Artist: Children of the Bong
Title: Sirius Sounds
Format: Double LP + 10" Single
Label: Planet Dog
Catalogue Number: BARKLP012S
Year of Release: 1995
Tracklisting
A1 Polyphase 7:16
A2 Ionospheric State 11:45
B1 Interface Reality 7:53
B2 The Veil... 8:21
C1 Underwater Dub 8:40
C2 Life On Planet Earth 8:32
D1 Squigglasonica 9:45
D2 Visitor 11:29
E Underwater Dub (Full on, Drums and Bass All Hands on Deck Roots Mix...!)
F Underwater Dub (Analogical Roots Mix) 7:10
Hard to believe I bought this album almost half my life ago... and listening to it brings memories of those Megadog nights right back! The live music was uniformly excellent, the first time I saw Autechre live was at a Megadog; and others - System 7... C.J. Bolland, Eat Static, Loop Guru and Timeshard all on one night! Banco de Gaia, The Drum Club, Higher Intelligence Agency, Underworld; and supporting Underworld one wonderful night, a duo that taught me it's OK to basically play one note for 40 minutes - The Psychick Warriors of Gaia (where are they now?)... my feet barely touched the floor during their set.
And yet, and yet...
You had to avoid the tedious, luminous stiltwalkers; the topless, sweaty guy swinging his dreads around; and during the DJ sets MC Teabag would make his unwelcome presence felt by shouting all over the tunes. We also had to drive from Preston to Manchester to get there. I say we, my brother had to drive from Preston to Manchester to get there - I wasn't old enough to drive when we started going (and then I never quite got round to learning).
But what does it sound like, after all these years? Here's a representative sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jgZdVB4S4
Lots of analogue synths, slow- to medium-speed breakbeats (nothing too drum'n'bass), garbled vocal samples. Your basic mid-90s, vaguely-hippy electronica. Not as alien-obsessed as Eat Static (although the album title is a reference to the Dogon tribe), not as whimsical as Timeshard, not as techno as a lot of the other people named in the opening paragraph. A little bit dated, but then what else from 1995 isn't?
The bonus 10" is worth a mention, as I believe the track on Side E never appeard anywhere else. Side F turned up on the Plant Dub 2CD compilation in 1996, but the Full on, Drums and Bass All Hands on Deck Roots Mix...! hasn't been re-released. A shame it's not really anything special, but it has scarcity on its side.
