DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Big Bud – Infinity + Infinity 

1999

Plate 1: Side A / B

Our next review will capture another of Good Looking Records supreme artists. We reviewed  3 of his 12” singles on GLR during those 4 months of posts, and then 3 more were on Fabio’s Creative Source label, plus the Earth tracks that we covered. It’s now the first of his two albums that take us into the sacred and mesmerizing world of the ultra talented, Robin O’Reilly. Big Bud. 

    By 1999, Big Bud had already set the tone of his work and provided some incredible pieces of music. I’ve said it before, Robin seemed to churn out so much quality, it was hard to imagine just where his bursts of creativity and studio knowledge, came from in this span of time. This was not just a case of quality, it also a rare case of both quality and quantity, and both never dipped in brilliance for one second of his sound. 

   We are blessed with more outstanding artwork from Nick Purser, using the infinity symbol in a way that crosses the static representation of its form with a sense of movement in its underwater, creature like depiction. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it a garden hose that you used in providing the basis for the art? The back of the main sleeve is fucking amazing too with the refracted images and then the dispersed, submerged drifting of the main symbol. Maybe I dreamt the hose though, but please add your story mate. It’s always great insight! 

   The music on ‘Infinity + Infinity’ takes listeners into some of the echelons of the highest order. The only tracks that do not appear on the vinyl, which are on the CD, are ‘Indian Summer’ which is on Logical Progression Level 4 and the Big Bud ‘Producer 07’ CD. Also, ‘High Times’ & ‘Blunt’ on sides A & B on GLR040. What can’t be denied is the perfect choice of tunes that are on this album.

   Side A is basically one of the most valid reasons why you should own this album. The opening stirrings barber hook your brain in a way that extends the fabrics of possibility. ‘Darker Than Blue’ tunes the molecules that vibrate as sound, placing them with the succulent and expressive tenderness deserved. Snapping beats, an earth drilling bass line and then the pipes and extra layer of beats which take off. The backing loop constantly infects you with a drug so incessant, you’ll never want anything more. Once the breakdown arrives, things raise the game even more. A chilling piano and those pads and sax fracture the mists and gape open the heavens. This is probably one of my favorite tunes of Robin’s. His ability to compose such a moving, haunting, spiritual and magical piece of music cannot be praised enough. Pure fucking perfection. 

  On the B Side is ‘Pure Re-Mix’ which takes the title track off Big Bud’s ‘Pure EP’ from 1999, GLREP006V and revamps it for this album. We have yet to hit the EP’s so it’s seems off reviewing the remix before the original. I always found this version to be a good counter, with its eclectic congregation of rattling beats, monstrous bass, slightly briefer breakdown and sultry dance along the corridors of echoing tranquility and shaking craze of energy. The siphon of plasmic musical gold leaves you mesmerized and chilled. This is one fine plate to get this album rolling. 

   With an album like this we’ll go through one disc a day, as you’d expect to have patience letting the finest wines breathe, so too, the senses clamour the desired effect of this magnificent music. Disc two up tomorrow. 

  My blog is here, under your nose, if you’re interested in reading about the Good Looking posts from GLR 001 up through the singles (minus 75, 78 and 79). More will follow too.