Pete Namlook & Mixmaster Morris
Dreamfish 2
Compact Disc / 3 tracks / 60.57 mins

'Aquarium' begins with deep echoing drones which suitably bring up images of far under the water and act as a base for a bright sequence and twittering effects. More sequences and gentle rhythmic loops are added. At the four minutes mark in comes a deep bass rhythm which is slightly offbeat to the rest of the piece. A twangy loop dances over everything and becomes the main focus. In the ninth minute all the various pulsations start to disappear one by one just leaving us with the twangy loop then another high register sequence starts up. Images of rain falling on a lake causing circles of disturbance to radiate across the surface come to mind.

By the fourteenth minute we are just left with drones and effects. More rhythms keep threatening to start up providing momentary detail here and there. Before long a rather bleepy sequence does take centre stage and then we get a fantastic mean bass laden rhythm that gets into quite a groove and replaces everything else before it. We now return to the sequence and similar atmospherics to before which take us to the finish. This is a very syncopated but chilled track which never stays still for a minute. 'Caviar' continues straight after without a break featuring an excellent staccato contemporary but very chilled rhythm- this is so cool it could have penguins shuffling along in time to it.

With five minutes to go the rhythms are given a slightly harder edge but they could hardly be said to be pounding, just lay back and enjoy the ride straight into 'Submerge'. A lovely slow sequence keeps disappearing as if it momentarily gets obscured behind a large wave. It develops nicely but continues to vanishing. There is quite a bit going on but its all done very subtly. Its like trying to keep track of a number of different objects in a fog, your attention is drawn towards something then it becomes vague and something else catches your eye. Half way through extra effects are brought in which I suppose could be the sound of creatures which live below the surface. With eight minutes to go the occasional non melodic lead line flashes over the top, the melodic duties being taken care of by a sequence / loop which has gradually become more dominant and occupies the centre ground until near the end. This is a highly enjoyable modern ambient CD, certainly more accessible than most recent Namlook output. (DL)

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