Ron Berry
Void
CDR / 6 Tracks / 62:40 mins
Hard on the heels of Sun Dance highly praised by Dave in the last magazine, comes this, and from his own sleeve notes it is clear that Ron wanted to produce something more than a little different, and whilst I haven't yet heard Sun Dance, I strongly suspect that this sounds absolutely nothing like its predecessor.

"Tight as the Drum" gets us underway, and boy did those percussive effects make me jump! Weird, ghostly electronic effects reverberate around the percussion, and to me it sounds like something that Johannes Schmoelling might have done around the time of his groundbreaking "The Zoo of Tranquillity" album.

"Artic Flow" follows, and it's an effective and contemplative piece given what went on before. The electronics appearing to breathe in and out and it really is very moody.

"For whom the Bell Tolls" is if anything even more abstract. Heavily processed electronics and yes a (virtual) bell chimes from time to time. I cannot pretend that this is easy listening, but as a collage of electronics and sound effects it is impressive.

"Sea of Storms", is next. Given its title I was expecting some mad sequencer fest, but instead I got more weird sound effects and electronics.

"The Tank" the longest track, at over 15 minutes, starts off with what sounds like someone hitting a metal pipe, in a vast underground cavern - all very "Alien", with Ripley stalking the Xenomorphs! It's all done with electronics of course, and I must confess to being ever so slightly impressed. This is indeed a brave new world, and to me it sounds like nothing I've ever heard before, and as far as EM goes, this really is pushing the boundaries of what most people would understand as music.

Last up is "Lava Flow", an obvious companion piece to "Artic Flow" - a fantastic way to bring the album to an end.

Wow, what an interesting hour! To say this is a brave release is something of an understatement, and in an era of instant celebrity's and rubbishy TV, such a statement could be construed by some as a kiss of death. Suffice to say, you won't see this in your local HMV, and maybe that's just how it should be.

I always try and give some sort of point of reference, to say that it sounds like so and so. Well, as I have said, this doesn't sound like anything I've heard this year, and I strongly suspect that nothing else I hear this year will sound like it either! The closest sort of comparisons that spring to my mind are the aforementioned Johannes Schmoelling, particularly "...Zoo..." and "White Out", and our Gallic friends Lightwave.

That said, if you want to try something REALLY different, then this is a must buy. (SJS)

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