DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Blame – Visions Of Mars / Centuries

1997

Today we have the second release on Good Looking Records from Conrad Blame. Sometimes I feel we fly through the tunes too quickly, as many deserve more time to focus on. Time is pressing on though and you can always venture into the blog more to visit the GLR releases in one packed keep-net of goodness. 

   Blame has always been an artist who sets his sights through his periscope in locating a sound a little ahead of the curve. During 1997, the foundational jungle sounds were finding scattered rooms to slot into and while the music was moving between a hard hitting, tech step darkness and the tropical glow of the deeper tidings within the scene, Blame was plotting a course with the latter, while also bringing his futuristic flight path into deep space with some of the technical machinery off the sizzling circuit boards on the flight deck. Having already delivered ‘360’ & ‘Overhead Projections’ he was now ready to cross the wires and send us out into the visions of things to come. It was these sounds that enriched Bukem’s label to hand Blame his 720 Degrees label which carried these sounds forward through Good Looking and then on via Blames own hands. Engineered by Simon Donohue (Odyssey) we have here two giants in Blames catalogue and also two big hitters within the submerged stirrings of the chilled out sounds. Having Odyssey work with Blame was to be a vital combination considering those early 720 plates too. I’m sure you have some stories Conrad? 

   ‘Visions Of Mars’ is up there with the red carpet walkers, of atmospherics. From its stationary lock onto the orbiting space station we unlock the latches, release the pressure in the valves and align the instrument panel displays to send us creeping away from all that we know. Time becomes irrelevant and the expanse of the impossible a reality. The music creates a reinvention of the melodic escape into the unknown. As the bass gently buffers the ship and the beats hold a steady course, it’s the fading and emerging lights and clouds of sensory gas and rock that sieve the incredible pads and synths through an invisible net, delivering the purest, filtered elements of the vibe. ‘Visions Of Mars’ may have become something we have now seen through rovers on the surface, but we as humans are still a little off that journey. To be honest, listening to this music takes me further than any planet in our solar system, and listening to it on the most beautifully geographic planet we know of, is all the impact needed. 

A little fact about ‘Visions Of Mars’, is that Blame put on an American accent for the Astronaut talking sample on the intro. Love it!

   On the AA Side, is ‘Centuries’ with more plotted points on the flight path of Blames Journey. The continuation of the Solar systems influences provide this beautifully composed, stuttered, jazz swing break. The flight deck is transfixed into a hyper speed to allow the inverting of time and its crew to momentarily age backwards before leaping into a vacuum of stars that die and rebirth within seconds. Your crew becomes a merging of the space inside and outside the craft, blurring and fading before reemerging into new forms and identities. The ship slows and you look around at the smoldering and blinking controls that show that within the duration of the track, you have gained years in age but look younger, and lost concepts of placement within this new star cluster that was once our solar system, and now shows no familiarity. ‘Centuries’ in a blink and insomnia for a second. This is how Blame works his magic. 

   I’d be interested to know if anyone has an idea about the cover for this release? It has a lot of ‘Fluxus’ images on it ranging from 6.2 to 6.19? Does anyone know what this could refer to? I’m sure the designer could explain more but I’m not connected to them. I’d be interested to know. 

    A big shout as always to Conrad. This work will never ever get old. We will hit some more of his work when we get to the EP’s and the albums (although his solo album is only on CD which always baffled me, but we’ll review it anyway).