Somehow along the way I'd forgotten that this compialtion is TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FOUR TRACKS!, and the min price is only £15 - and let me tell you I've paid much more for much less in the past. The cynic in you is probably saying 'Ah, but I bet there's a load of filler', and I'll admit I felt that way a bit at first - but a quick gander at the tracklist should set you at ease, sure there are lots of acts I've never heard of but nestled between them are some very big names indeed, and a fair chunk of the Warp crew both past and present. From my quick scroll you have: 808 State, Autechre, Arovane, B12, Bibio, DMX Krew, Luke Vibert, Machinedrum, Mira Calix, Orbital, The Future Sound Of London and even µ-Ziq at the very end.
A lot of these only appear on this comp too, with all the Warp names on there I'm surprised there wasn't more promo work done at the time, but I also don't really follow their main channels that closely. Digression aside, let's get stuck in. I'm starting with Arovane - yet another artist I found out about years ago but only fairly recently actually checked out. If you're at all famillair with Arovane's work this one will be familliar to you, delicate high tech vibes contrasted with these granular rhythmic bits. As expected of the 'IDM' world sure, but here and on a lot of Arovane works the contrast is not quite as harsh compared to some of my other previous posted stuff in this melodic style. As a result I think Arovane is a really good recomendation to those interested in exploring this side of the electronic genres if for example you like the more melodic bits of Aphex Twin but find some of it a little hard to get into.
Another from old school Warp favourites of mine B12 as well. Their album for the {Artificial Intelligence} series (like pretty much all of them in the series) was fantastic, a real triumph for that 'Electronic Listening Music' angle Warp was working with aroudn the time, and a great albeit slightly dated now piece of techy goodness. B12 have always had a bit of a Sci-Fi edge to them that made their work stand out a little on the {AE} series - the cover for Time Tourist for example showing a retro-future vision of London straight from a pulpy magazine cover. It's a visual style that goes hand in hand with the kind of techno they were making, and one that really suits that 'The sound of the future from the 90's' line that I use when talking about that era too. Orbita Tolv is another chapter in that book, if you liked the older B12 you'll find plenty to like here - the sounds and methodology are pretty much the same. And yet, I can't quite put my finger on why, but it certainly sounds much more... modern than their previous works. That sounds a little redundant I realise as of course a newer production is going to sound newer, but listen to a track like Telefone 529 and then this one back to back and you'll see what I mean.
Seeing Bibio on the list is always an interesting one as it could go a bunch of different ways - is it some fuzzy folktronica? Perhaps one of those nearly ambient pieces? Or are we talking one of those Gold Panada style wonky hip-hop kind of deals that broke up the folky bits of Ambivalence Avenue? In this case it's the latter! Truth be told I haven't kept up much with Bibio, I don't think he's doing this style full time from the bits and pieces that I've heard, it's still the odd track here and there that has this kind of sound to it. He does have a real knack for it I must say, I might not be into it as much as I would have been in the past but I can't deny it's still cacthy as hell. Perhaps not as much of an earworm that ocassionally crops up from the back of my mind to loop a couple of times like Fire Ant does, but give it a few years time to catch up and it might join the ranks.
Originally I planned to go through and share a bunch of my favourites from this comp but I'm afraid there's just too much. But I'm not going to stop here, as you might have guessed from the '.1' in the title I plan to come back and share some more tracks from here soon, just thought it'd be nicer to keep them in more digestible blocks is all. I did want to see if I could embed the main album page and see if it would even support the full 200+ tracks but I'll save that for later. Only complaints are I'm not a huge fan of the art - looks like it'd be more at home on some soundcloud hypeman (but it is for charity so I'll bite my tongue) and that at some point there was a Ceephax Acid Crew track on here that is now missing from the bandcamp page. Small potatoes given the sheer number of tracks here but still a bit of a let down.
Anyway, I hope you've found some stuff that piques your interest here, definitley check out the full thing as there are plenty of Artists there I didn't even mention that I'm varying degrees of familliar with and it's a really good deal for that price - almost certainly going to pick it up this coming BC Friday. And as always, Stay safe and enjoy the music.
-CVF
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