my personal favourite band of all times

Waterfall Cities is the album which is by all means the most techno oriented of them all, nevertheless, it IS another great piece of music by this extraordinary ensemble of musicians. The band maintains its integrity and the unique sound it has perfected throughout all the years. Waterfall Cities is, to a devout fan like me, a rather familiar mixture of classic types of songs that OZRIC TENTACLES like to put onto their records.

It all starts with an energetic, almost an explosive opener Coily Kilim which showcases the band's love for progressive rock experimentation ( Zia playing his bass so smooth and Rad going berserk on drums! ), coupled with a deep love and profound understanding of eastern melodies ( who else but Ed and Seaweed ). The production is top-notch, a five star rating. Also, in this song something becomes quite obvious, and that is the band's liking for dramatisation thus adding another special effect to their already captivating and mesmerising music. A chilling example is a bridge at the end of the song - changing from Ed's beautiful arabesque solo to a techno driven hard rock finale that explodes into a million of stars. Coily Kilim is a fine example of how the band sounds live. Heavy to the bone and with an enormous strength.

Xingu is already a fully electronic driven composition. Quite weird and actually something I haven't heard before. To put it bluntly, Xingu is a dub with this really scary and loooooow bass line. Present all around the central melody is a continuing cascade of synth bubbles that puts the matters into a more trance-like perspective. Somewhere along the way, things get a little more cheerful as the main solo echoes all around and slowly transforms into a short sonic-bass interlude. It ends in an abundance of bubbles.

Waterfall City is a rave! This 11-minute, fast-paced trance-techno is ideal for all the dance floors, all around the world. The song is structured in a very familiar manner, melodious intro slowly builds up steam and starts pounding through the speakers. Boom! I really don't know who's responsible for all the electronics in this one, Ed or Seaweed, but whoever he is, he's done a mighty impressive job. Rarely can one witness such a great understanding of dance music. Waterfall City is cheerful and playful but bear in mind it is also very, very powerful and its high-octane propulsion allows it to reach the climax at 4:53 when it changes into a most beautiful piece of music on this album. It is really almost like some twisted sort of new-age (?) but the underlying energy and speed do not let the song lose itself. A masterpiece of composition. One can only wish for such pleasure to last for eternity and not only 11 minutes.

Ch'ai? must be a cover version of some old, traditional Chinese or Japanese ( I am lost here! ) tune. For easier visual and auditory presentation just picture some old geezers sipping tea and tendering gold-fish while listening to this piece of music in the background.

Spiral Mind is similar to Waterfall City. It is also 11 minutes long. And it is fully electronic. But the comparison ends here. Spiral Mind is more spacey with a totally different beat and feel to the song. And, bass isn't just merely functioning as a rhythmic supplement as in Waterfall City but it has taken on a role of a main instrument, more like a deep, soulful voice reciting the invisible verse of a song that has never been written ( wow! I really get lost when listening to this band; maybe I should quit writing and fly a kite or something ). Ed's solo is jazz at its best and sounds crystal-clear, and addition to that is in unison with the bass line. If Zia is fully responsible for all the electronic bass lines on this track, hats off.

No OZRIC TENTACLES album would be complete without at least one classic reggae dub played by the whole band. A 10-minute Sultana Detrii is exactly that. Lots of bass, even more bubbles, cool atmosphere, wonderful melodies, groovy guitar, lovely flute work ( hey, guys, give Jumping John some more space for his expression or he'll do a solo album! ). Perfect for hot summer days when you are just lying in a shadow under some tree and legalising it.

The albums ends with a real new-age composition, Aura Borealis, that is most similar to Meander from Curious Corn album. You know, that song that closes the album and bears within everything that other songs lack, and that is tranquillity, serenity and relaxation. I can only quote Elmer Fudd™, you know, from Loony Toons™ Cartoons:

I am really glad that OZRIC TENTACLES haven't jumped on the band-wagon and started making the so-called popular MTV™ space-age drum'n'bass. I guess it is because they have been doing it all along but in their own unique and innovative way, and along the way making it sound more like Jean-Michel Jarre on acid, mushrooms and PCP ( just kidding ). Not everything has to sound like RONI SIZE to be modern drum'n'bass.