Hawtin, Richie

Artist: V/A
P: 1992
This impressive compilation showcases some of the most cutting edge examples of electronic listening music in the early 1990s. All contributions are of a high standard and the music still sounds fresh and innovative in 2010. Polygon Window by The Dice Man opens the first disc on an undulating, mid-tempo beat, followed by a series of sonic gems like Musicology's Telephone 529 with its spacey voice samples, the rhythmically complex Crystel by Autechre and The Clan, a semi-symphonic soundscape by I.A.O.
Some of these artists were no doubt influenced by the German pioneers like Tangerine Dream but they've evolved beyond those structures to create something quite unique. Multiple layers endow certain pieces with a profoundly cinematic quality, e. g. Spiritual High by UP! which has a trance-like texture in which different types of vocals alternate. Musicology's Preminition, on the other hand, has R&B type female vocals throughout.
On the second disc my favorites include Link's percussive Arcadian, B12's solemn Scriptures, Autechre's quirky Chatter, Beaumont Hannant's bubbling & percolating Utuba, former Cabaret Voltaire member Richard H Kirk's plinking, plonking & lilting Reality Net and Seefeel's chiming & echoing Spangle which reminds me somewhat of Popol Vuh's majestic Nosferatu.

Here the last copy!