BILL LASWELL/PETE NAMLOOK

PSYCHONAVIGATION 4

  1/  Arena                                      (Laswell,Namlook)             12.29
  2/  Samira                                     (Laswell,Namlook)             7.39
  3/  ENTIB 2060                                 (Laswell,Namlook)             17.26
  4/  Good and Bad                               (Laswell,Namlook)             17.34

          Recorded at Klanglabor and Traben-Trarbach
          Produced by Peter Kuhlmann

Bill Laswell: bass, sounds; Pete Namlook: sounds.

          1999 - FAX  +49-69/450464 (Germany), PW 40 (CD)
          2006 - Ambient World (Germany), AW 041 (CD)

REVIEWS :

Fax goes electro pop, almost, on the first track which actually has a theme based on a major chord! "Arena" could have come from "Solarized" ... similar in style ... actually, one of the lightest/brightest Nam/Las pieces I've heard ... certainly unlike the darker stuff you're used to hearing ...good driving music with a good hook. "Samira" is more beat/drums oriented, easter thing ... "ENTIB2060" back to more familiar territory for these two but still more drums than usual and not as dark ... "Good and Bad" is the obligatory 18 min chill out track. overall, a somewhat different direction as the drums are not as muted or non-existent as in previous releases ... the next step after Solarized.

George (courtesy of the 2350.org website)

..................................................

Warning to Psychonavigators : this one is different! No dark droning, no endless depths of space, no telepathic entities...instead we are faced by something even stranger : funk and beats!

Arena - Rolling cyber-funked electro/techno. Could even be described as "uptempo"!

Samira - Tribal percussions and dub 'n' bass until the track is transformed by eastern instruments and violin nightmare!

ENTIB 2060 - Rolling cyber-funked electro/techno...hang on, isn't this Orbital?

Good and Bad - The only "ambient" track. Tones and silences, generally of a warm nature.

This album is immediately engaging and impressive. Only time will tell whether it can hold interest like the previous instalments.

AdAckBar1972