Joint Intelligence Committee Excession Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband   Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Blime E')

Having just reviewed Binar's 'Spindragons' album I approached the new album by one of Paul Nagle's other projects JIC with great eagerness. It soon became apparent that my enthusiasm was well placed as the opener 'Newquay Nightmare' is a superb track. Staccato bleeps and splashes combine with excellent rhythm and wonderful guitar licks to create one hell of an exciting start. It's sort of in ye face but blissed out and well chilled at the same time! The guitar starts to let rip as all the wonderful syncopations seep into the brain and take over the body: feet, arms and legs seeming to go with the flow all of their own volition. The guitar is looped into cosmic licks whilst at the same time used for solos.

In the tenth minute they strip things back to gentle pulses before a melodic sequence, using a similar sound as on 'Ultrasound Dudes' from the already mentioned Binar album, is again deployed to great effect. The track shifts up a gear once more with excellent rhythm and tuneful motifs before winding down to a finish at the sixteen-minute mark. I wish it could have continued for much longer. We then get a short bridging piece of peaceful guitar licks over soft tranquil pads leading to 'Deedoodletastic'. Paul and Phil waste no time getting into another infectious groove with guitar colouring, Manuel Gottsching fashion, shimmering along amongst all the wonderful beats and infectious bouncy sequencer lines. This is another cracker! Just let yourself go with the flow- man. We now start to repeatedly soar high then swoop back down to Earth on the back of more wonderful guitar. The electronics dive this way and that duelling with the deftly manipulated strings.

We glide through a bridging section to 'Danfango' which really ups the pace. The beats become heavier and the guitar really lets rip- no gentle colouring now as Phil goes for it! He has a break at about the half way mark as strange garbled sampled text rests between the beats but then starts to gently stroke the guitar once more whilst Paul conjures all sorts of wonderful effects and syncopations from his numerous boxes of tricks. We catch our breath with a short beautiful atmospheric piece before taking off once more with 'Blime E'. A chugging beat mixes with staccato lead line as we get into a gentle head-nodding groove. More subtle rhythms are added one after another. Phil once again creates those lovely blissful ethereal sonic shimmers. The pace and intensity is increasing all the time but they do it so gradually that I didn't actually notice until I found my body moving like a crazy thing once more. Things reach a peak then start to unwind in the ninth minute before regrouping on the back of a new sequence and resurgent even more intense rhythm, juxtapositioned by the most stunningly beautiful lead line courtesy of Paul.