ROBERT MILES

ORGANIK

  1/  TSBOL                                      (Concina)                      3.42
  2/  Separation                                 (Concina)                      4.30
  3/  Paths                                      (Concina,Miranda,Brown,Franck) 3.58
  4/  Wrong                                      (Concina)                      5.24
  5/  It's All Coming Back                       (Concina)                      4.08
  6/  Pour Te Parler                             (Concina)                      4.19
  7/  Trance Shapes                              (Concina)                      3.53
  8/  Connections                                (Concina)                      4.55
  9/  Release Me                                 (Concina)                      7.46
  10/ Improvisations P.1                         (Concina)                      7.04
  11/ Improvisations P.2                         (Concina)                      5.51
  12/ Endless                                    (Concina)                      8.00

          Recorded and mixed @ Muchmoremusic Studios, London by Toni Economides
            and Roberto Concina
          Produced by Roberto Concina
          Additional production by Toni Economides
          Mastered @ Turtle Tone Studio, NY by Michael Fossenkemper
Roberto Concina : keys & programming; The London Session Orchestra : strings (1,4,6); Paul Falloon : bass (1,2,4,5,6,7,8); Marque Gilmore : drums (1,4,6,7); Gianni Trevisan : electric guitar (2); Dhruba Ghosh : Sarangi (3,9,12); Taylormade : acoustic bass (3,9); Nitin Sawhney : electric guitar (4,6,7); Trilok Gurtu : drums & percussion (9,10,11); Bill Laswell : fretless bass (9,10,11); Nina Miranda: uncredited vocals (3).

          2001 - S:alt Records (UK), SALTLP 001 (2x12")
          2001 - S:alt Records (UK),  SALTCD001 (CD)
          2001 - BMG (Italy), 7321 87363-2 (CD)
          2001 - Shakti (USA), 72438-50956-2 (CD)

REVIEWS :

Without meaning to sound narrow-minded, I don't generally go in for the whole four-to-the-floor thing but there was something about Robert Miles' Children that somehow tugged at even my house-hardened heart strings. Yeah, ‘Dreamlands’ was the same all the way through, but you've got to hand it to him - he can do epic, emotive electronica and he can do it well. This CD is very different. While retaining loads of his familiar string and key arrangements, he's brought in everything from thrash guitar to sitar and Sarangi, an altogether more interesting sound. The beats are where the real advance has been made though, replacing dancefloor tub-thumping with complex, crafted loops a la Lamb or Squarepusher, which offers longevity unseen in his previous work. All in all, a much more mature offering.

Alex Millar (courtesy of the AdHoc website)

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As rich and spicy as a Moroccan hot pot says Ross McGibbon. From the opening notes it's obvious that this is indeed Robert Miles' third album. Heavy and portenteous synths lead us to the trademark piano sound and, oh happy day, REAL instruments. This stands way above imitators for its use of tactile human sounds. It's a progression for Miles too, in its journey into eastern territories. The bass playing gets marks for its texture and particularly three tracks with the thundrous fretless bass of Bill Laswell reaching out and stroking my eardrums. There are real strings and the resinous, rough to the touch bowed sarangi. Nitin Sawney makes a few appearances running through his repertoire of guitar technique from retro mauling and strangling to gentle acoustic pieces. There is a BIG human touch amongst the sequencing, the sort of interplay that only happens between talents in real time. The latter third of the album shifts to Trilok Gurtu's percussion in an Asian breakbeat extravaganza. Here it is, a fully realised paradigm of live dance music and of genuine cross-cultural pollination.

Ross McGibbon (courtesy of the Vanguard Online website)

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When an artist you've never heard of is said to have sold "over 10 million records worldwide," it's usually time to turn off the TV and go to bed. But when the artist in question has managed to get Trilok Gurtu, Bill Laswell and Talvin Singh (billed here as Nitin Sawhney) to help him out with his sophomore effort, then it's a fair bet you're dealing with someone more interesting than Richard Clayderman. Miles (a transplanted Swiss-Italian whose real name is Roberto Concina) is credited with keyboards and programming throughout this album, the mood of which is pretty consistently dark and downtempo. There are hints of tribal/trance exotica on "Separation", while the uncredited female singer interacts nicely with Dhruba Ghosh's sarangi on "Paths" to create a sort of bhangrafied trip-hop. Laswell contributes fretless bass on the melodically enticing but still slightly creepy "Release Me" and on two improvisations, both of them just as creepy without being as melodically enticing. Overall, the program will appeal greatly to texture freaks, those with a taste for the unnervingly exotic, and those who generally enjoy anything Laswell gets involved with.

4 stars out of 5

Rick Anderson (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)