Passed Me By/We Stay Together (2014 Edition)

Andy Stott's experimental techno, as heard on the 2011 double-pack 12" releases Passed Me By and We Stay Together -- combined and expanded for this two-disc set -- is mutant in two senses. Through 2010, Stott often stuck to straightforward dub techno or lean tech-house that was of high quality but provoked numerous comparisons, from dub techno pioneers Basic Channel to Modern Love labelmate Claro Intelecto. It's not that Stott made a leap into recombinant otherness; it's more like he fell through a trap door that dumped him into a netherworld of overgrown jungles, rusted huts, and terminally slate-gray skies. These torpid and foreboding grooves creep and lurch, corroded and caked in reverb and debris. They could function as themes for malformed mutants. Every now and then, a sample pokes through to the point of being identifiable; "Intermittent," mostly shunting percussion, a sharp tap of a kick drum, and industrial hum, gradually reveals a yearning R&B ballad released in 1985. Otherwise, vocal samples are treated heavily enough to resemble tortured groans, baleful war chants, and disturbed scatting. This type of thing has been referred to as "knackered house," mostly due to the sub-100-bpm tempos and lack of anthemic qualities, but it's among the most intense and physical electronic music one can encounter. Not sick meaning good, but sick meaning sick -- as in diseased and somewhat demented. ~ Andy Kellman|

現在もっとも信頼できるダブ系テクノ・レーベルのひとつ、モダン・ラヴからアナログでリリースされるやいなや速攻で姿を消してしまった、アンディ・ストットによる幻の2作品がボートラを追加してCD化!! アヴァンギャルドかつエクスペリメンタルなダブ・テクノ・サウンドによってベーシック・チャンネルの流れとは違う新しいサウンドを作り上げている。ジャケットのインパクトも強力だが、それ以上に内容が強力すぎます!!
bounce (C)石井隆弘