COLLECTION

AURORA REMIXES

  1/  Drowning In Air -                          (Plotkin,Null)                6.25
        Scorn
  2/  Sawtooth Swirl (Irreducible Gated          (Plotkin,Null)                9.42
             Momentum Dub Mix) -
        DJ Spooky
  3/  Dead Moon Ritual (Source Mutation Mix) -   (Plotkin,Null)                6.56 
        Yab Yum
  4/  Drowning In Air (Bonus Beat Mix)           (Plotkin,Null)                2.08 
        Scorn
  5/  Neuro (Reversed Mix) -                     (Plotkin,Null)                5.25
        James Plotkin
  6/  Neuro (remix) -                            (Plotkin,Null)                6.32
        James Plotkin

          Tracks 1 and 4 created and mixed in The Box, late December 1996
          Tracks 2 and 3 created at Mindswerve Studios, New York City
          Programming and engineering on track 2 by Chris Flam
          Tracks 1 and 4 mixed by Mick Harris
          Track 2 produced, arranged and sequenced by DJ Spooky
          Track 3 produced by Chris Flam and Johnny Zhivago
          Track 5 recreated from deteriorated master tapes by James Plotkin
          Track 6 produced by James Plotkin and KK Null
          Assembled in it's entirety at Mindswerve Studios, New York City by Chris
            Flam and Howard Wulkan
          Executive Producers : Howard Wulkan and Daniel Seliger
          Creative Direction : Tim Ronan

(2) DJ Spooky : bass, beats, noise, textures.

          1997  -  Rawkus Records (USA),  ptv  1136-2  (CD)

REVIEWS :

I could never figure out of these were supposed to be remixes of a particular work, or if they were all different pieces thrown together. Whatever the case, they work as a whole. The slow drifts of the first Scorn track lead into static beats which give way to Dj Spooky's textural roadmap and Yab Yum's usual blend of strange rhythm and atmosphere. This was a bargain at $6.99 and I made evryone I know get a copy. The "Bonus Beats" Scorn track is more of the same, and the two final pieces offer a nice bit of isloationist ambience.

mjeanes

..................................................

The original album was released as a combined effort by SENTRAX and RAWKUS. The two MICK HARRIS pieces are post-BULLEN SCORN all the way - deceptively simple drums and lazily declining bass form the structures for churning multi-tier noises. Probably a lot less faltering than SCORN's own material, it is still worth investigating. DJ SPOOKY keeps much the same atmosphere - waves of tinkering, almost skanking sound set against a soft, slow, warm drum rhythm. Cool as ice, this is a classy piece of Ambient Trance. YAB YUM's remix provides what is probably the most complex & original piece in this collection - a long, AUTECHRE-like journey through a myriad different percussive changes which itself is surrounded by all manner of sounds - lasting 6'50" plus with not one second wasted. JIM PLOTKIN's own remix (from 'deteriorated master tapes') takes us further into strange areas, being an ambient subterra-dweller akin to a less-dense LULL circa "Dreamt About Dreaming" and :ZOVIET FRANCE: at their cryptic best. The final track claims to be taken from the AURORA album - as I've never heard the original, I cannot say whether this is a remix or not. It's certainly a trek through mysterious soundscapes - the full-frontal in-yer-face style of these guitarists is lost to a strange experimental ambience, evocative of vast echoing warehouse spaces holding waste metals, abandoned subway stations with only the hint of distant tube trains, alien entities hidden from sight. This is one great album, full of colour & variety. Any single track on this is worth the price of the album, so the meagre 37'13" running time is forgivable.

Antony Burnham (courtesy of Metamorphic Journeyman website)