scoff cruddle

Well, AFAIK, Hoopy Food are in no way connected to Ott, other than he is the man who produced the second album. Looking forward to this a lot, as the first album is a firm favourite

I'd be perfectly happy if they just released a remastered version of Rock Bitch Mafia, so I could get hold of a proper copy

The whole point back then in the early 90s, was that before people got anal and dogmatic about labelling sub-genres, there was all sorts of great electronic music, which may or my not have been proto-goa or have influenced goa/pie-trance, which was just a glorious melting pot of techno/trance/acid/tribal/industrial whatever you want to call it. Juno Reactor were definitely one of note (and I am sure I read somewhere that Mr Watkins firmly denies they ever were psytrance!), but also all sorts of things such as the Orb, Orbital, definitely Banco de Gaia...hell you could easily say that a lot of the industrial/IDM stuff from the late 80s like Front 242 had some proto-Goaness about it. Frankly who gives a monkey's as long as it is good music.

I'd agree 100% with that...one of my favourite chill albums ever.

Been looking forward to this since it was first announced last year....should be tops. In recent years, their downtempo stuff has definitely been top notch. One of the finest sets I have seen in ages was their downtempo one at Waveform last year. Sun coming up, coffee, fry up and a spliff. Marvellous. But what is this about Joie and Merv splitting? Nooooooooooooooooo!!!

Um, no. I ordered on Tuesday, and it arrived the next day! Maybe because I am in the UK? Having a first listen, it certainly seems pretty good. Loving Trara. You can kinda tell it is Entheogenic, but yes, it seems a more mature "together" sound. Promising.

Not sure where they are from, but it is a familiar sounding English voice. In full: lie, cheat, deceive, connive buy now, pay later consolidate your loans, take more, give less drive big, eat all you can survival of the fattest shock and awe regime change do as i say, not as i do eye for an eye free money if you fall over, sue the company diminished responsibility everything is acceptable, as.. long.... as..... house..... prices...... don't......... crash...

Hmm...well, I think it is about time someone said something good about this album. Cos I absolutely love it. I have been listening to it pretty solidly for the two weeks or so that it has been in my possession, and I think its the best thing I have laid my paws on in a good long while. Yes it has been a long time (far too long) coming, but I reckon it is a great follow-on to Blumenkraft. Quite different in feel, IMHO. And very far from dull. Is it mind twistingly psychedelic? No, certainly not. But I don't think it was ever trying to be. This is bouncy-psydub of the highest quality. Something to loose yourself in and bounce along to on a hot summer's day. And as for the quality of the production, it is frankly superb. Nice to listen to very very loud too (shame I have neighbours). I don't normally do track by track reviews, but hell, a new Ott album doesn't come along very often...so here we (briefly) go: 1. From Trunch To Stromness Slow opening, which doesn't set my world on fire, but once we get going, very nice dubby groove. 2. The Queen Of All Everything The appearance of a voice (Naked Nick's it would seem), apparently filtered through a vocoder, did set alarm bells ringing, but actually works suprisingly well. Very warm summery feel to this one. And once we get past the breakdown into the last third, this makes me go all fuzzy inside. Lush. 3. Rogue Bagel Aha! So this is the track I was bouncing about like a loon to at several of last summer's festivals. Nice opening build through some tabla and sitar into several sets of ethnic vocals. Old samples and ideas, as has been suggested? Perhaps, but I don't remember it being executed this well. Again, a nice breakdown, with the final quarter having some lovely lead sitar (I think) and flute. A big, big hit with me this one. Danced like a loon around the room again! 4. Daisies And Rubies More straight up dub, with lots of psychedelic squelching. Probably the one track that doesn't do too much for me. Shame, as it is cowritten with Nick Mannessah. Not bad, but trying to do a bit of a Shpongle, and falls down compared to the rest of the album. 5. Signals From Bob Totally love this one again. I was hoping Bob was "Bob" from the church of the sub-genius, but apparently it is more likely to be Robert Anton Wilson. Makes sense I guess. Slow build, through a RAW? sample into some lovely dubby beats. Nice background synth line which keeps morphing. Again sitar used to good effect and again a change into the last quarter, with a beautifully rich synthy-coda, which again puts a big smile on my face. Lots of nice detail in the background. Boring...I think not ;-) 6. 382 Seaside Took a while to grow on me this one. Quite different in style, difficult to describe. Slow mellow stuff, nice slide guitar and female vocals. A bit Tripswitchy. Forms a very nice more chilled bridge between 5 and 7. 7. Rolfcopter Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. Stand out track, which just rocks my world to bits. More sinister feel to this, and more uptempo drums, before morphing into a dub monster. And the finest sample of the year, nay decade! "......everything is acceptable, as long as house prices don't crash". Brilliant. Followed by what appears to be a balalika solo. Again a breakdown 3/4 through...and off we go again. 8. A Shower Of Sparks A slower, more chilled end to the album. Again warm summer sunshine, nice female vocals and a lush and lovely way to finish off. So in conclusion: Favourite tracks (immediately) 3, 5, 7. Growers: 2, 6 A fantastic album, which, had it been made by anyone new, people would be wetting themselves in excitement over. The somewhat cool reception it is getting baffles me, but maybe people are mad it took so long? Who knows, IMHO, one of the finest psychill albums ever, and a very worthy successor to Blumenkraft (which has sat at the top of the pile for years). Is it quite as good as Blumenkraft? Only time will tell, but it is bloody lovely, I can tell thee that much. Cracking bloke, cracking album. And loving those old Aeroflot Tu-154s on the cover art. Cheers, Dom

Crikey folks...aren't we all quick to damn. Well, on first listen I thought, hmm, this is fine, but didn't set my world on fire. After many listens over the last week, I absolutely love it. No it isn't Blumenkraft, and to be fair, if he had produced another Blumenkraft 5 years later, he would have deserved a slap. It is very different, but top bouncy dub. Roflcopter - amazingly great, and excellent sample Rogue Bagel - splendid bouncy nonsense Message from Bob - similar others not quite in the same league, but all are growing on me. Shame we had to wait so long, but I bloody love it.

Lots of older stuff in the 80s, but I fell into a more indie frame of mind. The track that really got me going properly back into electronica was this: Orbital - The Box (from 1995 IIRC) Great video too.

Splendide! I was chilling out in the garden only on Sunday listening to Lost Eden, a lovely album, so a new one would be great. Shame Code Eternity seems to be out of stock everywhere I have looked... Roll on July!

Just to add my 2p worth, just to say that I love the two Androcell albums, some of my most cherished blissful downtempo music. Look forward to hearing the new project, and wish you lots of luck with it! Cheers, Dom

And me: http://www.last.fm/user/scoffcruddle/

Well, I have to say I really like it. It is very much a Prometheus album, slightly tech-y and machine sounding, which is the sound he does really well. Very nice tunes indeed and not a bad way to start off 2007. IIRC from some discussion from Benji himself (on psyforum), he had a load of downtempo tracks, and rather than stick them on this album, he was planning to release a whole downtempo album this year as well. Hopefully that will happen, as his chilled stuff is great.

Ha! Well, yes, I'd just have to echo the sentiments expressed above. Absolute blinder! God knows what genre you'd stick this in, and frankly that is half the joy. Much like the VoC record from last year, this is excellent stuff. After a handful of listens so far, I'd say I prefer this. Currently blissing out to Eye Of The Beholder, which I can only describe as lush. And it's very funny too, which is nice, as lord knows plenty of folk take all this a little too seriously sometimes. Nice work Colin et al, if I ever manage to meet up with you on a night out, I'll even buy you a pint! (high praise indeed)