2350.org - Glitch

First thing you'll notice is that Inertia is an overseas product - with me standing on European soil that is. It is a real US product with those typical subtleties in sound - not that it is banging Detroit techno or so (mind you: it does bang a lot) but it has those ... yeah what ...

Where some of the early uptempo FAX albums have a tendency to sound dated, this is not the case for Inertia. It is a well balanced album with atmospheric and distinctly deep tracks winding things down after the hardest hitting sounds have been propelled through your bones. Most of the hard trance is dark and luckily lacks any 'fun' part; just plain repetitive and thus i.m.o. real trance. Closed Mind is the (great) exception to that with sampled material from Fad Gadget (Love Parasite), Talking Heads (Mind) and a funny interview with Stevo from Some Bizarre Records.

Mind Expander is a mindblowing track and semi classic. In the early nineties Belgian national radio broadcasted their superb program Teknoville and Mind Expander was one of those few tracks who made it to the excellent Teknoville compilations. Apparently they are still around owning their own label Defective Records.

(review by Jean-Marc Dekesel)

I expected to be able to carbon-date this album when I first heard it in May 2001. However, in some ways, I was pleasantly surprised!

** Surge (5.04) ** The opener is somewhat trancy, but it's got some decent crunchy percussion. The synth lines build quite nicely, and showcase some decent, if simple, melodies. This track is pretty listenable and doesn't scream 1993 like many of the album's tracks.

** Torsion Control (5.01) ** By the title alone, you could probably guess that this is hard trance. It's awash in TR-909 and is very dated. This is not a great track, and it makes you feel pretty dorky for listening to it.

** Closed Mind (4.06) ** This one opens with a DJ announcing, "Let's see if you can jam to something a little slower than a hundred thousand fuckin beats per minute, y'all!" Funny...maybe it's in response to the previous track. This song isn't bad...it's got a slow, groovy beat, although it could probably do without the voice samples. It's listenable and I could see how it would've sounded cool eight years ago.

** Mind Expander (5.15) ** More trance here, but it's not quite cookie-cutter trance, which is good. This is cool on headphones...the percussion pans left in right in detailed ways. Not a lot to say about this one. Pretty run of the mill.

** No303oN (4.01) ** Very fast, hard, dated trance. I think that's an SH-101 on the melody, but I'm not sure. Another okay track, but just not very memorable. Cool title though.

** Love Remains (6.07) ** Ok, back on track. Nice slow groover here, with typical early 90s synth lines, but they're enjoyable. This would make great driving music...in fact, that's what I tend to think of when I listen to electronic music...will it sound cool in the car? No real climax to this song, but it's nice, futuristic IDM.

** Electra Rising (5.27) ** This is a little more uptempo dance number. It has some cool sounds and a sleek, spacey melody, but like a lot of the tracks on this album, there isn't much to distinguish it. At least it's not bam-bam-bam-bam trance. This might actually work at a party...very listenable indeed.

** Skeletorsion (4.30) ** Probably the worst track on the album. Nothing but stomping trance, and even somebody like Oakenfold could probably do better. Just stay away from any track on this album that contains the word "torsion." :)

** Throbbing Dream of Tangerine Gristle (5.17) ** This track, whose title pays homage to electronic pioneers, is very cool. It's fast, but it's not exactly trance. It's more for listening than dancing. More good driving music. I could imagine going storm chasing in Oklahoma while listening to this...definitely would get the adrenaline moving.

** Thought Signals (14.38) ** Why do a lot of these early Fax albums have one long, introspective track at the end? To sound cliche, maybe it's the chill-out at the end of the dance. No complaints here. This is possibly the album's best track. It doesn't really go anywhere (like a lot of Fax stuff) but it's cool nonetheless. The tympanis and other percussion sound nice, and it's fairly atmospheric, but not at all boring drone-ambient. It might not even sound completely out of place on today's Fax music.

All in all, "Inertia" is an decent album but it suffers from lack of originality. It probably didn't even sound that original back in 93. Not worth going out of your way for, but it can make for a pleasant listen.

(review by Jonathan Osborne)