Side 1 of a mixtape, featuring "13 ambient adventures" and originally assembled 10th January 1998.
When I presented Side 2 on 3rd August 2021, I literally had nothing else to say in the accompanying post, which seems very unfair in retrospect. I'll put it down to the post going out on a Tuesday at the beginning of August and it being relatively early on in my routine of daily posting. I'd either had a very heavy Monday at work and/or very limited time the following morning to finesse a post.
These days, whilst it's still very rare for me to prepare a post days in advance - although I'll often carry an idea or may know what I want to post on a particular day - I usually set aside more time for writing the post, over and above any prep for the musical selection itself.
A Brief Excursion In The Underworld's subtitle is a bit misleading. Yes, there are 13 tracks; no, it's not an ambient mixtape; I'll leave you to be the judge of whether it's an "adventure" in any way at all. What it is, is a home for a bunch of off-kilter music that I liked but which didn't fit onto any other of my electronica, dance or ambient compilation tapes at the time.
I've previously featured Side 1 of "The Best Of Trance Europe Express" and it's no spoiler to say that Pleidean Communication by A Positive Life aka Stefan Pierlejewski doesn't appear on Side 2. However, it's another misleading mixtape title, as TEE was chock full of excellent music, including this track. A slightly longer version of Pleidean Communication appears on the 1994 album Synaesthetic, which was re-sequenced and re-released with lovely new artwork late last year. For those who prefer physical formats, you can pick up the original issue on CD via Waveform Records or the reissue on double vinyl via re:discovery records. Either way, it's well worth a listen.
Polygon Window is one of the many, many aliases of Richard D. James, releasing a clutch of singles and promos and just one album, 1993's Surfing On Sine Waves. Again, you can pick up a digital re-release of the album with a couple of bonus tracks via Warp Records. Whilst you're there, I'd also highly recommend Polygon Window's Quoth EP, which features the brilliantly titled Bike Pump Meets Bucket.
In the mid-1990s, Banco De Gaia seemed to be the ambient/chill out act that my friends liked, even if they otherwise weren't into that kind of music. I particularly got into Banco De Gaia in early 1994, having seen Toby Marks DJ during my first experience of a Megadog night in Derby. I went on to buy the limited 3CD, 13-track album Last Train To Lhasa in 1995 and although I don't listen to it as often as I should these days, it's not lost any of it's impact. No surprise that you can pick up a special edition of Last Train To Lhasa on Bandcamp. The re-release covers CDs 1 & 2 of the original physical release - including the version of China featured here - plus 5 bonus tracks.
Rising High Records was founded by musical polymath and innovator Caspar Pound, who tragically succumbed to cancer in 2004 at the age of 33. It's fair to say that his list of achievements and influences on electronic music are too great to list here. A couple of personal favourites were the excellent Further Self Evident Truths .. compilations and Rising High Collective, where Pound collaborated with Marc Williams, Peter Williams and singer Plavka, then known for her work with Jam & Spoon and providing vocals on The Shamen's classic Hypereal. Caspar Pound's daughter Sapho has been responsible for the Rising High legacy in recent years, which has seen much of Rising High Collective's singles and remixes available again in digital format. The version of Move Ya featured here, remixed by Bedouin Ascent aka Kingsuk Biswas, doesn't appear to have been reissued as yet and is exclusive to the first Further Self Evident Truths .. compilation.
Two Lone Swordsmen aka Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood should need no introduction, especially if you've been a regular visitor to these pages. In fact, I love Glide By Shooting - and it's parent album/EP Swimming Not Skimming - so much that I've featured it here previously. I think the music speaks for itself on this occasion. Simply stunning.
I'll admit that I've not had a great deal of interest in Jon Anderson's career, whether with Yes, Jon & Vangelis or as a solo artist. Yet, he manages to constantly enter my consciousness with music that demands my attention. I'll admit that I was equally ignorant of 1994 album Deseo and have remained largely indifferent to it since, but I was drawn to 1995 companion The Deseo Remixes. Aside from the appeal of the lenticular cover (remember those?) which sadly cracked when I moved home a couple of years later, the CD featured remixes by Transglobal Underground, Deep Forest and The Future Sound Of London, as well as a couple of beauties by Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton as Global Communication. Bless This is one of the few tracks on The Deseo Remixes to retain the track title from the parent album and, in both cases, closes proceedings. The version here is a shimmering, echo effects-laden chorus with a rhythm that evokes the drum machine from Vienna by Ultravox, seven minutes passing by in a flash (or should that be haze?).
If you enjoy what you've heard here, check out Side 2 which features more goodies (not to be confused with The Goodies) by The Shamen, Scanner, The Art Of Noise, The Grid, Moby, David Toop and Cosmic Baby.
1) Pleidean Communication (Original Version): A Positive Life (from Trance Europe Express², 1994)
2) If It Really Is Me: Polygon Window (from Surfing On Sine Waves, 1993)
3) China (Clouds Not Mountains): Banco De Gaia (from Last Train To Lhasa, 1995)
4) Move Ya (Bedouin Ascent Silicon Grooves Mix): Rising High Collective (from Further Self Evident Truths .., 1995)
5) Glide By Shooting (Remix By Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood): Two Lone Swordsmen (from Swimming Not Skimming, 1996)
6) Bless This (Remix By Global Communication aka Mark Pritchard & Tom Middleton): Jon Anderson (from The Deseo Remixes, 1995)
