ZerO One - Psy-Fi

×

ZerO One - Psy-Fi

Close

Spiralight Recordings is on a roll. First came Magic Sound Fabric's solid album, Uplift Drift, followed by Richard Bone's superb Alternate Realities. Now, here's the latest offering from electronica/ambient artist zerO One (a.k.a. Kevin Dooley), pSy-fI - an excellent assortment of various rhythmic EM/ambient tracks, all of them featuring outstanding engineering and production as well as music that is never less than good and frequently is fantastic. While the album starts better than it finishes, it never lags or disappoints, either. And by placing the best tracks at the start of the CD, the artist displays not just his abundant talent but his business savvy as well. Besides the ten "real songs" (nearly all are in the five to seven minute range), the CD also contains four bonus mp3 selections as well. As if that wasn't enough (I feel like Chef Tony selling his knives on his infomercial!), there is also some cool flash animation you can watch when you play the album on your computer, e.g. the figure relaxing in an easy chair as he spins through outer space, an image that is indicative of the music itself, i.e. chill-out tunes with a science-fiction (hence the album's title) slant. For musical comparison's sake, besides similarities to label mate Magic Sound Fabric, zerO One is also a colleague of artists like Current (Robert Solheim), psychetropic (Todd Fletcher) and others who traipse through the waters of beat-driven electronica, chill-out, dub and other similar subgenres. Dooley emphasizes the futuristic elements to his music (seldom sampling real instruments, and when he does, the sounds portray his whimsical side). He also includes well-placed SF dialogue snippets (such as "They re trying to make robots out of us" on "robOts"). Many of the tracks make use of sweeping washes of synths, which lend the music an undercurrent of sinuous sensuous spacemusic. It's in the little details that Dooley impressed me the most as well as his quirky sense of fun. I heard it in the opening track, "transfEr," when amidst the bass beats, bleeping/blooping textures, and snare rhythms, he threw in a '60s guitar sound, lending the song a subtle dose of "hep." It's also on this opening song that I notice his innovative developing and layering of rhythms, all of which sound fresh and exciting. The music's mix is frequently spacious, imparting a cinematic sense of visual drama. "robOts" bounces Gamelan-like gongs off of sweeping synths while percolating skitch/glitch beats keep everything grounded nicely. Dooley's quirky sense of humor resurfaces on "bu_iSt" where a Farfisa organ sample carries the bouncy refrain against a backdrop of assorted chill-out beats and a funky bass line. "transfOrmation" is one of my faves here, as Dooley layers more Gamelan influences under breathy female chorales and midtempo beats, and again makes good use of SF dialogue "I'm going through a transformation…" "dreamwOrld" may remind astute listeners of various recordings on the Waveform label (which released some of this artist's previous work) owing to the rhythms and synth sounds employed by the artist. The album loses a little steam as it cruises into its later tracks, but not distractingly so in the least. It's more a case of the first five or six tracks being so outstanding that a minor letdown was inevitable. To Dooley's credit, his production and engineering is consistently textbook perfect throughout and he refuses to just "grind out" the final songs by retreading earlier riffs. In fact, the last track, "megalOmania," is one of the most daring here, featuring snappy trap kit beats anchoring a catchy refrain that bounces and reverberates off itself played out on a calvacade of keyboards. When the sampled bagpipes chime in later, you'll know you're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy! I admit to giving only a cursory listen to the bonus mp3s, but what I heard sounded like even more quality electronica/chill-out tuneage. Dooley and Spiralight obviously believe in giving you more bang for your buck(s). zerO One's pSy-fI is rock-solid entertainment for rhythm junkies and chill-out fans alike and will most likely make a lot of "Best of the Year" lists, I'd wager. On a final note, don't be dissuaded by my comments about latter cuts not being as impressive as the opening salvo - pSy-fI easily earns a "highly recommended" from me.