TACTILE

Recurrence and Intervention is an interesting entry from Tactile in the remix album sweepstakes, with the band being less concerned about preserving the identity of the tracks on Inscape as some artists would be about their work. In short, they happily relinquish creative control. Luckily they've chosen the right people for the job- Scorn, Eyeless in Gaza, Coil, Solaris (Justin Broadrick) and the rest have always made a point of playing with dark and obscure sonics without succumbing to the pitfalls of gothic melodrama or academic pretension.

As a whole this album is very streamlined, and will appeal to people not just ready yet for Inscape's minimum of notation. Mick Harris' remix is very paint by-numbers Scorn; quality work but not unexpected. 0 turns in a creation that would fit in well on any of the recent Pan Sonic albums- all sharp pulsebeats and fade-ins of Tactile's white noise. Solaris' track is a standout; a lonely inversion of techno, using a steady 'one-two' beat and the two-note drone from 'Caged Light' to create a track whose danceability is not overshadowed by its sublime creepiness. Eyeless in Gaza probably have the most traditionally musical song here, using introsopective guitar sounds which give the album it's most human element, but still don't eliminate the chimerical wierdness which makes Tactile unique.

Tom K. Bailey

The original album this collection purports to be based on, as simple as it might appear to the first-time listener, is actually rich in colour tones which just beg to be adapted, adopted, expanded & expounded. These remixes fall into two distinct categories - ones using the original material, mutated & twisted into new forms & colours; and ones where little of the original sound has been used, tracks being built up over what remains. In many ways the tracks which divert radically from the source material are the most interesting - SCORN for instance build archetypal drum patterns underlined by ponderous bass over which the generated tones roll & crawl in perfect symbiosis; EYELESS IN GAZA thrashing out their angry disturbed-Hornet's-nest sound against a throbbing background; Ø inject a JOHN CARPENTER circa "The Thing" atmosphere to the sound in a slowed-down PANASONIC way, while JAMES PLOTKIN portrays a dark throbbing atmosphere of distant locomotive echoing across unspoilt valleys of soft velvet; SOLARIS choose a simple but effective echoing discrete rhythmic journey through the hums and throbs while BLOOD FROM THE SOUL concludes the album with what is probably the most interesting piece here - a track akin to the COIL soundtrack for "Hellraiser" - twisted orchestrated works which cycle and repeat, gradually transforming as it maintains the creepy atmosphere. The other part of the collection more or less keeps the theme of the original "Inscape" album with drifting, roiling, growling multi-layers of noise swelling and fading. Certainly such people as COIL & :ZOVIET FRANCE: adapt these tones to their own idiom, with the likes of SCALPEL following suit in dark moaning waves and diaphanous swells. An interesting collection which sits well together despite the stylistic variations. Well worth seeking out if you're into the dark and surreal side of instrumental music. Antony Burnham (courtesy of the Metamorphic Journeyman website)

Two sets of terminal essays from the schools of Isolationism and Noise. TACTILE have used their first release, "Inscape", as the starting point for 'interventions' from artists such as COIL, Ø, :ZOVIET*FRANCE:, EYELESS IN GAZA, SCORN and JAMES PLOTKIN. "Inscape" is perfect source material as its forms are relatively unevolved: single note pulses, cyclic vibrations, prickly static and microfields of electronic feedback - a series of electro-physical mantras, devoid of immediate expectations and anxieties. The interventions here are subtle enough to retain the sense of a homogenous project across the differing aesthetic matrices. Instead of the usual concatenation of bombastic identities this is a desolate astral tour, sounding the atmospheres not of HOLST's planets but of the more abstractly numbered satellites and nebulae. "Tactile Vs Ø" purveys the barest atomic pulse above rhythmic bursts of hiss. On "Tactile Vs Coil" there is a slight bruising of sound - a drone haemorrhages into the ether. JAMES PLOTKIN gently modulates a helicopter loop from "Inscapes" while faint melodic synths bleed in at the edges. Within these alien ambiences the subtlest memories from the conscious soundworld - a faint trumpet here, an organic tone there - carry an almost mystical penumbra. This kind of Isolationist music often feels like it's cornered in some obscure recess, but two tracks here reach out and overwhelm the presence of the listener in the most striking way. "Tactile Vs :Zoviet*France:" evolves from a seeping hiss, becoming ever more respiratory, until it enlarges into an insectoid angst and then into a complex poly-textured environment of organic and inorganic noise. And in "Tactile Vs Scalpel" loomings and whirrings come insistently from different angles, dissolving a sense of solid space in a way that tips over from anxiety into joy. Breathtaking.

Matt Fytche from THE WIRE 160