Gus Till - Best of the Rhino Years Vol.2

[abasio]

Gus Till

Best of the Rhino Years Vol.2

Rest of the Rhino Daze - The Missing, The Unreleased and a Coupla Classics

Sonic Dragon

2007

 

Tracklist

 

1 Bus - Fearless Breeder (7:32)

2 Bus - Full Monty Jacket Pt.1 (8:09)

3 Bus - Nostromo (8:40)

4 Bus - Metatron (9:51)

5 Bus - 3rd Mind (9:25)

6 Bus vs. Texas Faggot - Sleep Talk (8:16)

7 Bus - Generator (8:38)

8 Stoop & Fidget - Mudless (10:50)

9 Bus - Let's Go! (8:30)

 

The second installment of Gus Till's tracks released (or not) on Flying Rhino Records. Some were meant to be on Bus's never to be album Your Body is Your Nightclub, some were going to be on various comps or just somehow never got released. Also included are 2 classic Bus tracks from the time of FRR.

 

1. Bus - Fearless Breeder

This was scheduled for the last Bus album but never made it. It's an intense ride through pounding trance. Dark & techy & driving! A real stomper with a lot of subtle sounds used in the back & some really twisted vocals that seem to be cut up messed up & fucked up. A really good track, would have been great on the last Bus album, morebusinesslinkyouthere but I suppose something had to make way.

 

2. Bus - Full Monty Jacket Pt.1

This was meant to be on a 2000 Dragonfly Comp but was held back for Your Body is Your Nightclub, as that never happened it became a lost track so it's very nice to have it here now. Not as intense as the opener but still pretty driving. Not as crazy but still a little out there. The main beat is steady but the sub beats are lovely little trippy beats that are joined there by short little synths and underneath everything some twisted reverberating drone adding a lot of cool fucked up atmosphere.

 

3. Bus - Nostromo

Was supposed to be on a Creamcrop comp before they went under. And I was instantly put in mind of what little I've heard of their music. I've only really heard a few from that label, most notably Process - One Drop Or Two? & this has a similar, wet acidic driving feel to it. The synths seem to drip off the walls of sound. The brief hints at melody are dark & the creepy noises in the background hint at underground badness. A nice dark, twisted, acid ridden track. I like it a lot.

 

4. Bus - Metatron

Was a track that Gus just never knew what do do with & oh my god it's top notch. The intro is so dreamy I feel like it's going to turn out to be an ambient track but the beat kicks in and drives it as a dancefloor track. The dream turns into a slightly unstable journey as the sounds get darker & the twisted voice in the background appears & attempts to say something but it's too base, too gruff too primal to comprehend. The atmosphere grows & grows until the end. Pure upbeat ambient http://www.psynews.org/forums/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/smile.gif

 

5. Bus - 3rd Mind

Another track that was scheduled for the album that never got released, that would have been a great album I'm sure with the strength of tracks like this. I mentioned before the upbeat ambient & this track has that feel as well. From the trippy sub beats to the wraith like nosies that screech down from above. Very descriptive soundscape again. Brilliant. Love the vocal samples in this one, the female sounds intensely insane http://www.psynews.org/forums/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/smile.gif

 

6. Bus vs. Texas Faggot - Sleep Talk

Recorded in Helsinki with Texas Faggot, I was really looking forward to hearing a collaboration between Gus Till & Texas Faggot. It starts off soft & kicks into gear with the inclusion of the bassline. The bass really hums nicely & drives the music with venom. Lots of slick synths swishing up & down & side to side. It's all very polished and nice but lacks a certain something to make it come alive. It's not as atmospheric as the other tracks, it's twisted but not as twisted & never reaches the same dark moods. Close but no cigar I'm afraid. Nice track but not as great as the rest here (should have been on Vol.1)

 

7. Bus - Generator

A remix of this track appeared as Emotion Surfer by Cass without telling Gus it was going to be released. I never actually heard that track so can't comment on the similarities or differences but the original here is pretty sweet. it has an atmosphere like standing on a dark moor at night, the fear of wolves ever present. The beat is pretty quick & quirky, adds the feeling of running. I can see the trees in my peripheral synaesthesia rushing past & the eyes peering out from the darkness lighting briefly my senses but quickly moved passed. A very good track, extremely descriptive. Although I enjoyed Cass's work when he was manager of FRR I can't imagine his release on Choo Choo records came close to the original here.

 

8. Stoop & Fidget - Mudless

Gus's favourite track with James Munro & it's easy to see why. Almost 11 minutes of genious here. The beats are heavy with a little reverb & there are little clicks & beeps behind them. Some bamboo sounds too enter. The beats change direction dragging the mood with it a number of times. When the beat drops for a second & kicks in with the synth line the music seems to be racing upwards. The beats seem to reach their height & start to fall back down, the beats then thin out into a minimal kick but as the sub beats come back in along with the synths, everything seems to be moving sideways. Fantastic track. Don't care that I heard it before as it's that good it's always welcome. Classic indeed!

 

9. Bus - Let's Go!

This was Gus's last track released on Flying Rhino Records, it seems like a fitting end to his Flying Rhino Era. It is typical Bus. Soft subtle sounds under a dark semi heavy beat. The samples are trippily placed making another well textured, multi layered track that obviously has Gus Till's signature in it. The Alien I may be synthetic but I'm not stupid. It's insides are liquid it's not real it's not real it's not real it's not real & Let's go! give the track a similar atmosphere to the movie. Dark, panicked & intense with the feeling that we have to go & for us and this journey it's true. The end is here, we must go!

 

 

All in all this is even better than the first volume. There is more that I've never heard anywhere before and there are more really descriptive tracks that paint soundscapes so rich & textured that I dream about them afterwards.

This year (2007) I described Solar Fields' album EarthShine as upbeat ambient & I would describe Gus Till's work in the same way. It's just a different type of ambient. Solar Fields' upbeat ambient has the same kind of ambience as his ambient, melodic & beautiful. Gus Till's upbeat ambient is much more in keeping with the dark minimal ambient a lot of people get easily bored by. But like that style of music, this music has so much more to offer than a casual listener will ever be able to discover. Deep trippy stuff! A must for everyone who has ever loved Gus's music.

[yerg]

This compilation is much deeper and darker than Vol. 1.

I really appreciated some of those tracks but mostly i didn't like it. As for my taste first compilation was much better in terms of variety.

As always Abasio wrote amazing review - you can even feel those sounds before hearing it.

 

Some of the best tracks here are:

3-Nostromo - here Gus creates very deep atmosphere, i could imagine gigantic dark starship drifting somewhere in space, could be easily soundtrack to sci-fi movie.

5-3rd Mind - mindblowing track, so intense and deep at the same time. Masterpiece.

8-Mudless - Gus collaborates with James Monro here and it's very good....but, Mefisto is much much better (imho)

[rino]

This is an all around fantastic release.

 

I won't comment upon the tracks themselves as abasio really hit it on the nail up there.

 

The whole album has an overall dark feel to it. Dark as in creating a somewhat grayish atmosphere rather then trying to induce fear via kazillion BPM dark type tracks in order to portray macabre states of mind. But you knew that already.

Gus Till really manages to pull out some lost gems here, giving us a taste of what we wanted to taste some years ago, but I guess it's never too late for quality stuff. And that is what you get here- quality throughout. Juicy basslines, groove, tricky and trippy FX, not complex melody work, but very effective and well done.

As much as I can see this moving party crowds, for home listening purposes you don't have to look much further. Progressive at its best- floating, drifting, moving & soothing, thumping yet not thrown in your face. Underlying tones, never ending sections of dreamy and somewhat spooky sonic waves and an irresistible drive will not leave you flat. The music might seem cold upon initial listen, but there is so much more to it. I already feel like this one will be a real grower, and that the true potential of some numbers will hit me in a little while. Let's hope so.

There is no filler material here, no album leftovers, no cheese, no fluff- just great, really great music. Just the Gus Till I wanted to hear, and then some.

My favorite track is Mudless, which is in my opinion the finest progressive track ever recorded. But that's just me. Hot on its heels come Metatron and 3rd Mind, both of which are good enough to validate the purchase.

Bottom line is: if you are a fan of Gus Till, you need this. If Flying Rhino's slicker, more minimal sound made your hair swing backwards, then you really do need this. If V/A Black rhino, V/A Third flight: Slipstream use to make your day, and if miss that feeling of progressive being "the next best invention since colored vinyl", then you should hit home base with this one!

Regardless of what you were, or still are in to, I'd strongly suggest giving this a few spins. Odds are you'll like it a lot. Quality psy trance releases are not too hard to come by today, but while most great modern releases manifest greatness by exploring new grounds, breaking boundries, fliritng around and genre crossing, innovating and retrofiting, this compilation delivers a bunch of goodies the good ol' way, spiced up with improved sound. Classic material no doubt, and its greatest feat resides in the fact it still sounds bloody phenomanal.

[Banan]

this album is full of energy

[abasio]

This still gets played a lot at my place. Really fantastic stuff from Gus, a great showcase of his best period (still love all his recent input too but this is just fantastic music)