Fundamental Sound – Mirror of Time
Reviewed by Sadie O., 5/30/07
Dub/Reggae/electronica/sound collage/jazz all done by one guy named Miles Rogers, with a female guest singer on two tracks. Some very nice beats, but sometimes I wish he’d done just instrumentals. The first 13 tracks (except interludes) are roots reggae at their basis, the last 5 are a bit jazzy, not reggae.
No FCCs that I heard. 6 and 15 are best, IMO.
1. *starts with whispers and electronic burbles – quite soft. Builds and recedes – bits of horn… beat starts a minute along. Downtempo one-drop with individual instruments, mellow.
2. Beeps – first heartbeat rhythm, then very fast, with processed vocals.
3. **midtempo skank with bits of spoken vocals repeated.
4. ***midtempo skank with rather robotic spoken word at intro. Nice juicy dub.
5. **pretty female vocals, downtempo dub skank.
6. ****simple one-drop intro, processed male vocals. Beat comes in after 30 seconds, wicked electronic midtempo dub. Sick!
7. 15 seconds of heavily processed female speaking.
8. **uptempo skank dub, but mellow and groovy, with lots of happy-sounding guitar.
9. **roots bubble with keyboard and bass – sweet and nice.
10. ***great midtempo bubble with bloopy bass noises. Female vocals – I kinda wish it was an instrumental, actually.
11. ***midtempo skank with melodica. Everyone does dub with melodica, and the infuriating thing is that it still sounds good.
12. **midtempo skank with male vocals in harmony. Much jauntier riddim than the lyrics would indicate.
13. ***midtempo skank – some fun keyboard sounds and dubby bits.
14. 9 seconds of overprocessed speech.
15. ****funky but laid-back midtempo strut – lots of interesting noises, lyrics seem to be a take-off on “Cisco Kid”.
16. *mellow and jazzy pianos and midtempo beat (not reggae), relaxed vocals.
17. ***cool downtempo riddim with slightly processed speech – I think this is Agnew’s “effect intellectual snobs” speech. LONG fade.
18. *extremely downtempo jazzy bounce with chimes and bass.
19. *random electronica, gradually forming into a hyperspeed something…. I’m pretty sure there were a lot of German groups doing this sort of thing back when I was dropping acid…