BELLE ALLIANCE

This is probably the best Ashra album after 'New Age of Earth.' It shares a few elements with that record - notably on the second side with its 15-minute 'Code Blue' - but it is also a more varied album, much more so than 'Blackouts,' as good as that one is on its own terms. The first side, which is faster-paced and heavier on the jams, sort of picks up where 'Correlations' left off, the key difference here being the fact that 'Belle Alliance' is a much warmer, more lush, and more colorful record (the first track of 'Correlations' was fittingly called 'Ice Train'). Gottsching's sweet-ass guitar playing really gels perfectly with his electronic leanings all the way through 'Belle Alliance,' in a way that re-embraces the new-age style seemingly abandoned on 'Correlations' at the same time that it reveals a rhythmically-trancier underlayer that anticipates Gottsching's solo opus, E2-E4. Essential listening for any Gottsching fan. Steer clear of the next under the Ashra moniker, 'Tropical Heat,' which ups the ante on the caribbean-esque stylings that were only a pleasant aftertaste on 'Belle Alliance' - but which winds up being a colder-record, even, that 'Correlations.' And a really difficult one to spin from start to finish. 'Belle Alliance,' on the other hand, is one of those you wish would just continue playing.