Being the last album of the first series of ri discs, BASS is a real finale. The title stands for Binary Amplified Super Stereo, which is precisely what your home system becomes after you've got the disc spinning. This album is a well-polished piece of work. In terms of style, Silver Sound and BASS are like twins, as both of them contain bits of jazz, lounge, and even drum+bass. Even the covers are slightly similar, centering primarily on a circular, simple toned design. Here the BASF logo, apparently supplied by Niko Heyduck, is altered yielding a kind of pseudo-visual deja-vu. No wonder the folks at customs get confused! Maybe this is some covert strategy for introducing ambient confusion?

The essence and techniques of the mentioned styles are broken down with what might be called an Occam's tape splicer. The earmarks of each genre are decomposed into their simplest forms and then assimilated into the digital domain for reassembly. Here these symbolic sounds are transferred and integrated into the current ri scheme. Watch out for this, it's perhaps the best one so far!

1. Burncycle - Not the opener you would expect. A rounded bassdrum pounds out a rigorous percolating rhythm. A warm, full sound it has. This is another one of those pieces that slowly mutates throughout the course of the track until you reach something completely different from what you started with. Not long after the start, certain tones join in. There isn't a cohesive melody here, and later some more dronelike waves enter the picture while the drum subsides.

2. James First - A 20-second retroglitch. Sounds like it's a big-band recording, passed through an EQ on which only the rightmost sliders are pushed up. Gives that effect of transistor radio interference. This continues right into the next track.

3. Tico Tico - It's the first thing you hear. Belongs in the eerie driftgroove category. A softly scraping loop circulates while tones bleep off-key, blended with a background setting. The bassdrum in this one lies in the really low frequencies, and the snare is scattered in such a way as to suggest falling rocks, or "loose chippings" as the like to Irish refer to them as. Look out below!

4. Outer Freak - A song like this reveals Atom Heart's minimalist lounge sequencing prowess. At first there is a low frequency oscillation slowly going up and down. Without warning, this changes into flickering hats, clinks, a hopping snare, and yes, more piano. All spread neatly across the binary field, mind you. Sinewave scales glide across the left channel while the reverberations are located opposite. Twiddle your Balance knob and you will find 2 different sequences that match beats. Every now and then, an electronic crashing sound slides in and out of view. What a freak of semiacoustic nature.

5. Radio Transparent - After several years' time this still remains one of my favorite tracks from the label. Almost Coil-ish qualities in this one, and Coil have even greeted Atom Heart in the insert for the Black Light District album. Binary amplified untuned short waves and what sounds like the rustling of autumn leaves blends with many other abstract sounds until they start to organize into a sort of Gestalt rhythm. This song almost sounds automatic, like it composed itself, though it also appears to have consulted Uwe before materializing. The beat fades in from the right side while the left channel emits divine melodies and more glitched-out noises. There's not much in the center of this one. Can't think of much else to say other then it's sure to satisfy the "ambient-with-beats-please" crowd.

6. Bahia Atomic - Is this man messing with our minds? The superclap is back, louder then ever. Sit back and relax. Clap! Incoming from the right side, get ready for it! Slow-paced orbiting hyperlounged vibes, chimes, and backwards-sounding vocals virtually surround the listener. Great solo work on the left side. It's almost as if there are 2 different songs here without sounding crowded or containing conflicting melodies.

7. Subterranian Shore - Music as anaesthetic. Distant lost fragments of songs from decades past seep down into deep layers of strata. Evolves into a whirlpool of triple-channel polychrome textures. Definitely pleasant and peaceful, yet containing all kinds of noise in flux. This is the last rest area on the album, use it wisely.

8. Ain't It Funky - You tell me.

9. 9G Make Your Face Flat - While containing perhaps the best solo of the lot (again in the left channel), this track consists mainly of similarly tuned elements all keeping the same clock. Percussion pulsates while the solo detunes, inducing ambient lightheadedness. You can never tell when the song's end is coming: beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep....

10. K-Jam - Another personal favorite of mine. When I first heard this simply amazing track its channels were mixed differently. It's on the Real Intelligence compilation (RI033) right before the bonus tracks, and the mix configuration is more "traditional" on the compilation. Impeccable use of the superclap. I still have never heard another breakbeat song that rivals the multitextured approach heard here. Simple and convoluted at the same time. Is it calibrated to the brain hemispheres? Flawless loops are set in motion, reset, and triggered again in new combinations. A must hear if you like unique breakbeats!