Customer Reviews

Wild Planet

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The electronica artists associated with cEvin Key's Subconscious label are undoubtedly among the genres' finest, and here are the proving grounds. For the most part, it is a solid release; it begins with a fairly interesting(if not a tad disappointing) re-mix of Download's "Toooly Hooof", done by the band itself. It's a good, but not terribly grabbing progressive techno ditty. What immedietely follows it, however, is one of the albums treats, a solo song from the deceased Dwayne Goettel(of Skinny Puppy and Download fame.) As with all his meager(but fantastic) work as A Duck, this song makes me wonder what wonderful and innovative music he could be making now if he were still alive.

In other places this proves to be an album of surprises; Philth(A.K.A. Phil Western,) releasing under both Philth and his side project Off and Gone, has two superb ambient techno pieces on Wild Planet, and thus has redeemed himself in this reviewer's eyes. I must admit that I had written him off as something of a non-talent before, judging him by the questionable material he released on the previous Subconscious sampler. Along the same lines of this Key's jazz-influenced techno project platEAU, which too has a startlingly strong track that contrasts with its poor earlier output.

Also surprising is Tear Garden's track "Things That Go Bump in the Night," which sees the band undergo a dynamic shift in sound. If nothing else be said, this song makes me extremely anxious to buy their upcoming release. Coming in usual cut-above-the-rest fashion are some of the older Subconscious bands: Lustmord, Legendary Pink Dots, Doubting Thomas and Dead Voices on Air(with an extremely strong dark ambient piece.)

The inclusion of a Skinny Puppy song, probably the reason most will purchase Wild Planet, ironically comes to be its most questionable track. The song is a re-mix of "Rodent", from 1989's Rabies, and sounds almost identical to a previous re-mix of the song on "Remix Dystemper", which was released a few years ago. Essentially there's nothing overly-wrong with it, but it simply isn't unique at all when compared to its predecessor, and seems to me a rather under-handed attempt to trick Puppy fans into buying a sampler they wouldn't normally think twice about picking up.

Two new bands are also featured on Wild Planet, Ryan Moore's Twilight Circus project, and the hitherto unheard of Floatpoint. The former comes as one of the greatest disappointments of the album, as it is what related artists such as DVoA and Download have managed to avoid becoming: pretentious, directionless noise. It sounds as if it's trying to do something along the lines of the bands mentioned, but it just kind of sits there, unfortunately. Floatpoint actually comes across as one of the higher points of the sampler, featuring a wonderful selection of fluid soundscapes and beats.

Despite a few missteps here and there, I think any fan of Key's post-Puppy work will find this entirely worthwhile, as well as fans of any form of progressive techno. My hats off to these artists, mostly, and I eagerly await their actual releases.

Some of the songs on here are so awesome and then some are just Bad! goes with all comps I guess,but I reall fell in love with the tear garden song on this,It's not on any other album I belive except this.. you'll like it but not continually..