DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Big Bud / Intersperse – High Times / Blunt / Moonscape / Radiolucent 

2000

As the days carry forward through the year 2000, we have another double disc treat today with Big Bud and Intersperse supplying the musical medicine. Let’s fasten the seat belts first with the Big Bud plate and then tomorrow we’ll move onto the second 12” on the release. The artwork, we’ll look at during tomorrow’s review. 

   Robin O’Reilly had been extremely busy prior to this release, and we will venture into the EP’s, the albums and the Looking Good music that Big Bud gave us in due course. The two tracks on this release are taken from his monumental album in 1999, Infinity + Infinity. Both hold a mesmerizing attraction which Robin seemed to roll out like it was just another day at the office. As mentioned previously in posts, his all round work flow was absolutely phenomenal and to have made so many rich and textured pieces of music in the space of 4-5 years, cannot be overlooked. 

   When you press the start button on the decks and this track begins, if you had to guess the artist, you’d pretty much instantly think of Big Bud. Stand out beats take us to this Saharan sea of moods, spanning the freezing nights and scorching afternoons with a purring, techno doused flight through the altitudes of passion. The way Big Bud levers the direction of huge, magnetic pulls, into the deepest canyons of music, and lets the rhythms and decadent pads seep in, is just out of this world. There is a really good breakdown in here too that whispers the Nile flutes into your ear canal, coating the tubes with an undercoat of silken varnish. You are left in a trance after hearing this track. ‘High Times’ spins out the real essence of the sounds that kept this label such a strengthened force in the drum and bass world. The 90s was behind us and the glimmers of hope sparked flashes of tinged gold, as you can hear with this tune. 

   As we spin the disc over I have a little jump in the start so hold on….a few wipes, a few plays through…ok, we have a clean intro and the tune rolls sweetly on. Heart beat returned to normal. ‘Blunt’ may be a good name for the tools needed as a calm down after that. Ha ha. Things twist and entwine the jazzy, ambiance of cooling brushstrokes and peaceful inner acceptance with this radiant journey in the skilled Astro pod of Big Buds masterfully crafted work. The smattering of techno elements drizzle over this one too, welding the ingredients like a 20 layer gastronomic beast. A serving of the finest from Big Bud. 

    Big Bud could not falter at this time, making some of the best music you could get in 2000. His work will always be a huge part of the whole Good Looking history and a name that is cemented in our atmospheric museum of sound. Big props Robin. 

   The second 12” is up tomorrow.