Mooch The Crypt of Artificial Intelligences & Golden Ear Machine DCDR / 11 Tracks / 115.07 mins Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Brain Map') Please go to the Store to buy this item.

The first disc 'The Crypt of Artificial Intelligences' was recorded straight after 'Postvorta'. The opener 'Deep Space Qand-Aravanserai' is all rather crazed, like listening to a stoned tribe careering around a campfire, though it does become quite mellow nearer the end. 'India Oceania' is long and gently melodic with little space guitar licks and all manner of percussion and effects coming and going, creating quite a hypnotic tripped out feel. There's also a gorgeous almost bluesy guitar solo at the end. 'Al Jabr' is very syncopated with something of a 'Canterbury' feel. 'Brain-Map' uses a flutey sort of sequence as its base but I found it all just a bit strange though in a melancholy sort of way. 'The Crypt' if anything starts even weirder, made up of a collage of sounds but we soon get into quite an infectious groove. This dies away and things become like a feverish dream, electronic shimmers and tinkling percussion mixing together to create a hallucinatory landscape. There is even an alarm clock in there! Rhythms return and it is as if we have woken up and immediately join in some crazed dance or ritual. We keep dipping in and out of the dream and back to the ritual. 'Medina Oasis' is again all rather shimmering and dreamy but unlike the previous track, which I found a little uneasy at times, there is comforting warmth here that I found most appealing.

The second disc 'Golden Ear Machine' is a trio featuring Guitar, Drums and 'Sounds'. There's a very abrupt drone based start to the opener 'Spikey'-.made me jump anyway. This gradually subsides so that subtle percussion can be heard. All electronics momentarily depart and we are left with solo drums which are soon joined by guitar. Electronic Music this certainly ain't- more like a weirdly appealing space rock / psychedelic combination. It's all rather freaked out, the gentle guitar mixing wonderfully with the crazed drums. The drums also kick up quite a groove on 'West East West'. Shimmering electronics keep surging forward, sometimes giving the drums a break whilst at others providing additional colour with something of an 'Eastern' feel, accentuated by some lovely atmospheric flute. 'From Dawn Today to Dusk' begins with a laid back drone over which the drums once again assert themselves. Electronic colouring mixes with the drums well, combining to create quite a moody track. Really liked this one, having something of an Ash Ra Tempel feel. 'Orbital Traffic' has a curious start, bass pulses mixing with electronic twitters before the drums once again get into their stride. 'Stellar Ritual' is a very unusual piece mainly made up of Ethnic percussion creating quite a mystical hypnotic feel. This is the one track where conventional drums are not present thus providing some contrast to an album where they fairly dominate. This is my favourite disc in the Mooch reissue series so far. (DL)

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