Waterland by Alex Fisher (1001AD)

text

This demo CD gives a taste of Fisher's recent endeavors into semi-abstract dance music. An electric bubbling sound, a favored element of mid-90es atmospheric dnb is, with minimal rhythm arrangements, set as a basis for 'Bubble Bug (Intro)'. Hard-hitting beats and nervous, twisted rhythm saluted by a lethargic horn sample dizzily inform us of the approach of 'Launch'. The house track 'Don't lose' with its metallic tones and discomposing sonority set against mundane melody patches is quite unlike anything you're used to in this genre. All the tracks on this CD sound harsh and saturnine, with eerie sounds rotating supine melodies. 'Smoky' spills melodic lethargy over an illicit big beat score, while 'Launch' and 'Stepping Back Glory' get, as if for a bonus, grubbed by more outlandish rhythm schemes. Fisher's frequent use of guitar samples and the overall slant to big beat hint his rock/jazz background, evident in occasional trips in one of the aforementioned styles (in 'Stepping Back Glory' for example).