Pitch Black

This compilation offers an introduction to the music of Pitch Black (Paddy Free and Michael Hodgson), a duo from New Zealand simultaneously dedicated to dark, dubwise electronica and unwilling to be pigeonholed quite that easily. Drawing on material from six albums dating back to 1998 and featuring remixes by the likes of Youth, International Observer, and Kerretta, this collection explores instrumental dub ("Lost in Translation"), house ("Electric Earth," "Reptile Room"), rockers reggae ("Transient Transmissions"), and even a sort of dubbed-up instrumental rock that brings to mind a Jamaican version of the Durutti Column ("Bird Soul"). At times the ambience gets dark enough to be nearly creepy, as on the slow, heavyweight rockers groove of "The Gatherer" and the outer space house/steppers workout "Electric Earth." But only very rarely -- the slightly too-repetitive and harmonically static "Freefall [Friends Electric Remix]," for example -- does the groove dissipate into mere texture or mood; for the most part, Pitch Black's genius is in generating sound sculptures that perfectly balance spaciousness, tightness, textural variation, and pure throbbing bassline bliss. ~ Rick Anderson