DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Alaska + Paradox – Planet³ / Space-age

1999

We reach the Thirtieth release today on Good Looking Records and turn the page onto the drumfunk king within our world of jungle and drum and bass, Mr. Dev Pandya. Having already established a very reputable history of work on Renegade Hardware, Reinforced, and then on a label we have already covered, Certificate 18, Dev was becoming a force to be reckoned with. The Benjamin Button of the scene, has here, his one and only release on Good Looking, and in typical fashion, resets how the game is played. 

   We also have with this release, the first cover design by Nick Purser. This was to be the beginning of a very prosperous partnership which I personally feel enhanced the way the music merged both sound and art to the highest degree. Big shout to Nick Purser as always and please jump onto any of these many posts lined up, with recollections or stories and I’ll transfer them into the blog (link below). I know Earth Records & Cookin’ have provided many great insights! 

   If you were only blinkered to the deep, floaty expectations of Good Looking, that was about to be scrunched up into a ball, strapped to a rock and thrown out the nearest window. On Side A we have ‘Planet³’ which for those 5th graders that I attempt to teach, means ‘Planet Cubed’ (they have a Perimeter / Area / Volume confusion at times but the cubed meaning to the power of 3 – the third dimension, or multiplying Length, Width and Height to change your flat cartoon area house into the cube or rectangular prism it should be, you have a mini-lesson which I do indeed use. This music finds its way into my classroom at every opportunity! I’ll miss teaching this grade next year. Got the younger kids that need to gain some behavioral strategies. 

   As I sit here listening to ‘Planet³’ with the cover in my hands, the collosus of the aligned planets draws in a series of deep flowing images of the life below the swirling clouds. We cruise from the Alaska layered pads and then rinse a massive roll out that punishes the stragglers. This drum funk break session feeds off the amenities of aliens and pinches out the hotspots and ice caps that differ across the spherical masses within this fleeting discovery of distant galaxies. This track is still so unlike any other GLR track and still fires a mind bending voyage across the clarity and chaos of deep space. 

    ‘Space-age’ on the AA Side is a real personal top 5 of mine from Dev. As accustomed to his usual knack of ultimate drum funk fluidity, he soaks up a lot of those Alaskan style pads and synths in here, bringing a solitude and peace which lures you down to the surface. As we hit the atmosphere, the bass switches on the turbulence and places the pads to one side as the mission dives through the gases and rocks which protect the encased shell of the planet. As the strings reenter and the vocal moans,  drift from the warning panel, the ship stabilizes and we can breathe through the chambers of the outer tanks, before the first glimpses of a planet floor approach. Dev has such a high level of creating that balanced see-saw of perfect 180° sound with the textures and feelings splitting the rough and the smooth. This is a track that typifies how incredibly versatile and unique Dev is with his work. ‘Space-age’ is a trip you have to make again, and again. 

    That’s the only visit from him on GLR, but the Alaska + Paradox machine does hit Looking Good when we get to that sister label.