The early ’90s ambient parties that were hosted by Telepathic Fish played the cream of the burgeoning downtempo post-dance scene and featured the likes of Mira Calix (RIP), DJ Food, David Vallade and Mario Aguera.
Along with Matt Black and Mixmaster Morris, they set a template for the sort of parties that were a little less frenetic and gave the listener more opportunity to chill out and really feel the music move around you. This collection, the first to really embrace the ethos of the nights, brings together some favourites of those involved and runs the full range from sleepy drift to more funky groove and is a great reminder of what was special about this period.
The ten tracks chosen fill four sides of vinyl or one CD to bursting and the muffled watery temptation of Irresistible Force‘s mix of Barbarella‘s self-titled track starts us off with its drifting synths and warm, gentle, half-remembered washes. The beats that appear are incidental, with bright sparkles of sound highlighting the calming nature. This dreamlike ambience coming from another realm is a common theme, with sounds appearing and disappearing; whale noises enlivens Spacetime Continuum‘s “Fluresence” (sic) which, with its womb-like beat, carefully enfolds.
Things liven up with Nightmares On Wax‘s old favourite “Nights Interlude” and its smooth jazzy bleariness gives just that little bit more momentum as does Insides‘ wonderful “Skinned Clean”, which brings a bit of Belgian beat clash to the proceedings. It still has a hypnotic draw that it shares with all the tracks here and the insistent marimba loop is a lovely touch. Global Communication‘s “Incidental Harmony” sets you adrift, alone but unworried; while Caustic Window‘s “Cordialatron” throws some euphoric rave synths in just to remind us what else is out there, as if a door to another room was briefly opened. Keiichi Suzuki‘s “Satellite Serenade”, with its David Attenborough intro and semi-classical guitar, conjures up a tropical paradise; although when the beat arrives, it turns quite trancey, hooking us up with Tranquility Bass‘s “Cantamilla”, which is the funkiest of the crowd here. It has a real groove that in conjunction with the oddly spiritual vocals takes us to yet another place. The tabla rhythm and eight-bit synthy doodling of Golden Girls‘ “Kinetic” is quite a departure and leaves us with No-Man‘s peaceful pastoral paean to love found, “Days In The Trees”, which is great to hear again after all these years.It is a lovely ending to a really thoughtfully curated trip down memory lane, but also a reminder that this was kind of cutting edge; the idea of chill out as party music lives on, but started here. Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s Ambient Underground looks splendid on vinyl and is well worth the splash.
-Mr Olivetti-
