Rodulate

During the mid-'90s, Wagon Christ fans wearing out their copies of Throbbing Pouch were pleased to find a previous LP by Luke Vibert out there. This one, titled Weirs, had been released on Rephlex in 1993 under the name Vibert/Simmonds. (Simmonds was Jeremy Simmonds, who also recorded as Voafose and who later hooked up briefly with Boymerang.) Nigh on 15 years later, another one appeared, although Rodulate features only old and unreleased recordings. That's no bad thing, however, since Weirs was such a good fusion of Vibert's beat-mad excursions with the acid techno of Simmonds and Rephlex material in general. The tracks here don't have the feel of leftovers at all; they're at least as fun as the tracks on Weirs, and in many cases, better. They find Vibert and Simmonds balancing the machine-soul synth of early British techno and the squelchy breakbeat of Wagon Christ material, along with the same anything-goes flair and trippy weirdness of Throbbing Pouch. Not one track conforms to the techno blueprint, not the distorted acid techno of "Rodulate"; not "Space Mist," an excellent piece of proto-jungle that sounds more like Vibert's other project, Plug's Drum'n'Bass for Papa; and certainly not the helium-voiced British rap of "Room 28 Rap." Here's the highest praise: if it had been released directly after its recording, it would likely have been (and would still be) hailed as a classic on the level of Throbbing Pouch. ~ John Bush