Space Dimension Controller / Welcome to Mikrosector-50
Digital / CD
R&S Records / Released March 2013
The opening to Space Dimension Controller’s long awaited debut album is quite possibly the best thing anyone who remembers renting VHS videos, and watching cheap Channel 4 ‘science for schools’ TV programmes, will hear this month. Something of an odd juxtaposition considering the artist’s futurist posturing, the 17-second intro- a veritable fanfare of 1980s space organs entitled Feature Presentation– is only too brief for our liking.
Several repeats later, though, we realised what follows is thoroughly intoxicating too. Taking listeners through hazy Philip K. Dick soundscapes (2357 AD), onto old school electro hip hop (Mr 8040’s Introduction, which comes complete with an advert encouraging us to move to Mikrosector-50), within minutes it’s difficult to know where we are in the whole time-space continuum, but nobody cares- it all sounds good. Straddling seemingly disparate territories, there’s enough seriousness for chin stroking bass heads, yet there’s a quirky sampling wit and narrative stream more akin to hip hop. Then again, what on Earth (or in the universe) did we expect from this outing?
If there’s recognition to be given here, and there most certainly is, it’s because this odd stylistic pairing has been produced by two truly deft hands. Rising, for example, proves a dancefloor worthiness to the LP that could satisfy the most hardcore out there, frantic broken snares and much intensity. Elsewhere, there are countless moments of sophisticated ambience. Meanwhile, Welcome To Mikrosector 50 sounds like George Clinton on Mars, in a very good way, and immersive stratospheric disco abounds, a la Soul Clap or A Love From Above. One in the eye for anyone who thought cosmic exploration wasn’t going to be fun, it’s also amongst the most musically astute albums 2013 has given us so far.