Jon Barnes
Reviewed 2005-03-28 A+ outing from Grundik & Slava teamed up with Ambidextrous. Some of the tunes are by G & S, some by Ambidextrous, and others are one team remixing the other. All-around stellar electronic compositions, at times leaning toward experimental. Some of the more complex experimental drum patterns are beyond my taste, but even with that said, this album is a gem start to finish. PLAY!
Best tracks: 1, 2, 9
**Track 1: BEAUTIFUL and spacey intro with touches of acid and bleepy percussion. Gets dark and more drummy around minute 4.
**Track 2: More absolutely stunning mellow synth work and astonishingly creative drum patterns. Play this anywhere, anytime, any mood – it will SET the mood.
Track 3: If there were such a thing as “industrial ambient,” this would be it. Another home run.
Track 4: OK here comes the complex meter and drum patterns. Sparse and dominated by a bouncing low-end sound that might be a talking drum.
Track 5: Dark feel with distorted complex drum patterns. Not my fav but well done.
*Track 6: Deep electronic percussion; succeeds even without a discernable melody.
Track 7: Interesting contrast of skittish drum patterns under soothing, ringing vibraphone chords
Track 8: First straight-up dance beat emerges 1:30 into this song. Melody stays lush.
***Track 9: PLAY!! Starts off sinister and ends in bliss. The perfect comedown track to end the album (or your show...)