Issue 4, april - may 1995

CyberHum...Elevated

(Carte Blanche 40627 CD)

I'm watching TV's Horizon--Icon Earth, which tells me that the two most liberating

developements of the past fifteen years have been the proliferation of the personal computer,

and the discovery and application of choas theory. The Earth's climatic, ecological, social and financial

systems are so complex and diverse that no-one could ever fully understand or control them.

BBC 2 soundtracks this with the Orb and Portishead, but CyberHum, whoever / whatever it is,

more accurately mirrors all the intrinsic unpredictability of the global systems using the attic-sequenser

loops and convoluted, none linier arrangements. Far from the smooth ride over familiar terrain,

your stomach drops and ears pop as the pieces run into pockets of discord, fairgroud sounds phase

around and the bass bends improbably on itself. ' CyberHum' spotlights a single vocal bite in a panorama

of bleeps and witty spatilialising effects. ' Out For The Count ' is rolling, irrational Funk, it and the more

angular ' Glimpse ' are derivative of Eno's Nerve Net, but then ' The Well 'strikes out into iyabinghi drumming

meets nightmare metal scaping under ' Blade Runner ' back-projection territory, where others fear to tread.

Elevated is an approachable and surprising experiment: explore it.

DENIS HELIUM