Gas - Gas0095 (Remastered)

[abasio]

Gas

Gas0095

Microscopics

2008 (remastered)

 

Tracklist

 

1 Generator (0:35)

2 Experiments On Live Electricity (16:40)

3 Microscopic (9:55)

4 Miniscule (0:01)

5 Pixels (1:30)

6 Vapourware (1:30)

7 Selenium (0:40)

8 Earthshake (9:00)

9 Mathematics And Electronics (12:50)

10 Timestretch (0:02)

11 Earthloop (3:45)

12 F (0:15)

13 Tellurium (0:35)

14 Discovery (11:00)

15 Generator 74 (1:15)

 

The classic album Gas from 1995 has been remastered with a slightly different tracklist. As with any old album being released there is the chance of it sounding badly dated but with a good mastering job this feels more nostalgic having aged well. It's an album with cool funky beats, ambient atmospheres & trippy sci-fi sounds. Lets look a little deeper.

 

 

1. Generator

The intro is a slow rising oscillation that stops abruptly.

2. Experiments On Live Electricity

Not exactly flowing from the intro we have our first proper track and what a 16 minute whopper it is. The soft ambient start is torn apart by the heavy, loud bass stomps. The initial foray into beats is a nice trippy oldschool sound later followed by steadier sounding. The melodies fly about all over the place in subtle ascent and they evolve nicely throughout. The music continues to grow all the time, the beats get heavier, the drones start to groan and there are metallic synths added for good measure. This track manages to be many things at the same time. It's relaxed yet intense. Heavy yet nimble. Music for the brain yet enough to make your head nod and your foot tap. Very nice track. Definitely worth its 16 minute duration.

 

3. Microscopic

Microscopic is haunting and beautiful. Long drawn out drones lie under a trippy sci-fi melody and a lot of trippy little acid sounds ping and squelch. The beats kicks in at a time the howls start to sound like wolves, high pitch in the distance. The little details keep the track interesting after a lot of listens as does the melodies evolution. At times they seem to come out of nowhere. Sometimes they feel like they have always been there but I'm just noticing them. Great track.

 

4. Miniscule

Miniscule is Miniscule. Pointless. Just a blip, then it's over.

 

5. Pixels

A short crazy track. All melody. One from the left then one from the right. One pushes at your back another pours from above.

 

6. Vapourware

As serene as the last was nutty. Melody on it's own only accompanied by trippy little pips and blips.

 

7. Selenium

Pointless little bit of noise. Not sure as to it's value as it doesn't really link anything. Rather it just ends.

 

8. Earthshake

A longer track this time with a more clubby feel. Their are female vocals that remind me of baleric trance and big bass that gives the track a summer feeling. Verges on cheesy without crossing over. Enough quality beats, synths and melody to keep me grinning.

 

9. Mathematics and Electronics

We start with what sounds like it's going to be a minimal ambient track with drones and just a few slight melodic sounds. But it builds and builds adding more sounds more layers finally bringing in the beat. Fully layered now the track doesn't just rest on its laurels, it continues to twist and turn. This evolution keeps the track alive and interesting for it's entire 12+ minutes.

 

10. Timestretch

Timestretch is a full track, 4:30 long, compressed into one second of audio. What the fuck? Just pointless.

 

11. Earthloop

A nice short track. About four minutes of chilled out beatless bliss. The sample sounds like it's from a movie but is ambiguous enough to not get annoying. Over this is a nice female vocal. Under it all are subtle little almost missable sounds each a tiny bit trippy making a kind of melodious undertone.

 

12. F

15 seconds of unappealing sounds.

 

13. Tellurium

35 seconds of pointless noise

 

14. Discovery

The beats have an almost lazy quality. I imagine myself on a dancefloor wanting to dance but without the required effort. I just stand there moving sporadically, slightly but to the music in my own little world. The high pitch synth drones cuts through the sound like a hot knife through butter and the breakdown gives me a nostalgic feeling of back in the day in a warehouse rave when the beat stopped before kicking back in again. The beat though is relaxed and I wish I had had this album back then for when we got back home.

 

15. Generator 74

Just over a minutes of blips and an oscillating sound like a landing spacecraft.

 

 

This album is great if you ignore the pointless tracks varying from 4 seconds to 90 seconds. These tracks do not link the real music very well and to me sound like unfilling pointless filler. Maybe the label required a 15 track album I don't know.

Apart from that slight irritation, the music on display here is classic. I'm glad it got a reprint and a remastering as it now sounds great played loud on headphones.

[Melancholyman]

Have only given this album two complete listens. BUt from what I've heard it's awesome. I don't mind the filler tracks, and the second track Experiments On Live Electricity is really something unique.

[frozen dream]

cool think ill get it soon!

[abasio]

Have only given this album two complete listens. BUt from what I've heard it's awesome. I don't mind the filler tracks, and the second track Experiments On Live Electricity is really something unique.

The fillers are not that annoying when listening casually but were really annoying when I was reviewing it. A 1 second bleep etc is just pointless IMO. Still that's a minor grumble about a great album