Radio Fore is the newest release from the team of Rod Modell and Michael Mantra, two old hands from the Silent Records roster. Modell was half of Waveform Transmissions, and also produced the fantastic Autonomous Music Project CD a few years back. Mantra is, of course, the man responsible for the seminal Sonic Alter CD. The two had released the quite excellent Sonic Continuum CD on Hypnos a few years back, (which bore no small resemblance to Bill Nelson's Crimsworth album).

Radio Fore is, like Sonic Continuum, an album comprised of two thirty minute atmospheric tracks. However, we find these two artists pursuing a somewhat less nebulous path than their previous ambient work. This particular work appears to be inspired by the SETI project--but do not quite expect a work of deep, dark interstellar ambience like Lagowski's project, or the early work of David Reeves. The first track, titled "Arecibo (sleeping under the big dish)" begins in a suitably psychoactive style, with quietly druggy cyclical synth tones. After forty seconds or so, this melts into the background to provide space for an ominous bassy pulsation. I hesitate to call it a beat, though it does have that propulsive nature. This pulsation occupies the forefront of all the sound in this particular track. Behind the bass vibration, all manners of interesting sound collagings hiss and drone. However, it's all obscured by the "beat" track. Over the course of thirty minutes, I found myself wishing this quasi-beat would fade into the distance and let the trance take over. "Hey, guys, this isn't supposed to be a dark dance floor! I'm underneath a big transmission dish, and I want to see UFOs!" Sadly, it never does let up, it never sinks into the background of the track, and eventually it becomes so familiar that it is rather annoying. Not an auspicious start for this particular release.

All is made right by the second track, "Gulf Breeze Sonar." We are greeted by soothing waters rushing up against a soft beach shore. This ushers in an extremely pleasant classic-sounding tone melody. When I was a teenager, infrequent trips to the shore usually led to pretty nights sleeping out on the beach. The mix of sea sounds, crashing waves, and the unalterable night sky movements is such a wonderful setting for laying back and letting the world take over your consciousness. This track is rather like bringing a portable CD player along for the ride, with your favorite ambient-techno track as trance accompaniment. Throughout "Gulf Breeze Sonar" the water sounds phase in and out, louder and quieter, gradually forming an entrancing sonic tapestry with the tonal melody. This track captures something about the infinite majesty of being born on this planet, able to enjoy the divine juxtapostion of deep, sloshing ocean and stars burning light years in the distance.

Though the final track is so strongly evocative, it is hard for me to give Radio Fore a high recommendation. One full half of the release is just not all that effective a sonic terrain. While the thrust of this release is clearly not the psychoactive landscapes of previous releases, the first track does not fully develop the appealing ambient textures Modell and Mantra create so well. However, the second track more than makes up for this deficiency with an ambient-techno track that recalls the best of early Biosphere or the more ambient works of Sun Electric. To my mind, this makes a fantastic ep. Perhaps not the return to trippy soundscaping I was hoping for, but Radio Fore is certainly a worthwhile post-techno confection.

Released as a limited to 500 copies CD on Amplexus.

since July 15, 2003