[RAH]

Artist: BUS

Album: Morebusinesslinkyouthere

Label: Sub Records

Web: http://www.sublabel.net (Not working)

Year: 2005

Format: CD





Songs:

01. Disco Suns
02. Take a Walk With Me
03. Outta Their Loco Vulcan Heads
04. Plastico
05. Bambi and Thumper
06. Bus L'Ouverture
07. Return of the Fist
08. Attitude Jets
09. Depth Charger



What's This About

Gus Till The long-time psychedelic trooper has returned. If you are still wondering who exactly might this cat be, suffice to know he is half of Zen Lemonade and an ex-member of the infamous Slinky Wizards with Dominic Lamb, George Barker, R. Biggs and yes… Simon Posford (ah, that got your attention). After having released tracks in all the old school labels: Flying Rhino, Dragonfly, Iboga, Spiral Trax, Nova Tekk, old TIP records, and god knows where else. The newly formed Sub Records from Australia (a sub-division of Psy-Harmonics) debuts his solo album. Morebusinesslinkyouthere is a tremendous piece, with turns and influences at every track forming one cohesive -read mixed- ride, but this is so freaking good I'm willing to let that issue pass.



Per-song Break-down


1. Disco Suns *

Opening the album characteristically long winded lines and pads advance through dream-escapes, interrupted only by the increasing depthless of the kicks, slowly dissipating the mist in favor of intricate cadence with drums and breaks. I would not call the Sun's “disco” but is certainly daytime progressive cushioned with velvety melodies interacting with each other. The kind of material that is custom fitted to mix with your latest Ticon perfectly.


2. Take a Walk with Me *

“It's a whole different way of life, it's a whole different way of living, but more than that it's a whole different of thinking…” Things heat with a complex intro following voices filtered through a radio preset and a noticeably faster pace. Allow me to be biased for a second and declare this track as my favorite of the lot. The kicks with shakers in between the kicks protrude a strong bass announcing the first signs of psychedelic effects to gurgle the speakers. A progression occurs accompanied with ancient 303 bubbles by the sides, surfacing from under the reverbs now and again. It goes totally bonkers as Tito Fuentes takes over becoming impossible not to wave your hands around in the good ol' air drumming session… anyway… if you are so inclined. It closes doing the roundabout of themes with a cue-friendly finale.


3. Outta Their Loco Vulcan Heads *

As it could be deduced this is this the ‘freak-out' track of the album. It comes loaded with a techno feel including cold jagged beats and the echoing machine delays in turn of the bass. It's minimal and nearly a-melodic, focused mostly on the grove. So deceptively simple in structure it permeates experience from every pore. That said, for a 9 minutes it does feel a bit bare. The magic comes when you slide that baby underneath another tune and the rest goes on auto-mode. Clear progressive-industrial influences a-la X-dream (if there was ever such thing)… the drive is nearly unbeatable for a progressive mash up that seems a bit useless to categorize.


4. Plastico *

The intro is a slow dragging fixture of samples smeared to treated leads before the pumping kicks become more visible. The rewind-fast-forward bits on the voices unwind calmly giving rise to the low-toned riff loop. Mixing and blending different influences has never been more apparent. The remaining voice blips have a certain touch of the 1950's amongst the web of elements, disconcerting even the most experienced listener to a different idea of psychedelic. It is not based on the LFO's and modulation with blips bloping a really screechy glitch. We are still talking about music here and the different influences and masterful precision of samples, breathe a lot more experience and dynamism from the usual array of psy trance. This is the odd track of the lot and however weird it might seem it is not out of place.


5. Bambi and Thumper *

Bambi and thumper smoothly follow the plastic regions of this album with another doze riffs with a distinct doze of dance-floor friendliness. The female chants seem to agree and the groovy plucked guitar confirms it. Welcome to adult trance-land, charged with blurred touches of the metal, violin lines and the atmospheric effects of an action movie. Plus it probably has the coolest name to come around for a while. Just by listing the elements in this track alone, one could deduce the biggest load of cheese since the Cheddar festival in Munich. Don't read it wrong, Bus manages to create something fresh out of elements we have heard before in a great arrangement.


6. Bus L'overture *

Like the name suggests we get a fair share of orchestral music (coming from the Concrete Unlimited orchestra, which Bus actually 'conducted'). There are violas, violins, xylophones, electronic touches, war-time drumming bits and god knows what else in a mish-mash of elements of such amazing grace; I don't remember hearing a classical fusion this good in a while. All throughout we get strange car samples, laser gun shots, ritualistic bits… it's a mess… a beautiful mess.


7. Return of the Fist *

If you had been missing effects fear not for the fist shall avenge. We take off with congas and tribal dozes before the screams subdue in organic rhythms. Space age-effects and filter sweeps are treated to the entire collection of presets in less than two minutes. The whole disarray of madness pulls through by the end with a twisted melody (trust me they are scarce here) that actually works. The level of detail alone speaks tomes about the time this guy has been sitting in front of a sequencer to let his work do the talk for him.


8. Attitude Jets

We start of with the sounds of a rotor engine gyrating (it is more like a helicopter actually), with more strange quasi-filter sweeps. The techno spice returns announcing synthetic, aggressiveness (as much as the BMP will permit) and minimalism throughout. Much like the third track I find a good doze of rhythms, but not nearly enough to keep me entertained all the way. The feeling is very transitory, meant to connect more complete works, but on it's own it barely stands against the outpour of quality we had been treated to up to this point. Is not bad, but I might go as far as calling it filler.


9. Depth Charger *

Bus closes the book with the golden lock throwing a remix from the Slinky Wizards in collaboration with R.Biggs, blending elements of the previous tracks for an 11 minute recapitulation of what you might have missed earlier. It sounds like a progressive adagio balancing flowery lines, with vocodic wallows and a pace that remains moving and unthreatening. The woman chanting like some angel we might have hunt down later, makes sure the listener feels as comfortable as possible. “We most transport ourselves inside their skin and think of it as through their eyes – just to understand the thoughts that grind away the decisions of their actions.” It's pretty decent way to lock this trip.

*Favourites


All and all

Quality surfaces not only when someone is able to reach a particular level creating his own style. The real challenge is to throw an album showing a variety of styles, making every ‘experiment' work. Bus went so far as to direct the Concrete Unlimited Orchestra in here. Who are they? Were did they come from? I don't know, they could be trained monkeys for all I care, but they did a great job just like is the case with the entire album. If you like to impress your friends and the girls by declaring yourself as a ‘psy progressive Dj'… and by that I mean ‘nothing over 145, dear' or you are simply a progressive-head it is clear this album might no be essential, but mandatory… keep telling yourself that at the time of actually purchasing it, you won't regret it.



Where to get

http://www.psyshop.c.../suu1cd001.html

http://www.juno.co.u...m&highlight=BUS

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5301

[pr0fane]

Fucking ace album! I've been a huge fan Gus Till since the Slinky Wizard days, and this album is amazing as expected. Wonderfully diverse, and with a very appealing mix of both new and oldschool progressive and minimal elements, ranging from blissful or funky morning themes to hard nighttime stompers.

If you think that most progressive have reached somewhat stagnation lately, this album is exactly what you're looking for.

Favourites: 1 (!!), 2 (!!), 3, 4, 5 (!!!), 6(!), 7, 8, 9(!!!) - yep, that's all of them.

9/10

[abasio]

Aye, it's a nice album from start to finish.
I got this one about a month ago and it stands up well with many repeat listens too.

[Basilisk]

Review: http://www.ektoplazm.com/reviews/bus-moreb...sslinkyouthere/

[Nefarious]

Very very nice.

Awesome reviews above detail this nicely.

More please.

Slinky.

[echo void]

I'll be honest and admit my ignorance to having known much of anything about Gus Till (I had heard the name somewhere though..) until recently when I found out he was playing a party here...

I listened to some samples on Saiko sounds and thought it was pretty cool...
then come to hearing it loud at the party...

...and I have discovered that on his website found here you can stream the tracks in full!!!

I am not really into progressive as a genre, ( I do enjoy dancing to it at parties...)
but THIS CD I am DEFINITELY going to purchase....

[RAH]

it's still good

[abasio]

Bus
Morebusinesslinkyouthere
Sub
2005

Tracklist

1. Disco Suns
2. Take a Walk With Me
3. Outta Their Loco Vulcan Heads
4. Plastico
5. Bambi and Thumper
6. Bus L'Ouverture
7. Return of the Fist
8. Attitude Jets
9. Depth Charger

1st I'll just take a minute to express my surprise at the lack of responses to this thread. Have you guys been hiding under a rock? How can so many people have missed this masterpiece from one of the best in the scene?

Gus Till, who was a member of the infamous band Slinky Wizard who released a string of amazing tracks from 1994 - 2001 but who never brought out a full length album. Of all the members Adam Boyd, Dominic Lamb, George Barker, Gus Till, Ronnie Biggs, Simon Posford, James Monro, Dick Trevor, Matt Evans, and Jules Evans, I'd haveto say Gus Till was my favourite. The subtlety he manages to squeeze into music is fantastic. His music has not always been something I can listen to at anytime as when I give it casual listens I miss most of what he's done. But given time (& headphones) his music paints the most fabulous soundscapes I've ever heard (Notice that Simon Posford's name was also included above )
So Bus's first album is definitely Gus's work. There is a lot of variation in this ranging from what I was expecting to very easily accessible stuff. Let's check it out.

1. Disco Suns
A really dreamy intro sets me in a spring mood right from the get go. It takes a few minutes for the beat to kick in but when it does we are treated to a hard kicking beat that manages to be subtle enough to not dominate proceedings. As usual from Gus Till there is a lot of psychedelic sounds used all around but there is also hints of melody that I never really heard in his previous (Bus) work. Smooth as silk is how I'd describe this track. Not sure about the disco feel hinted by the title but the melody really reminds me of Suns

2. Take A Walk With Me
A little more energy here. The pace seems to have quickened. After the opening sample It's a whole different way of life, it's a whole different way of living, but more than that it's a whole different of thinking… some radio-ish voices merge in & the beat kicks off. More than that though is all the sounds used & the way the sample is twisted really add to the energy. The beat kicks & trips and there is so many "Gus" sounds all over the background. Lots of subtle synth works with a few hints of melody here & there. Very nice track.

3. Outta There Loco Vulcan Heads
On the surface this is a more minimal track with no melodies 6 seemingly less sounds but focus on it & it's rather more subtle flavours & there is a lot more than on first inspection. Dark ambient sounds rush through the background & there is an interestingly slow bassline. All in all this is like how Brian Eno described ambient, it is as ignorable as it is engaging.

4. Plastice
The intro is a collection of twisted vocal samples, looks they are sped up rewound & turned inside out. A heavy kick comes in and some dull metallic synth sounds. These blend into what in my mind sounds like some dark twisted creature's attempt at civilised communication but fucking it all up. The female vocal sample is really weird & it repeats along with some melodic bleeps & other weird sounds in a kind of rhythmical way. The twisted troll sounds come back & overall I get quite a dark feeling from this track.

5. Bambi & Thumper
A much funkier track here, I can hear this being played on dancefloors in cheesy clubs everywhere & the e'd up kiddie dancers not noticing anything different. Don't get me wrong, it's not a cheesy track. There are a lot of cheesy elements in it but we are dealing with Gus Till here. The man is a master & he easily has the skills to make a track that's easily accessible to people outside the scene but deep, engaging & psychedelic enough to appeal to fans of his too. Great track! Really funky & the poppish female vocals are ethereal (enough) to not ruin it but add a sexy feel.

6. Bus L'Overture
(Gus Till Conducts the Concrete Unlimited Orchestra)
As you can imagine from the track title & note this is an orchestral track. Gus Till actually conducting the CUO & mixing it with his progressive stylings. Quite an interesting fusion of sounds. The classical string instruments mix surprisingly well with the trance beat & there is even quite military sounding beats in there. The samples & electronic bits add a surreal atmosphere to the track leaving my jaw hanging open. Love this track

7. Return of the Fist
Lots of effects in this one, they remind me of the Pioneer CDJ effects like Phaser & Flanger. All very sci-fi & incredibly weird (in a good way). Much more maximal in your face Bus than anything I've heard previously under this name. A mad crazy mess of sounds all over the place. Think of the Slinky Wizard tracks Fist Full of Mutants & Sacred Fist on Black Rhino & you'll get where the track title came from. Very much in that style, dark crazy stuff

8. Attitude Jets
Lots of Jet type sounds from the opening sound of the rotor engine starting up to the whooshes throughout. Once again this reminds me more of Bus's older work. On the surface there seems to be not much to it, but dive deeper into the music & you'll find that there is a hell of a lot going on. He merges the sounds together nicely with the beat sounding like it's walking through a swamp at high speed & the acidic stabs coming out of the night sky as the beat runs off. The bass, the acid, the beats, groans & engine sounds all create a little world for you to explore. I imagine I'm outside at night in a forest clearing, planes rush over head & back again as if searching for something, occasionally coming closer & then rushing off again. Great track, needs focus or you'll miss it.

9. Depth Charger
This is a Bus remix of a Slinky Wizard track. I've never heard the original so I can not compare it. This is a nice little journey though. Some melodic sounds, some darker sounds mixed in. A nice beat that makes me want to move a little bit but not too much. There are vocal samples expertly inserted so as not to distract your attention but more divert it slightly into another direction. There is funkiness, ambience, rhythm darkness all in one tight little package. A really nice track to round off the album, the long drawn out ambient synths in the background make me just want to fly away.


A great album the by Gus Till, he's managed to make a progressive album that is interesting, varied & very very good. I'm not usually a big fan of prog but there is definitely something about this album that makes it stand out from the crowd of identikit prog by numbers that has been released over the years. Each track is definitely Gus Till but each one is different enough to make it a really interesting album. All tracks are between good & fantastic.
I don't think this album has had the recognition it deserves but comes with my full recommendation.