Archives Vol.2

Although known to be Luke Slater's exclusively clubby alter ego, this second compilation of singles released as Planetary Assault Systems kindly includes some of the slower passages that recall Slater's releases under his own name. But this is certainly not to say that most of this disc doesn't kick...hard! "Searchin" is the most overtly "rave" track included, with strobe-quick synths and an unmoving thud for a beat. Still, tinges of Detroit techno's machine soul worm their way into what is on the surface a paint-by-numbers rave track, complete with siren squelch. From that point, things seem tamer, even if by tame you mean the thundering techno of "Angel Street" and "Forms," which integrates a chilling ghoul of a vocal sample, perfect for loud dark freakouts on the dancefloor. "Gruve" steps with a house rhythm, but one played strictly on space steel drums, the synthetic percussion sound being one of Slater's most recognizable attributes. Things wrap up with "The Parting," a strictly ambient exercise that was most likely included as filler on the original vinyl and feels the same here. While a proper techno album can often end gingerly, the collection of tracks found here never amounts to a coherent whole of an album. Quality techno to be sure, but strictly for the avid collector. ~ Joshua Glazer|