BILL LASWELL/PETE NAMLOOK

"Preparation" is a drone track with the beats from "The Catalyst" in the background. Not a good match.. leaving the listener unsatisfied between the two extremes of lulling and nervous states.

The stream decides to move to the nervous side again, a soft and quite complex variation of the known beat theme: "Running into a Dream". With "Holy Man", the drone pads are back with some contemplative spoken words accompanying the beats.

"Alien Particles" marks the intensive finale of the four "Cryosleep" episodes, everything comes to a head.

The last track "Life Eternal" is dedicated to Oskar Sala and sounds like the aftermath of "Cryosleep". For the first time on this disc it gets melodious with bass and strings, before it all sinks into dark ambiance with the damped recurrence of the percussion theme that goes throughout this album... until the end.

Psychonavigation V is a tribal aural electro infusion that for my taste suffers from too little progression. On the other hand, it has to offer one of the finest percussion adventures in FAX history... quite different from all the four predecessors, I would relate it more to the Outland series than to Psychonavigation.

Wolfgang Röttger (courtesy of 2350.org website)

After the very satisfying but somewhat out-of-place 4th installment of the ultra high quality Psychonavigation series, PK deftly pushes the creative envelope once again and transports the listener back into deep space journey mode, but this time in a visceral and surprising way. The floating driftscapes found on the second and third installments have been replaced here by intensely pulsing, cyber-injected liquid fractal grooves (fans of American electro-shamans Steve Roach and Vir Unis take note!), mixed with plenty of ambient atmospherics and some effective film-dialogue samples, for a heady trip that's certainly different but no less intoxicating.

Unlike its predecessors (especially Psych. 4), this disc is very abstract in terms of melody and structure--there's very little of either, with the music morphing into a series of sound collages, but fortunately this is not a weakness here. "The Catalyst" opens the disc and proves PK and Mr. Laswell mean business, with a thundering two-note bass sequence riding beneath a heavy trance rhythm and spiraling percussive effects. Once pummeled out into the outer echelons of the black void, the 33-minute "Cryosleep" (broken into four sections) takes over, replacing the pounding beats with more delicately hypnotic sputtering rhythmic patterns, Laswellian guitar drones, ambient soundscapes, and even some African drumming harkening back to "Outland 2." Those turned off by Laswell's former heavy dub-bass excursions with Namlook I think will find more to their liking here, as PK does a good job of weaving Laswell's material more subtly into the mix.

The last track, "Life Eternal," is introduced by a melodic bass solo, quickly followed by PK's tribute to the late Oskar Sala via the trautonium. This short melodic interlude soon morphs into a continuation of "Cryosleep"'s liquid grooving and cosmic ambience. Seems like they could have done more with this last track, especially considering the somewhat meager 52 minute running time of the disc. Nevertheless, Psychonavigation 5 succeeds on many levels and is a more than worthy addition to this excellent ongoing collaborative partnership. The beautiful cover art also gets my vote as the best thing Andre has done, summing up the spirit of the music to a tee.

Chris Knowlton (courtesy of 2350.org website)