A chance encounter..

Sometimes, you just have to randomly find stuff. This was certainly the case for me back in 1997 during my second year of university, whereby I came upon the uni library not for study purposes, but to obtain new music.

It turns out they had quite an extensive catalogue of electronic music. Lucky me. I picked up such gems as the compilation album Techno Nights, Ambient Dawn which introduced me to the likes of Dave Clarke, David Holmes, Plastikman, N-Joi, Moby, 808 State, Eon, William Orbit, Sven Väth, Carl Craig and Brian Eno - yes, I knew very little back then! - I also happened upon a little known release called Time Tourist by B12. It was there I first properly fell in love with ambient techno.

Ambient techno as a genre incorporates a slower, more atmospheric bent to techno, often providing a more minimalist approach but still retaining beats in most tracks as well as still offering something melodic in its structure. You don't have to go far online to read that most people consider the key pioneers of this sub-genre to be Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, Biosphere, The Orb and.......B12.

B12 are better known as Mike Golding and Steve Rutter. The duo formed a record label back in the early 90's and started releasing various vinyls under a variety of pseudonyms. Their full-length debut in 1993, Electro-Soma, was one of the first albums to be brought out on the newly created Warp record label. It is a truly solid album and many credit them with being influential in helping techno become a more listenable genre during this period.

However it is Time Tourist that grabbed my attention, and that I personally feel is the better album. Sporting a futuristic look of London, the cover art was all I had to go on, so I picked it up and headed for the librarian's desk to book it out. Of course, back in the day I didn't have the ability to 'rip' the CD or download it to MP3 like you can now so I hung onto it for slightly longer than the requisite amount of time before returning it and then booking it out again a few weeks later. I think I booked it out a total of 4 times that term. Eventually I would download a copy once iTunes arrived to enlighten me.

Rather than reviewing the album I will merely say, go and listen to it. Enjoy the futuristic theme, Detroit techno and occasionally Jazz influenced tunes, and watch out for my standout tracks, Void/Comm, Cymetry and Phettt. They're great tunes, and whilst the whole album may seem a little dated now as it was mostly written on very old tech (808 anyone?) it has a reassuringly professional quality about the production which shows what early Warp artists were capable of, and what some of them like Aphex Twin and Autechre could go on to achieve.

Sadly for B12 they never really reached any commercially heady heights but their output was both consistent and intriguing through the 90's, and certainly were the sources of inspiration for many other techno and ambient techno artists around them at the time, and since. More encouragingly, they're still releasing stuff now and I have to say I was blown away by their recent offering, What We Had (Original Mix), on the compilation album French Electro House. Go listen, and see what you think. There's enough of a nod to the 90's to keep those of us who were there originally interested, but it's a slicker and equally more modern offering in the same vein.

Badger x