BASS COMMUNION (II)

Steven Wilson's second release under the BASS COMMUNION name continues with his experimenting with sound. As I mentioned in my review of his debut he takes a sound that he finds meaningful in some way and developes it from there. So lots of repetitive spacey soundscapes here in the Klaus Schulze / TANGERINE DREAM style.This particular recording is a double album that comes in at around 82 minutes. I have the original pressing from 1999 on the Hidden Art label.

"Advert" opens with beep, beep, beep crash (haha). Well sort of like that as a deep and powerful atmosphere follows in this very short opener. "16 Second Swarm" has these crackling sounds as mellotron-like waves pulse in and out. It's louder 4 1/2 minutes in and it's almost overwelming at 6 minutes. It settles with waves of sound late. "Grammatic Oil" has a beat as other sounds come and go.This sounds really cool. "Drugged 3" opens with a Chinese sounding stringed instrument as the spacey atmosphere rolls in. Guitar comes in at 5 minutes and echoes. Beautiful stuff. It's very spacey late.

"Dwarf Artillery" has these dark sounding beats and underwater echoes. Organ comes floating in before 2 1/2 minutes. It picks up 5 1/2 minutes in. "Wide Open Killing Field" has some interesting sounds that come and go.They start to drone and wash in and out slowly. It becomes spacey late. "A Grapefruit In The World Of Park" is mostly spacey sounds that fade in and out throughout. "Snakebird" is one of my favourites. It's just really cool to listen to the different sounds here. Guitar 5 minutes in echoes. Spacey winds later and more interesting sounds to check out.

I like this better than the debut but both are excellent and worth checking out if your into Electronic-Prog.