Artist: Various Artists
Title: Global Underground: Afterhours
Label: Global Underground
By: Simon Jones | 7 November 2002
Tracklist:
  1. Intro
  2. Meat Katie - Long to Belong
  3. Vogon - Decoy
  4. The Thrillseekers - Escape
  5. Spanna - Kan Kan
  6. Terranova - Bitcrush
  7. Bola - Pae Paoe featuring Dennis Bourne
  8. The Detroit Escalator Company - Folding Space
  9. Naked Funk - Evolution Ending
  10. Pink Bomb - My Life In Art
  11. Mimic - Calmingly Numb
  12. Argonout - Going Through
  13. Ashtrax - Future Traffic Song
  14. Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life

Various Artists "Global Underground: Afterhours ""Global Underground: Afterhours "

Out Now on Global Underground

Global Underground has become one of the leading and most respected brands over the years, bringing such djs as Sasha, John Digweed, Sander Kleinenberg and Dave Seaman to the world stage with it's compilation series. Since it's inception the market has changed and become much more competitive in the times past. As such they have explored the underground further with ventures like the acclaimed 'Electric Calm' and the experimental 'Lights Out' projects. Now they delve into a part of the underground that remains largely untouched to this day.. that of the afterhours...

Friday. 6pm. The start to the weekend. Not quite f**cked up and wasted, but it's early yet. As I prepare for the night out, I slip in CD1 of this new 'Afterhours' experience. A man named Trillo from Romini explains what the whole idea, the experience, the concept, and further still... of the afterhours, and what it means to him. Smokey jazz beats drift in as Meat Katie 'Longs To Belong'. Deep bass and sampled vox filter through as 'Decoy' by Vogan becomes the cinematic bleep covered landscapes of 'Escape', a track that sticks to it's name as gorgeous piano riffs encourage your mind to drift, away from the mundane 9-5, away from reality. After dark will be here soon, and it's a place where you can be anyone you want to be, any time, any place you choose.

80's style drum kicks drill through the speakers amidst sweeping electronic fx, as twisted guitar riffs roll in over the top, taking precdence as 'Bitcrush' by Terranova opens up, in an almost industrial fashion. From here things range from the trippy spacial computer vox of 'Pac Paoe' to deeply moving sounds of 'Folding Space' by The Detroit Escalator Company, different people met via the Global Underground experience giving their own definition of the afterhours, what it is, what it could be, and what it means to them. Pink Bomb dazzle with yet another of their gorgeous piano led ambient numbers entitled 'My Life In Art' as tracks courtesy of Argonaut, one of Israel's leading producers draws us in for one of the many surprises on the cd and one of the standout tracks of this disc 'Future Traffic Song' by Ashtrax, gravely melancholic vocals melting over a broken beat style groove to bring this disc to the perfect end... as the night ahead beckons

Sunday. 5am. Not quite the end of the weekend, but it's all downhill from here. Just a few hours left till normality returns, till the escapist tendencies that live within us have to be put back in the closet till Friday evening once more. We may have left the party a while ago, but the party is far from over. Welcome to the party after the party. Soothing grooves courtesy of Balago's 'Maccabea' and 'Pendulos' flow slowly into the classic 'It's No Good' by Depeche Mode. From here all manner of influences are drawn upon, to ease the mind and soul, and to ensure the party after the party goes off with a bang. The trippy, the unusual, the quirky. all manner of sounds and the unexpected as new artists like Momu and Filta go toe to toe with such legends as The Human League as a supporting cast of diverse artists you wouldnt find in the top 40 at HMV or Tower. This is the further explored for your listening pleasure. Aural medicine for the soul, for a journey that seems like it's ended when it's in fact only just begun. But that's my own idea of what is aftehours.. just slip this album into the player.. and question.. what is yours? For this may seem like the end.. but it is more near the beginning.

And as the party comes to an end, and your mind is slowly shutting down, little switches in your mind flickering away, slip the bonus cd-rom into your PC, sit back, relax, and do whatever floats your boat, and take in some of the sounds, the narration, the stories and the beautiful images of two short films, Darkness and Light. Two visual shorts that remind you that you may not remember all of what has occured in the past 48 hours, but it was no doubt a mad tale to be told in weeks to come, a beautiful time that was shared with friends, and isnt that the best kind of madness?

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