2350.org - Namlook XV - Free Your Mind

some interesting space vox samples. Not exactly sure where they are from. I do like "welcome to the real world" Almost sounds like a Matrix sample....Spacey, upbeat. The melody works rather well in this track....

track two, becomes a "classic" sounding ambient piece. At times it reminds me of Tangerine Dream. I had to check to make sure this was a Namlook solo release. The gradual progression of the background ambient clashes very well with the front line melody. The track is not rather deep sounding, but is still a great track. It tends to meander at times, and the drum section become more apparent.

track three break out more of the drums with some crickets sounds. It leans towards a loose drum and bass or break section, molded with a female vox sample. The track has some nice progression with the computerized chant, "free you mind". This is a bit noisier than the two previous tracks, but still works very well. It something rather dark, but very much alive.

track four comes back with more "ambience", in that Namlook way. The ambience builds into some drum beats. The beats remain very up tempo, yet the ambience in the background mellow out the over all feel of the track. Not one of the most original sounding tracks, but still remains pleasurable track.

track five is more of a trance beat with some quirky samples thrown in. It remains very different from the other tracks so far. It has some of the "classic" ambient/techno sounds as in with 1:48 into the track. It is a track that grows on you. It could have proceeded on for another few more minutes, but all good things must come to an end. At 6:36 into the track, it gets a little weird. Reminds me of some of the old computer sounds from games on the old atari :-)

track six, right from the start you can tell that this track will be different than the previous tracks as well. Its starts off with some very drawn out mellow ambient. More Matrix sounding samples (has to be this movie)...the samples tend to blend nicely with the spacey ambient. No sooner do you get deeply involved with the ambience, the drums kick in. Somehow I find myself getting lost in this track each time I play it. It becomes more of a trancey feel, very mellow, yet very danceable.

(review by jackthetab)

If like me you felt that PK failed to inspire on the last couple of Namlook outings you'll be pleased to learn that things are very much back on track with this one and although Klaus Schulze's old Moog apparently caused him all sorts of problems you'd never know at the end of the day. This is something of a synth fusion epic, choc full of beats, with quite distinct jazz, latin and afro influences. The drum programming on selected tracks (notably the opener) is amongst his very best with quite subtle almost organic touches and whilst 75% of this release goes for the throat there are a couple of good chill out moments to break the mood.

The Real World (8.03) rolls along at a tremendous pace with some deep bass notes pushed to the fore. More effects and samples are overlaid and eight minutes seem to fly by in half the time. A sort of a follow-up to the opener on Outland 3, thankfully without overkill on the spoken voices.

The Colony (8.22) again pushes the drums to the front although not quite as imaginatively and I caught myself thinking, albeit briefly, Tangerine Dream!

Free Your Mind (5.39) is pretty avant-garde but really grows...did PK bring in Ginger Baker (?) to help out with the percussives. There's a really haunting female voice punctuating the whole track which sounds like it was lifted from one of those sections in a 70's psychological thriller when the faceless baddie stalks his victim.

The Forthcoming (8.46) is more palatable (i.e. less sharply edged) with familiar Namlook noodlings and passes the time pleasantly enough.

Samba Giselle (11.02) starts with a slightly fuzzed, high-end bass ditty that bounces along in a lighthearted way until at the two minute point everything starts to move in a distinctly South American direction with the introduction of what I can only describe as the Santana (Caravanserai period) rhythm section who are then joined periodically by the odd burst of what sounds like a straight lift from Polytime. Production values are "live in your living room" and although it's all fairly laid back I would have been happy to hear it roll on to the fifteen minute mark.

The Dreamreader (12.53) - crap title - spends the first six minutes taking us exactly where we expect to go, a serene other world that lulls us into a false sense of security...until the rhythm kicks back in and we're off on a trip down IDM Memory Lane.

I think this is the best Namlook series release since 8/9 (with the possible exception of 12) and whilst there is a liberal techno accent, it is "techno" fused with other styles and it's going somewhere. I recommend all music lovers should give it a spin.

(review by Paul Milligan)

Now there's an EXCELLENT album. I am very impressed. I listened to this on the drive home last night, and on our new speakers at home till late at night because I couldn't get it out of my head. In a way it reminds me of Namlook X, the best of the Namlook live/solo series IMHO, but mostly it is like a mature 4Voice or Sequential (even more so than 4Voice 2). Really interesting rhythms (and drum sounds) throughout, but not the light stuff you come to expect from this series. The first two tracks are synth-oriented, fat, sticky and smooth. It looks like the Matrix is Pete's newest favorite movie, replacing Blade Runner as the sample source du jour. Track Three, "Free Your Mind," has this cool drum (snare?) at the front, spooky floating vocals, and more Matrix samples. The fat synth sounds are a welcome return to the Namlook solo work. Even the quirky 5th track, "Samba Giselle" is starting to grow on me, though I admit it took a while (it was a nice test of my new speakers' range).

(review by Michael Lekas)

(The Real World) One of the best Namlook-Tracks I ever heard! Dark and deep synth-sounds combined with perfect drum programming and well-known voice samples taken from "The Matrix". It just grows and grows, until it flies...

(The Colony) After our liftoff with the first track, we just fly around a bit. Bright synth-sounds, a deep arpeggio and light drums make this a perfect "out in space"-soundtrack.

(Free your mind) A hard breakbeat-loop is the main part of this very percussive title track. I always skip it because it's too hard and fast to fit to this whole disc.

(The Forthcoming) Starting off with another synth-arpeggio, this is a quite melodic one. Again the whole track is mainly based on breakbeats and drums. Could be on any of the 4Voice-releases.

(Samba Giselle) OK, what's this one doing on this disc? When I first heard this track, I thought of a bad joke, but now, after hearing it a few times, I like it very much. No additional explanation is needed, the title says everything: Namlook meets Samba ! Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in the whole concept of this album.

(The Dreamreader) That's what you expect when buying a fax-release called "Namlook", 6 minutes of fine PK-environmental-ambient, again combined with some "The Matrix"-samples. At about 6:20, the well-known breakbeat-loop from track 3 changes the mood of the track and adds some tempo, bringing the whole album to a perfect round-up.

This one was the first Fax-CD I ever bought back in 1999. It's one of the most powerful Namlook-Releases I ever heard, it sounds a bit between SHADO and 4Voice. Very excellent. Rating: 10/10

(review by Sven Kössler)