Average user rating    (0 vote)

Golly gosh. Sound Field is one of a series of projects from Andy Yakovlev who’s the brains behind Prosect, Sonify, and ICO; and he’s also proof positive that Israel can indeed produce decent electronic music if it wants to.

Psychedelic Revival has a huge intro that gives way to a pumping bit of amyl house, with a solidly massive bottomend that drives it along. There’s the occasional nod to the oldskool, and the way it escalates house-like into a huge, arena-busting crescendo suggests that you’re in for something a bit special here.

Technological Terror is like a more paranoid Behind Blue Eyes, with a very wobbly highpoint, while Midi Tales is more like a shifting cacophony that sounds like true psychedelia stuffed into a progressive envelope. Return To The Field is where is starts to all come together: here Sound Field’s sound becomes unique, on an epic track with a pulsing groove under analog acid, loud stabs, and an escalation pattern that’s as though Orbital never disbanded.

Crossbreed maintains the energy and the excitement; it’s house Jim, but not as we know it. The sound here is staggering, you can feel the sweat forming on the ceiling and walls, everything’s finely-tuned to sound epic, energetic, and special. Dub Vibration starts out downtempo, and finally picks up into that wonderful slomo 4-4 that most artists seem to overlook these days. Funk Science is utter class, and reason enough for buying this album. The midsection is a sheer delight, and the floaty, pensive, mature approach is as refreshing as it confidently unique.

Second Step Above The Sun is, we presume, some sort of continuation to First Step Above The Sun, the standout track from Oxygen’s cracking compilation Occurrence. The vibe is similarly wonderful here – cinematic, rolling, unfolding, intricate. This is just the sort of music I want to hear outdoors; the layering and melody co-conspire to create a very special place; if you subscribe to the idea that DJ’ing, and dance music, is all about creating moments for people, then this is truly something special.

Finally, Lifted Higher does just what it says on the tin. Floaty, fluttery, rushy, but without falling into the cheesetrap.

All in all this is an impressive album. The second half is, for me, the more accomplished and exciting part; but this isn’t to illegitimize the whole thing. At times the mastering is a bit bull-in-a-china-shop and hence some of the punch is lost in a muddy redlined trap at the bottom; this doesn’t help when the music itself is all about intricacy and hidden dynamism. Still, a worthy purchase and one of the more individual, confident albums around at the moment.   

8