Clear (Bomb The Bass album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clear was the third album released by Bomb The Bass, the dance/electronic collective formed around British producer and musician, Tim Simenon. Released in 1995, the album which consisted of eleven tracks, saw the band progress from sample-heavy dance tracks to more conventional song structures.

Darker in tone than was previously expected from an act that had helped usher in the dance explosion of the late 80s with the proto-house track Beat Dis, Clear replaces most of the vibrant breakbeats and pop art dialogue samples from their other albums, Into The Dragon and Unknown Territory, with lower toned dub aesthetics, and a full line-up of guest vocalists.

Bringing forward many of the lessons learnt from utilising unconventional sample-based sound sources, and the dance-orientated manipulation of existing sounds to present fresh textures, the tracks included on Clear are often referred to as fitting the term musique concrète.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Bug Powder Dust" (with Justin Warfield)
2. "Sleepyhead" (with Bim Sherman)
3. "One To One Religion" (with Carlton)
4. "Dark Heart" (with Spikey T)
5. "If You Reach The Border" (with Leslie Weiner)
6. "Brain Dead" (with Justin Warfield)
7. "5ml Barrel" (with Will Self)
8. "Somewhere"
9. "Sandcastles" (with Bernard Fowler)
10. "Tidal Wave" (with River)
11. "Empire" (with Benjamin Zephaniah & Sinead O'Connor)

[edit] Trivia

The singer River on Tidal Wave is actually actress Minnie Driver.

Bug Powder Dust incorporates Alphonso Johnson's bass line from the title track of Flora Purim's album "Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly." Alphonso Johnson was with the jazz fusion group Weather Report at the time.

"William from Tangiers" in Bug Powder Dust refers to William Burrough to Beat Generation writer William Burroughs, and includes many Burroughs references, including "bug powder dust," "mugwump jism," and "The Wild Boys" (a novel by Burroughs). Fellow Beat Generation writer Allen Ginsberg is also mentioned in the lyrics.

Will Self, who provides the vocals for 5 ml. Barrel, is the prolific off-the-wall British author of Cock and Bull, Great Apes, How the Dead Live, The Book of Dave, and The Quantum Theory of Insanity, among others.