Namaskar

Various

Namaskar

Indica (Italy)

Taking its title from a Sanskrit word which basically means “welcome” but whose literal meaning is “I bow to God in you, I love you and respect you, as there is no one like you.” Which may well suggest to you what’s on offer here… Cell’s Zaz kicks off, a nice groove and plenty of live instruments, marred for me by the same sample of the bird singing as used in “Smoked Glass & Chrome” which, all due respect to Cell, is a different league to this. Yucatan’s Aero has been in pretty heavy rotation here, a very nice acoustic guitar-led dubby number that’s reminiscent of the whole Nada / LSD sort of sound. Wicked stuff, and just makes me wish it was summer so I could listen to it lying on my back in a field. Tikal comes up with two tunes, Canicule being the first, taking a little while to get going and then sticking in a pleasant dubby slomo 4-4 pattern. Think smooth summer ketamine-n-hashcake-house, marred by some silly soul vocals and an inexplicable horse bleating. Likewise Mind Control:a very tasty low-set groove that elevates with a great mood, before losing the plot with jazzy synth-horns that refuse to go away. An alternate mix, without the horns, would be awesome – and I mean awesome, utterly killer – but the sound’s as incongruous and misplaced as a mushroom stall outside a Woolworths. Altom’s Plasma, closing track on 2002’s Hologram, gets a rework that’s quite delectable. Lots of changes, and the seamless shifts from downtempo to 4-4 and back are a bit reminiscent of Astrix’s Crystal Skulls contribution. Solid stuff. Tripswitch’s Viscous is faster than his normal output and doesn’t quite have that magnetic bliss feel to it that we know he’s capable of, and Scene’s Angel is nice background stuff but, again, doesn’t hold the attention enormously well. Vibrasphere is someone you can normally rely on to come up with the goods – and this works brilliantly, a long intro segueing perfectly into an almost-invisible groove, with delicious bass and a general sonic tickle going on that’s a sheer joy. Cell then returns to close the album with Explicit Rotative Movement, which suggests very good things for this French producer. It’s a sheer sit back and be staggered piece of production, with sounds that don’t so much move as breathe between the speakers. Sheer brilliance – absolutely one of the deepest and most interesting pieces of electronic music I think I’ve ever heard. So there’s utter brilliance on this CD… and also (Tikal I’m pointing at you chaps) some dross. Programme out the dodgy though, and it’s a decent ride of some new chilled sounds, that ought to set Indica on the way up there with the heavyweights of chillout.