JAH WOBBLE

DEEP SPACE

  1/  The Immanent                               (Wobble,Bell,Rasle)           13.00
  2/  The Transcendent                           (Wobble,Bell,Rasle)           12.08
  3/  Disks, Winds and Veiling Curtains          (Wobble,Laswell)              10.10
  4/  Funeral March                              (Wobble)                      4.51
  5/  Girl Amazed at the Perfection of a Rose    (Wobble,Sulejmanovic)         7.25
           Fails to Meditate upon Chaos
  6/  The Competition of Supermassive Black Holes(Wobble)                      7.32
       and Galactic Spheroids in the Destruction
                  of Globular Clusters
  7/  Debussy Turning to His Friend, Said Let's  (Wobble)                      2.02
             He's Starting to Develop

          Recorded and mixed at 30 Hertz Studios, London
          Tracks 1 and 2 recorded and mixed at Mark Angelo Studios, London
          Track 3 recorded and mixed at Orange Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
          Engineered by Cai Murphy
          Tracks 1 and 2 engineered by Mark Lusardi
          Track 3 engineered by Robert Musso
          Produced by Jah Wobble
          Track 3 produced by Bill Laswell
          Mastered by Richard at Transformation

Jaki Leibezeit: drums (1,2,5,6); Clive Bell: khene (1,2), pi-saw (1,2), flute (1,2), rauschpfeife (1,2); Jean-Pierre Rasle: pipes (1,2,4), crumhorn (1,2,4), rauschpfeife (1,2); Max la Villa : atmosphere guitar; Jah Wobble: bass (1,2,3,5,6), keyboards (1,2), percussion (1,2), guitars (1,2), drum treatments (5,6), organ (7); Mark Lusardi (1,2): ‘the Mutator’; Bill Laswell (3): fretless bass, loops, atmospheres, treatments; Amila Sulejmanovic: vocals (5).

          1999 - 30 Hertz (UK), 30HZCD9 (CD)

REVIEWS :

Jah Wobble's latest solo effort is somewhat schizophrenic. While some tracks certainly do lead one's thoughts into deep dark space, others showcasing ethnic wind instruments plunge you right back down to earthy roots. To my ears, it is the spacier of the selections which please most: "Disks, Winds and Veiling Curtains", recorded together with Bill Laswell, is an unpretentious and beguiling piece, while "Girl amazed at the perfection of a rose fails to meditate about chaos" and "The competition of Supermassive Black Holes and Galactic Spheroids in the destruction of Globular Clusters" are in fact takes one and two on a single idea, both featuring the solid drumming by Jaki Liebezeit in the lead over a nice bass foundation laid by Wobble. The first part includes the heavenly wordless vocals of Amila Sulejmanovic, and both tracks are interspersed with otherworldly blips and blurps. Very suggestive. Unlike most ambient albums, a solid beat (not a breakbeat or rhythm loop but rather well-whacked skins) dominates this record and propels it ever forward, except during the more pompous funeral march, which recalls the rather tedious _Requiem_ Wobble released some time back. As a whole, the album, I find, grows increasingly interesting with every new listen.

Stephen Fruitman

..................................................

Yet another new release from the ever changing Mr Wobble, if only other members of PiL made so many records! This album is a change in direction from 'Umbra Sumus' which I reviewed in F&F6, all tracks are instrumental, and in truth despite having seven tracks, the album is really one huge piece of music. You can tell by some of the song titles the importance Wobble has put on them, 'Debussy turning to his friend, said "Lets go he's starting to develop"'!

The album features a mixture of heavy bass (of course), synths, Arabic flutes, pipes, drums, and like Wobble says in the interview it's more a mixture of atmospheric sounds. The album starts with loud, fast, bass and drums, with an intermingling of synths and flutes, but as it goes on it becomes more ambient in places, and again, as Wobble says himself, almost trancey. Though that doesn't mean to say it's mellow or boring, in fact it's best served loud! I realise this all sounds very pretentious, but it's not (honestly!), it's just hard to explain. Some of it is very melodic, and as you'd expect the bass really does blast out, but special mention also has to go to the drums, the sound on them is brilliant, real loud and clear, they're superb throughout the whole album...

As well as Wobble the album features the likes of; Jaki Leibezeit, Jean Pierre Rassle and Bill Laswell, who perform on a variety of instruments I'd never heard of before! The good thing about albums like this is that it exposes you to stuff you probably wouldn't get to hear under normal circumstances, and if you've got an open mind that can only be a good thing. I have to admit I much prefer this album to 'Umbra Sumus'. The first three tracks are particularly good. In fact I have to say I think this is the best thing Wobble has done since 'Heaven and Earth'. Check it out... Oh, by the way, don't worry I still hate Pink Floyd!

If you're having trouble finding the 30 Hertz releases they can be ordered direct from: 30 Hertz

Scott M (courtesy of the Fodderstompf website)