Search - Reload :: Collection of Short Stories

And the tide rolled back...

DAC Crowell | 05/07/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's epic _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, he writes about the spirit of the 1960s as being like riding the crest of a wave. And, as he notes from his Vegas hotel room in the dark days of Nixon, he says you can almost look out there toward the hills near Vegas and see where the wave broke and rolled away, never to be seen again. Well, that reminds me a lot of "A Collection of Short Stories". I look at this release as being a similar point in techno, rave, and ambient techno music where that wave crested and then rolled back into the depths again, never again to reach such a height. This beautiful release is perhaps the pinnacle of all of that. Curiously little-known outside of the underground, this shows mid-90s electronic music attempting to reach farther than it had as just background music for a wild night out. Yes, there are beats, and yes, there are trippy ambiences here...but the sequencing and overall composition goes so far beyond niteclub and rave fare, almost seeming like some vast epic soundtrack for some film that doesn't exist. And, in fact, it is...as the booklet included contains a series of short stories that're cued to go with the tracks on this work. Definitely in the vein of The Orb, or the KLF's "Chill Out", this album takes their ideas and runs so much farther afield with them that it's almost achingly-sad to listen to it today, contemplating where this music might've gone had the audience been somewhat more sympathetic to such delicious complexity. I will say, though, that if you say you 'know' techno, ambient, rave, etc and you don't know this release, then you just simply don't know, period. Get it, listen, read along, and then shed a tear for where the scene _might have_ gone if it had had the wherewithall to fully embrace something this challenging. A critical, important, vital release."

Ob-Selon Minos

funkmob | C.A-U.S.A | 03/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember ben and myself starting out in our record distribution days, it was july/august 92 if i recollect when we drove up to somerset that day to meet mark and tom we sat in the studio most of the day and just watched them lay down what became known as mosh track 8 of this cd. Later ben and myself would spin this particular track at our club nights and look at each other with a satisfied grin as peoples heads exploded, as that gurgling subterranean bassline dropped in. At that time we were "Pulse", tom(2nd half of reload) and another weird guy by the name of richard were "fizzbomb" two rivalling club nights being held in nearby towns in cornwall, tom and richard did'nt last too long, richard moved on and became the aphex twin without the twin...tom hooked up with mark and became reload (amongst other names, global communication, jedi knights etc...)ben and I migrated west and settled in california, what moved me to write a review about this after such a deep close interest and after so long for me, is the fact that even to date it still stirs emotion enough for people to write five star reviews. This was truly a point where things really took off but never went anywhere, just sort of floated around the room, if it wasnt for marks shyness and toms pretentious attitude the unreleased DAT of stuff i am looking at right now would be out for people to enjoy, and if we could have seen past our growing pains and our fronts we could have really carried things a lot further, as it is this release is timeless and borders on genius, its not techno, techno is a word juan atkins came up with without realizing the impact it would make....this is technology music, electronic musical soundscapes painted with emotion. i think that might work better is that ok derrick?"

This is absolutely as good as it gets.

DAC Crowell | 11/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, the caveat is that I didn't say better - but it is as good as the top people/albums in the field - Aphex Twin, Orb, Autechre, Freaky Chakra, KLF (Chill Out only!), Eno (Music For Airports is the only one I think rates comparison here). And it annihilates any Global Communication stuff I've heard. Now here's The Big Secret for you - read the booklet along with the music, using word/number samples in the music to judge your pace - with adjustment to correct reading speed, which is not difficult, you will find the booklet corresponds EXACTLY, to the SECOND, with the music. I had the cd a couple of years before I became, ah, inspired, and tried it - it is completely mind-blowing. The booklet suggests that the stories loosely correspond with the music - ha ha.Now - what's it like, exactly? Basically, toss elements of Aphex (both hard and soft), Autechre, Orb (think Orbus Terrarum, which I actually consider to be the finest Orb album) in a blender - this isn't completely fair as it is original enough to be non-derivative - but at least it should give you an idea. If you are familiar with Global Communication's stuff (76 14 at least) be advised that Reload is much harder, generally. Just get this album!"