The apparent absence of complementarities between the jumble of shuffled styles of this funnily boozy record cannot really be considered a shortcoming or a bulge of kitsch pop mannerism, an inappropriate association that the hubris of some silly reviewers (there're still a lot of this kind of dummy sample around) could foster as the inebriated sarcasm, half-serious self-irony and the amused and somewhat poisoned persiflage by Mr.Vast, alter ego of Henry Sargeant, frontman of electronic band Wevie Stonder (!), cannot be but protean and nimble like a quick-change artist dealing with a time bomb. Funk, soul, country, dubstep, house, junk, hip-hop as well as a lopsided romanthicism, outburst of shoegazing rage, pastoral lyricism, theatrical makeups, likeable straightforwardness, healthy nonsense, quotidian surrealism and motley coxcombs don't dry out on Mr.Vast's palette, so that he alternatively clucks with funk and toy sounds ("In Terms of Ease and Speed"), laser surgery and hip-hop chops ("Buttercyde"), scorched spicy slapped rock ("The Rug"), occasional everyday (but not ordinary) life idylls (the funny "Bliss" about domestic bliss!), wired "exotic" atonement ("Atlantis"), stylistical adaptations which could make you chortle ("Teflon Country" or the amazing opener of B-side "Process of Illumination", which unhinges a sort of gospel by means of house and tropical cliches in order to describe the ascension of a discotheque-addicted and a possible religious ravishing on the following erotically ironic "First Class"), licentious mock-heroic vignettes such as on the sidesplitting electro-pumping "Family values" or the hilarious lanky metal "Henry the 8th" (an eloquent parody of an historical character and certain stylistical machismo!), unexpected suave summery chilling soul on flip-flops ("Elemental"), imaginary street parades of cows and romedaries ("Ecstatic Caravan"). The digital version includes a couple of remixes (an harsher one of "Buttercyde" and a funny Spanish farce, more than a remix, of "Ecstatic Caravan"), the electronic raspberry trash-disco of "Sticky" and the grief-stricken (in a manner of speaking) final "Where I'm From"! Keep you feet up in the air!

After listening this graceful release by Brooklyn-based duo of Koen Holtkamp and Brendon Anderegg, I dare to say that if hills have eyes, mountains have certainly ears! Named after the desolate ghost town of Centralia (Columbia County, Pennsylvania), where a large undergound fire (still unextinguished) of anthracite coal mine acted as a depopulation bomb due to air pollution and excessively hot temperature in 1962, a somewhat tragic event which tickled the imagination of many writers, musicians, directors and other creative flairs, this release could give you the impression these musicians turned into transducers of that surreal land, lying on a brazier which scared away the sacrilegious asinity of its previous usurpers (it seems that the abandoned mine was set on fire by dumping of hot ashes during landfill) nd will last for centuries to keep them at a safe distance. The static appearance of electronic mantles almost evokes the quiet grandiosity of a massif, which overlooks its surrounding realm, whereas computational sparks and the extreme cleaness of both electronic and instrumental sound seems to mirror the purificatory and slowly pervading action of that fiery furnace which managed to melt pavements and asphalt and undoes chasms, rifts and cracks on the ground. A certain sense of tragedy of some overstreched frequncies and decomposing sounds oddly coalesces with organic splendours of instrumental parts and over the album, but the first weight, under sedation of heart rending cello and strings ("Sand"), lulling or entrancing guitar arpeggios ("Identical Ship", "Circular C"), pastoral-like symphonies ("Tilt"), lukewarm psychedelic suites ("Propeller"), bubbling springs of electronic gleaming ("Liana"), could be more clearly felt in the final lovely hesitant "Living Lens". Tragically soothing.

The second part of Mise en Place series of EP by relentless d'n'b label Ingredients includes another poker of high-quality stuff. The first to play his ace card is George Ovens aka Dub Phizix, who tempers his typically mettlesome staccato breaks with an uncommon touch of melancholy and meteoropathy on his winsome "Rainy City Music", which according to his own words, it immediately became his own favorite tune. Such an intensively pensive mood congeals on the shattering remix of Villem's "Splinter Your Mind" by Break, who wraps crazy metallic splinters and tonal chips into a sort of spicy rhythmical roulade with a foil of sizzling distorted bass. The following "Blue Eyes" by Skeptical is a master stroke which manages to combine sinister hisses excoriating rhythmical tumbles and female murmurs and to turn a dark minimal d'n'b tune into something really classy. The concoction between ascending pad synths, whipping rolls, roaring bass-stuffed bustle and warlike bangs marks the final explosive "No Return" by dRamatic and dbAudio out. This second course of Mise En Place stunning libation sounds so yummy that it kept on whetting my appetite...I'm just waiting for the third course.

On the cover artwork of release number 40 by renowned label by Caine, which is hotly marking time and keeping abreast with the interesting stylistical niche of dark minimal drum'n'bass, there's a printed tyrannosaurus, but on the face of the persistent and fast beat rolling of the six amazing tracks on it, it could be some hybrid between that ravenous ginormous lizard and a velociraptor indeed. There's a constant sense of rush and escape from a threatening predator over this release, whose emphasis by the talented producers involved in this EP conveys a suspenseful tone. After the extremely basic hitting, anxious ticking and cavernous echoes of the initial title-track by St.Petersburg-based producers Andy Pain and Z Connection, a sinister murmur, frenzied tablas and grimy laser shooting on Fade's "Tribal Dancer" relocate the pursuing scene into an imaginary jungle. The wiry neurotech and the rhythmical stretches on sci-fi ghastly sonorities of "Lost & Found" by Kuantum, the clobbering catchy beats on "Fissure" by Mono, the reprise of tribal style by means of disquieting reverberations, slanting wicked pressure and infectious bass hits on the gorgeous "Achime" by Hungarian producer Giocator, the relentless ride which got deceptively masked by floating flutes of the final "Course" by talnted Ukrainian producer Disept quicken the break. "Hunted" definitively sounds like a prehistoric sonic adventure rendered by futuristic sounds, which overlaps to current wild crazy civilization, whose dynamic pressure is sometimes more monstrous than sharp chops of a giant-sized reptile.

This project has changed direction and, perhaps, importance. I've searched for some linear notes and found nothing on the website: only the name of the track, the cover and nothing else except the fact the second part of this release "Signals II" has already been released and this is four release in four months, some years ago, in another distributional framework, Psychic TV just tried to do a similar operation: 23 albums in 23 months.
Just a step back. This album is composed of one long track that reveals pro and defects of this project. The fact that this label is a 24 bit label devoted to the digital format is clearly audible: the sonic presence and details is impressive and Simon Heath from this aspect reveals himself as one of the most technically gifted. This track starts quietly in the usual dark ambient mood i.e., a quiet drone colored by small noises until this noises takes the scene mutating until the drone and the quiet noises return to take the control of the piece just enough to admit that noise returns to take the spectrum and end the track as someone could expect.
For fans this is a release to pick and from a critical perspective this album raises an issue uncommon in the audio field: this project marks an historical importance as it start to raise an issue that is related on the dialectic between art and the medium used for his distribution. Someone raised the issue that this technical possibility is harmful for music as it gives full control of the artist to decide what to release but it doesn't take care of one simple issue: who has the right to decide what to release? This review is not the place to discuss that but it's the place where I could say that this project is important even if you doesn't listen to all his releases.