Tranceport Way Beyond

Here’s the latest output from the Scottish trio and sees a few changes in directions along the way. Starting with ‘Cascade’ we have a good dose of their characteristic rhythmic music, here with a kind of aboriginal/tribal influence and it includes some clever sequencing. There’s a kind of jam session feel to it, sounding more played than multi-tracked. ‘Mars(osu)’ is my favourite on the album. It’s a sequence based hypnotic track that has a wonderful atmosphere throughout and more of those tribal overtones. Fascinating music! It’s a bit downhill from here though. ‘Anoechic’ is a good meaty track with a guitar line throughout which gives it more of a rock edge. It’s a bit thinner than usual though. ‘Slush 3’ is one of those tracks you either love or hate. It’s got a clever, quite involved, rhythmic structure but it can drive you round the bend after a while. After the eerie/strange and long-titled ‘The Stratospheric Collosus of Sound in the Temple of Lo’ we move into Ambient dance territory with ‘Ballad’. Certainly my least favourite on the CD and has voice samples that annoy rather than enhance the music. Things imptove with ‘Trough 2’, a semi-Techno romp with impressive chunky sequences. ‘Muscle Memories’ brings things to a close in laid-back fashion and sees the return of that jam- session feel again. Rather a mixed bag then, and not in my opinion as good as the majority of their albums. It covers a lot of ground though so there’s sure to be portions to suit all tastes. (Trevor Newman)

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