Luke Vibert
Lover's Acid
(Planet Mu)
Despite releasing what many consider to a groundbreaking effort in the drum and bass genre (Drum And Bass For Papa under the Plug guise), Luke Vibert has pretty much always had one foot fully straddling the old-school line with his love of classic acid sounds. No matter what name he's recording under, he manages to toss in a bit of a nod to the delightful sounds and even recorded the ode "I Love Acid" on most recent full length Yoseph.
If that aforementioned track was a simple nod towards acid, then this newest release is a full-on gushing tear-stained letter and testament to the sound. Lover's Acid collects 12 tracks from 3 seperate EPs released by Vibert in 2000, 2002, and 2005, and while the quality is somewhat varied, there should be more than enough on the hourlong release to please fans of Mr. Vibert himself or most looking for a little fun.
The release opens with "Funky Acid Stuff" and it's one of the more solid tracks on the release as he rolls a delicious, warbling analogue acid squiggle over one of his almost cartoon-sounding chunky beats while samples of people hooting and hollering fill in the spots when the track calms down. "Cash'N'Carry Acid" sounds like a modernized version of a blaxsploitation soundtrack while "Gwithian" keeps things much more subtle, blending flute loops and mid-tempo jazzy breaks that work quite well to add a bit of variety to the release (without a TB 303 to be heard). The album-titled "Lover's Acid" works just like the title states, as Vibert slows things down to bedroom pace while still keeping a bit of growl and funk to pull things together.
There are a couple stumbling spots on the release, and "Homework" is one of them, sounding like a track that's been recycled from sounds that have already been used by every rave track from the past 20 years while "Acid2000" lumbers along with a generic funky-drummer rhythm and vocal samples that add nothing. Fortunately, he pops things up a notch towards the end of the release with the hyper-dancefloor of "Come On Chaos" and the gritty breakbeats of "Dirty Fucker" as he drops some of the most squelched-out acid sounds on the entire release. Because the release is comprised of 3 different EPs, there's obviously going to be a little bit of disparity between then, but in large part the aesthetic that Vibert has honed for so long makes for a mostly-entertaining little collection.
Rating: 6.75
