Search - Phoenecia :: Brownout

A dreamy martian soundscape...

Matthew Jaworski | Detroit, MI | 10/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joshua Key & Romulo Del Castillo(formerly Space Oddity) deliver the goods on their long awaited debut LP as Phoenecia, presenting our ears with an aural delight. Atmospheric, sometimes dark, and cosmically modulated tones meld with organic percussion, to send the listener on a trip into outer space. Not what one would expect, after listening to the Odd Jobs EP, but dope nonetheless. Whereas their output as Soul Oddity and on the EP were more of a straightforward electro nature, this was much more of an atmospheric voyage into space (as opposed to a funk venture). Not quite the rump-shaker I was expecting, but definatelty impressive. The percussion is not of the 808/909 variety, it serves more of an ambient/atmospheric purpose. A totally sweet "head-music" disc: great for the hot-tub or the mental adventure. Oozing with life and activity, Brownout is much more suited to the dance floor of your mind. Sometimes sounding like a martian swamp(or the everglades). Another very fine release from Schematic Records. In my opinion, Schematic is one of the best labels producing American electronic music, with virtually every release this far being completly dynamic and impressive. Do yourslef a favor and pick this disc up."

Hardcore 5 stars

donkeye | all up in your face | 11/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If only in this world there could be brownouts. Imagine California drenched in brown.It's really too bad that there's not a picture of the album art because it's really super good. The cover art is dang good. Phoenecia are from Miami and they run the Schematic record label, and this album's been eagerly awaited by Warp afficionados since they put out an EP a while back on that label. Phoenecia deliver, this album is a real beauty. This album is on Schematic, which also puts out Richard Devine and Otto Von Schirach, etc.Holy cow, if you like a kind of dirty, sunken battleship of alienated noise, this is good for you then. It's not far off from a classic Warp record, but it has a groove that is just plain spanky. (...)"

Possibly the best Schematic release to date

Matthew D. Mercer | Chicago, IL United States | 08/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Miami-based duo of Phoenicia have come a long way since their early bass days as Soul Oddity. The electro conventions are entirely gone here, with the subtle staccato loops that characterized their Phoenicia contributions to various Schematic compilations appearing in full form here across 9 long tracks. Curiously these tracks work quite well in relationship to the "Brownout" title and artwork, with a certain creep to them that is not unlike the dimming of power over a large urban area. These tracks evolve very slowly, and the release definitely merits repeated listens in order to absorb everything that is there. Highly rewarding, and definitely one of the more interesting forces in electronic music today."