GRACE JONESWARM LEATHERETTE
UNIVERSAL MUSIC

Originally printed in Now Then Magazine issue 101

Abstract, electronically-crafted dub-funk serves up a pretty dish for the melodic musings of super star actress, supermodel and alternative music figurehead, Grace Jones.

The deluxe reissue opens with the title track. It's got bass, neck thrusts, and perhaps a conversation with Grace in the back seat of an old car. A classic by today's standard, the nostalgic allure of leatherette coupling with the artist's own familiarity. As good as she's ever been, the confident and gutsy Jones shows her no bullshit attitude. “The car crash cassette”, and close. We all know the dangers of changing music at 70mph. Imagine knowing it was one of your albums. Do you think? I dare not ask.

The album gets even more fruity as 'Private Life' takes a look at the celebrity fascinations which drive the popular media. It can get quite frustrating, I imagine, and this track appears to be a response to all those phone calls and questions shouted from across the street. She's putting up her boundaries. Now that's all clear, a lighter tone spirals down to meet the party.

'A Rolling Stone' has radio play single written all over it: short, snappy, happy, and all about love. The title is a great mention of another artist, the slightly more rock 'n' roll tempo perhaps is a tip of the hat in that direction. Each track brings new sounds, giving full perspective on Jones's tastes and evolution of era. The bits we left behind are pulled up by the bootstraps and made modern again.

Rowan Blair Colver

​Morphogenetic Fields
Reflect
Green Tree Records


Slow paced and deep reaching grooves span out a horizon for us and the road turns into a lyrical expression of verb and feminine spiral. Manic but well placed synth beats give a sombre element in a dance of feeling that allows the vocals more freedom to express. Rule bending forces of music make great interesting sounds. I like this already.


Build ups similar to The Prodigy but with a lighter tempo give an atmosphere of merging intentions, each ingredient being added at the right time and with the right amounts in order to form the swirling mass we are no doubt about to encounter. Before track one is put to one side, we are given many climax moments and pinnacles that alter everything just a little before slowly calming into the steady flow of sound.


This is a debut release for an established psytrance DJ from Germany called Mikari. Giving the music a new name and sound, this alias gives the artist an almost clean sheet to compose with. When we're known for a sound, in the music industry, fans can be relentless and punishing if we alter it in any way.


Dark craftings of notation bring a chilling atmosphere in with the second track, To High To Die. I did spell that right, and maybe this is something to think about. Getting high can be dangerous. It is dependent on so many things, however, and this music seems to add a touch of the creepy to the otherwise playful and rich offerings from before. The psytrance tools are out in full practice for this one. Everything is just a bit slower.


The EP makes use of its short nature by giving each track as many distinguishable sections as possible, it could well be several more shorter pieces, and we'd be none the wiser. A good DJ never does this though, and will make full use of their mixing talent to form decent length numbers. A track and its remix sit side to side as 3 and 4, which makes an interesting mirror image and distortion effect within the sonic sandwich.


An extended extended play disk, that sounds beautiful, cold, and like a wishing well that's been cried over one too many times. Elastic sensations that tug and pull give it a quality of the tide, which has been created by the use of rhythm, melody, and intensity of delivery. A great record, too much for the chill out section, just right for exploring while we sit down for a cuppa.  

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Operentzia
Far-far Away




Ethnic origins splash together in an electronic shin-dig reaching well into the realms of psychedelia. Crafty rhythms that loop in seamless spurts are glued up with swirling strings and oddly arpeggio forming keys which seem to bounce along like rubber ducks, peeing this way and that, scanning the musical bars for somewhere to warp over to. And that they do, everything is evolving all the time with this sound and it makes the sometimes dry aspect to digitally produced beat based music sit firmly on the back seat. If we listen, we detect the lack of organic feel, but we don't usually listen to trance psychedelia for the organic feel.


Hungarian music has its own folklore, scales, and rhythms, and these create the flare which distinguishes Operentzia from any other group of this genre. This is a positive aspect, as the traditions provide an extra layer of cultural heat, which when used properly as an add-in to the progression make something unique. Sometimes the sound is left asking for something new, and these bald spots in dance music always draw my attention to the DJ who needs places like this to do their creative work.


I'm not a DJ, so I just sit and wait patiently for what comes after. Something brand new starts the race once the teetering sonics are ended, and a fancy energy with a higher pace picks up from where we last heard something worth moving to. Perfection forms in the fills and frills added by all manner of percussion instruments and sonic effects, snappy beats catch the airwaves in easily honed in steps while fancy footwork from the synthesiser showers us in tingling sampled pulsations and formulate melodics.


Taking it easy with this album is a fine choice for any music fan but I do feel it has been written and produced for high volume maximum energy situations, it's versatile enough to suit the living room or the whole house and when it's sat down and listened to, the craftsmanship is something else again. A lot of work has gone into this, and it really sounds like it might have been worth it.