Artist:
Animat
Title:
Staring Into Space
Staring Into Space
Label:
Mareld
Mareld
Released:
May 2015
May 2015
Staring
into Space is a new collection of tracks from their last two
releases. The E.P. 'Zero Blue ' and the album 'Music For An Unstable
Planet' came out on the Mareld label in 2014 and included tracks and
themes from the Sheffield based duo's acclaimed soundtracks to John
Carpenter's 'Dark Star' and Sylvian Comet's 'Belleville Rendezvous'.
The
album commences with the Robin Hexstatic mix of 'Horsehead' where
atmospheric dreamy synth sounds fuse with deep bass notes and a
driving beat. It's a lovely combo and sets the album off in good
stead. This is followed by the darker plodding intro and self
explanatory vocals of Pioneer Species take of 'Hum Humans Hum' which
leans towards 70's space themed discoid funk in places but has a very
dub reggae feel overall.
Keenya's
atmospheric ambient take of 'Dream Dot TV' has the right mood and
pace of a stereotypical space movie. It might not get you dancing but
it certainly conjures up the feeling of floating in space.
Mechanist's mix of 'Recovery Time' moves up a gear and returns
somewhat nearer to Hexstatic's style of fusing dreamy synths with a
more driving beat. Although this piece dips more into ambient
beat-less breakdowns, when the beats present there's plenty of tribal
rim-shots and snares.
Input
Junkies manipulation mix of 'Target Practice' is a choppy take that
places focus on the drums. It's almost like a drum & bass piece
that's never allowed to take off and personally I didn't dig it at
all. James Murry restores the calm with a classical feel to his
version of 'Elgans Alba' with plenty of cello string and a touch of
piano.
MCTHFG
brings his blend of 80's sci-fi and dub reggae to 'Outsider Inside'
resulting in a mash-up akin to traditional sea-side organ music meets
the Mad Professor. While E.R.S. delivers a slo-mo dubbed out funk
full of distorted vocal samples, sparse drum rolls and fx with his
version of 'Bone Dry'. Midnight JJ completes the release with a
dreamy progressive dub of 'Horsehead'.
There's
certainly some lovely atmospherics and sounds within this album and I
liked a lot of the tracks in their own right. However, I found
listening through the album continuously it's a bit too dis-jointed
in terms of pace and style. However, that said in this day and age
you may not play an album from start to finish and the tracks could
well fit into different sets depending on your mood.
Reviewed
by Woodzee.
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