JAH WOBBLE

DEEP SPACE

  1/  The Immanent                               (Wobble,Bell,Rasle)           13.00
  2/  The Transcendent                           (Wobble,Bell,Rasle)           12.08
  3/  Disks, Winds and Veiling Curtains          (Wobble,Laswell)              10.10
  4/  Funeral March                              (Wobble)                      4.51
  5/  Girl Amazed at the Perfection of a Rose    (Wobble,Sulejmanovic)         7.25
           Fails to Meditate upon Chaos
  6/  The Competition of Supermassive Black Holes(Wobble)                      7.32
       and Galactic Spheroids in the Destruction
                  of Globular Clusters
  7/  Debussy Turning to His Friend, Said Let's  (Wobble)                      2.02
             He's Starting to Develop

          Recorded and mixed at 30 Hertz Studios, London
          Tracks 1 and 2 recorded and mixed at Mark Angelo Studios, London
          Track 3 recorded and mixed at Orange Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
          Engineered by Cai Murphy
          Tracks 1 and 2 engineered by Mark Lusardi
          Track 3 engineered by Robert Musso
          Produced by Jah Wobble
          Track 3 produced by Bill Laswell
          Mastered by Richard at Transformation
Jaki Leibezeit : drums (1,2,5,6); Clive Bell : khene (1,2), pi-saw (1,2), flute (1,2), rauschpfeife (1,2); Jean-Pierre Rasle : pipes (1,2,4), crumhorn (1,2,4), rauschpfeife (1,2); Max la Villa : atmosphere guitar; Jah Wobble : bass (1,2,3,5,6), keyboards (1,2), percussion (1,2), guitars (1,2), drum treatments (5,6), organ (7); Mark Lusardi (1,2) : ‘the Mutator’; Bill Laswell (3) : fretless bass, loops, atmospheres, treatments; Amila Sulejmanovic : vocals (5).

          1999  -  30 Hertz (UK),  30HZCD9  (CD)

REVIEWS :

Jah Wobble's latest solo effort is somewhat schizophrenic. While some tracks certainly do lead one's thoughts into deep dark space, others showcasing ethnic wind instruments plunge you right back down to earthy roots. To my ears, it is the spacier of the selections which please most: "Disks, Winds and Veiling Curtains", recorded together with Bill Laswell, is an unpretentious and beguiling piece, while "Girl amazed at the perfection of a rose fails to meditate about chaos" and "The competition of Supermassive Black Holes and Galactic Spheroids in the destruction of Globular Clusters" are in fact takes one and two on a single idea, both featuring the solid drumming by Jaki Liebezeit in the lead over a nice bass foundation laid by Wobble. The first part includes the heavenly wordless vocals of Amila Sulejmanovic, and both tracks are interspersed with otherworldly blips and blurps. Very suggestive. Unlike most ambient albums, a solid beat (not a breakbeat or rhythm loop but rather well-whacked skins) dominates this record and propels it ever forward, except during the more pompous funeral march, which recalls the rather tedious _Requiem_ Wobble released some time back. As a whole, the album, I find, grows increasingly interesting with every new listen.

Stephen Fruitman