- Mr. Gasmask – Interstellar Delivery
- K. Larm & J. Raninen – Over the Space
- n3oc0r3x – Acid Taped
- Justin Maxwell – The Grind
- Healium – Preaching Without a Licence
- Stephen Richard Williams – Angry 303
- Timmy Lok – Come Back and Tweak
- Trip of the Sorrow Sister – August 303
- BXP – Deep Acid
- dyLAB – Live Acid
- Biting Eye – I’ve Got This Acid
- magnet 303 – Actu Gol Qabar
- Citric Acid vs. TBInfantrie – McX
- BRIXTON – b2b_ms20
- LeRobot – Old’s Cool 303
- AcidBoy – Bliksem
- Rob Acid – Dark Acid
- D’Arcangelo – Deranged
- Chris Moss Acid – k545 (TB-303 Sonata No. 16 in C major)
- Mr. Gasmask – Return to Sender (Interstellar Delivery Failure)
Com.pil.ed Vol. 1 is a dance compilation dedicated to the TB-303 – if you don’t know what a TB-303 is, it is a bass synthesizer with a built-in sequencer that had a defining role in the development of contemporary electronic dance music. We find a greatly vast electro palette of digitized design, staring and finishing off with Mr. Gasmask’s ‘Interstellar Delivery’, and even featuring two artists from Hong Kong – Biting Eye with ‘Ive Got This Acid’, and Timmy Lok with ‘Come back and Tweak’ (返嚟就擰). The whole album is a multi-cultural world on its own really – European, Asian, North American, Australian and British, it gives the compilation a lot more depth. All these artists would have taken something from their own musical cultural background and willing put it into these fine pieces of acid experience. Not to mention their names are extremely clever – ‘LeRobot’ from Montreal, Canada is a given.
The whole album is very 606 inspired, with sweeping filters and automated envelopes. Mr. Gasmask’s ‘Interstellar Delivery’ (Track 1) is a minimalistic, deep progressive house track with gradually increasing decay envelopes on the lead synths. I was particularly excited about the evolving long filter sweeps and soft pads, but was pleasantly surprised with the classic 4-to-the-floor beat and the clean cymbals. A great start to the compilation, but also a great finish with the added liquid wub sound.
Biting Eye’s ‘I’ve Got This Acid’ (Track 11) comes from where I live (Hong Kong!), and stars smooth wind-esque pads, and a high degree of reverb. The piece drops into a hard kick with very treble-rooted synth work and fantastic introduction of many new drum samples in drop, and incorporates very processed high hats while bringing back the melody in simple pluck synths over the drop percussion. Contrasting from Track 1, the kick rhythm is different from the classic 4-to-the-floor, the last two of each bar are syncopated.
Track 19, Chris Moss Acid from Bournemouth (UK 聯合王國) takes Mozart’s Sonata No. 16 in C major and turns it into a fast-paced 8-bit track – only plays for just over a minute, however still equally as entertaining as the other full length tracks.
Not a lot of compilations focus so directly on a piece of machinery like this ones. Com.pil.ed Vol. 1 allows these tracks to evolve steadily – although we take notice of their fast pace, they rarely rush the listener from one song to the next. As a result, these acid tracks become hypnotic experiences, capturing the effects done by the TB-303.
– Chloe Cheng
