Document 01

(Fifth Column)
by Lex Marburger

What could be better than an album that starts off with over two minutes of a cricket chirping (Ranidella Signifera to be exact)? I’d say a compilation of Trance/Tribal music would do nicely. Document 01 (Fifth Column) is just that, a beautiful mix of ambient, percussion, electric hisses, and what seem to be samples of Timothy Leary. Some tracks sound a little like “Discipline” by King Crimson, some sound like outer space techno, some sound like indigenous music played through a switchboard. Paul Schütze has a track here, as well as Hanging Garden and Soma. The DNA Lounge throws in some clever samples of alien abductees describing what their captors looked like, while TCH stretches out magnificently with “(A View) From Babel Over Babylon.” Not quite ambient, not quite dub, not quite peaceful, Document 01 is the kind of album that becomes necessary listening at a certain point. The slow, insistent drums mesh with the sonorous harmonies and insist that you listen. The bass prods you to open up your ears. The keyboards meander through the night soil and zone you out. What more could you ask for?