The Braindance Coincidence [CD]

When listening to Braindance, it's somewhat hard to believe that it has been 10 years since the inception of Rephlex Records but Richard D James and Grant Wilson-Claridge's legendary imprint is indeed the latest in a recent plethora of dance labels to reach its first decade. The pair choose to mark the occasion with a mid-price package, Braindance, which brings together back catalogue highlights from their impressive artistic array. The Gentle People open proceedings with the sublime "Journey" but it isn't long before the broken percussives and squealing analogues that have defined much of the output start to raise their head. Global Goon, Ovuka and the Railway Raver offer a rich emotive take while Squarepusher and Cylob bring the noise, the former ravaging "Psultan" by way of drum & bass beats while the latter lays down his inspired robot-voxed, post-pop "Rewind". With so much ground covered in the 16 tracks, all of the material boasts its own strengths though it is m-Ziq's "Swan Vesta" which stands out - bouncing wood block b lines and crazed atmospheres rising to through a rail slamming melodic to a spine crumbling crescendo. --Kingsley Marshall

COMPILATION ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2001 !!

With 'The Braindance Coincidence' we wanted to provide an outline of our work to people that do not know Rephlex or perhaps do not understand what we are trying to achieve. We also wanted to express our gratitude to the people we conduct our experiments with and those that support us in our quest. We wanted to cast aspersions on many misconceptions and unsubstantiated opinions about who we are and what we do. We wanted to show that great compilation albums are possible and, indeed, present one of the finest examples that we could imagine.

Rephlex HQ: Some of our objectives are: -- * to promote and advance enjoyable, original music - of any nature. * to help dedicated, talented NEW artists in their 'career'. * to provide music that might not be commonly-heard otherwise. * to create timeless electronic music that satisfies all moods and tastes. * to give hope to the creatively-inspired in an increasingly commercial world. * to unify separate specialist areas of musical exploration in a home-grown community. * to be among the most entertaining audio institutions in the history of recorded sound.

The "Braindance Coincidence" isn't just a celebration of Rephlex's first hundred releases, it also serves as an excellent introduction to a label that prefers to play by its own rules, operating with the minimum of fuss. Label policy is to sign artists for one album only -- it's just that they keep on coming back. No strings attached and total artistic freedom may well have a lot to do with it. The quintessential Artists' Label, perhaps -- most certainly, a UK base for an international family: home and second-home to some of the most important musical deviants and sonic renegades to have emerged over the last decade.