American Rotation - Spectral Concepts

Judging by the number of new labels from America contacting us lately, it looks like the US is undergoing a series of localised trance explosions right now. Spectral Concepts hail from California, and this bubbly-psy compilation showcases new US-artists and looks set to help put America firmly on the global trance map. This is a very fresh album with not a psychedelic cliché in sight. Indiadrop’s Superfudge Chunk kicks things off there’s lots of spaces and fluidity between the sounds and it’s got an almost cossack groove to it (whatever the hell that means... sorry.) Anyway there’s plenty going on and it escalates into a tuff peak. Penta’s Zeynep wins the 2002 award for most absurdly fucked up vocal samples, and Wormfood’s Ug sounds like X-Dream’s alarm clock going off. Nuclear Ramjet’s Evolution 3:3 and Phosphene’s Axiomatic are two techno-rooted tunes that could do with a little more oomph, and Tendril’s Changeling pits juggling beats and uneasy warping noises forming a sound not unlike being ill, yet maintaining its funk like a trooper. Standout for me though is Data Entry’s Grey Area, which sounds like two people fighting over the studio equipment rather than making music on it. It’s an uneasy wonderland of lysergic spazz-trance. All in all an odd collection, high on surprises but not one for the kick-ass monster partyvibe if that’s what you’re after. 3