DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Intersperse / Rantoul – Perennial Spring / New Fields Of Emotion / Journey / Changeling

2000

Our sacred trek along this Inca Trail of musical history in the Good Looking label, comes now to our 3rd double 12” release on the label, taking us up to the end of this week. We feature two artists who have already thrown down a few triumphant tracks on the label, the Greek duo, Intersperse, and Ian Rantoul. 

    I really love the sleeve on this one too, with its cutting, steel like shapes mixed with the inner machine workings. I’m interested to know if they are of any specific item or just a composition of ideas? Gareth Jones, has provided a little background behind this:

“This is one of my favourite early sleeves for sure. I was exploring that cut-up, layered graphic approach a lot back then, and had been since my Uni days. Then I got the chance to put it out there on a sleeve. Interestingly, the images are all shots taken at the Millennium Dome (pre The O2 of course). I wanted this abstract, futuristic ‘changeling’ entity, flowing and evolving as if on a journey. Fast forward to now, and I do a lot of work with The O2. Funny how things unfold…”

I appreciate the info on yesterday’s post also! Always interested to hear any back stories.

   You haven’t honestly scratched the surface of the incredible talents of Intersperse until you’ve experienced this mind blowing piece of music. ‘Perennial Spring’ will transform the way you feel about the way the deepest stirrings of the ambient atmospherics can infiltrate the molecules of your skin. Everything builds and builds, checking off a hundred different prescriptions in its unfolding story. For all the classic sounds on Good Looking, this one sits way up in that steadfast tree. Your moments during this royal flush of music will forever be cherished. Fucking beautiful.

    If that first side hasn’t shaken the essence of the mystics enough for you (which I’d be very surprised about if it hasn’t), then this side will put to bed any ideas of a drop in quality. The title gives us exactly what you’d expect with ‘New Fields Of Emotion’. Intersperse could flambé the inner core of your soul and suck every ounce of heavenly star dust into the center of your mind. The waxed resin beats, solder the huge pads and easy bass together, placing each section of the tune perfectly like Lego bricks. They all just connect so effortlessly, resulting in something quite brilliantly simple but technically thoughtful. What this one disc holds is worth a mighty, appreciative accolade. This disc really laid down the gauntlet for the future of the label at this stage. Two amazing pieces of work.

    We move onto the Friday review tomorrow, with the second 12” in this release.