PROTON INDUSTRIES

the cause

access tonal communications (2001)

reviewed by Bill Binkelman

proton industries is an "artist collective" based in Wales. Their music carries a socio-political message, not within lyrics but in their philosophy of the music industry itself, how music is made and distributed, and the constraints of being a recording artist given the state of the industry and the world as it stands today. I urge you to visit their website to read more about their opinions and beliefs. However, for me (as a reviewer) my main task is to critique their music on this, their first CD, the cause. And, let me tell you, from a musical standpoint, this recording kicks ass and takes names - in extremis! The twelve glitch/scratch/beat-driven ambient tracks on this album got into my blood stream and stayed there for months. Every time I play this damn thing (usually on headphones - yummy!) each track gets more infectious, more head-noddin', more way-cool. The music on this CD makes me feel about twenty years younger than my actual age of 48. It just makes me feel so alive!

None of the artists here records under their own names, so I'll just use their pseudonyms. Music on this album is done by "sek," "the unseen," "mr. E" and "meson." I don't know if there is a way to tell who contributes what (although one track is titled "meson speaks"), but who cares? With music this great, it could be recorded by someone named Shirley Temple! Plus, if I read their website correctly, they prefer to be viewed more as a unit, hence their "motto" (as it were) of "we are the movement" (which is also the fourth track's title).

Unfortunately, trying to accurately describe ambient music like this is nigh impossible to do well. While some songs carry "melodies" (or melodic components) and some passages may have been produced through the use of keyboards and/or synth modules, a lot of this is probably computer-generated and lacks "traditional" chords, notes, drones, and other musical motifs that some subgenres of ambient (such as spacemusic, EM, et al.) all use. I offer this only so anyone expecting Steve Roach or Darshan Ambient or James Johnson won't be caught unawares.

When it comes to the music itself, I wish I could find words to detail how cool "prototype" is, with its glitchy broken beats, echoed noise effects, and eventual sweet brief snatches of "notes" that add just a hint of melody to the track. Then there's the vocoder-laced and trip-hop rhythm fest of "we are the movement," followed by my favorite track on the CD, "meson speaks" (lots of cool quasi-Berlin keyboard work on this track, it sounds like to me) which at just over two-minutes is way too short - must have more!

There are kicky snare drum beats galore on "going in," jazzy cyber-lounge keyboard embellishments on "biotic/abiotic symbiosis" to go with its kinetic beats, and a real get-yer-ass movin' glitch-fest on "recon: unknown force." Hell, there's just so much damn fun to be had listening to the cause that I can barely write this review while it's playing! "you and me" is futuristic computer-dub with more great vocoder touches. "insemination" has rapid-fire pulsing beats and echoed keyboard chords that appear and then vanish, yielding to a silky smooth underlying wash of melody. Snatches of synth strings transform the track into one of the catchiest and most accessible on the album.

While ambient fans who need a more "traditional" sound may be alienated by the overt computer/electronics of the artists who make up proton industries, if you want to hear what the future of electronic ambient music might sound like (if we're damn lucky, that is), you really need to check this out. The artists on this recording use their considerable talent, fueled by social conscious and a unique muse, to bring a message to all who have open ears and open minds. This is one cause absolutely worth supporting. If this is what happens when the future is rewired, I can't wait to get to the future.