed (of Midnight Voices and MTV's "Real World" fame), a collaboration that I really hope continues on future projects. "Skin Up, Rolled Material" is given the Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto) treatment, turning the track into the usual dense dub jam that Jack is known for. "Pistel" all in all is a great debut album, it's meat beat-y electronica, 'electronica' worth listening to. Also be sure to check out the "Millenium" 12" which features remixes by Pistel and Jon Drukman of Bass Kittens ...
Where did I get this cd? - mailorder via Marie Senese (email her to get the big weekly list of cheap used and new cds ... tell 'em markw@southwind.net sent you!)