March 15th 1997 saw the mouth watering combination of Asana and Synthetik appear at Jodrell Bank planetarium, and on this CD-R you will be able to relive Asana's performance in its entirety, except for the omission of 'Children of the Earth' which will appear on another album titled 'Enshrined'.
I'm sure anyone who was at the concert will not need me to recommend this to them. The performance was simply tremendous, with every piece broken down to base elements and recreated afresh. The power, drive and energy of Dave Barker's music is totally infectious and could rub shoulders with the cream of today's modern ambient/trance/dance scene. Turn up the volume and its like opening the door of a blast furnace. 'Signals' weaves velvet pads around pumping rhythms, punctuated by a scything lead motif. 'Union of Knowledge' rides a frenzied bass beat offset by sequential detail and sampled slices. Totally outrageous.
Enthusiastic applause gives way to 'Re-embodiment', here adorned with yet more sampled wizardry and the funkiest rasping sequence this side of an alien impostor. The juxtaposition of massive synth themes and laid back rhythms is a master-stroke. However, for out-and-out sequenced brilliance the CD debut of 'East' must take the honours. This track is quite simply breathtaking. It ricochets around the room like a high velocity ballistic, flooring all before it in a rampant wall of rhythmic energy. Once heard, never forgotten and should this track ever get widespread exposure it would carry all before it.
It's an impossible task to follow such brilliance, but Dave could have made no better choices than 'Trikuti' and 'Unbeliever' which again get the full "mixmaster" treatment to stunning effect. Waste not one second longer. The altar of Asana awaits. (GG)
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