808 State
Ninety

How I wish I had been in Manchester in the late eighties. The freshness of disco nights to the rhythm of "Screamadelica," so young, with rolled-up pants and slicked-back hair. There were mixes of influences in the music, looking at the tribal rhythms of Afrika Bambaata, blending them with techno, and creating naïve cocktails like Happy Mondays or gems like "69" by A.R. Kane.

808 State formed in 1988 in Manchester, thanks to the meeting of visionary minds like Martin Price, Graham Massey, and Gerald Simpson. They are artists of remarkable quality and are the pioneers of the underground rave scene. In no time, they quickly achieved success and became the creators of a special blend of hip hop and acid house.

Gerald Simpson left the band to go solo, under the pseudonym A Guy Called Gerald, and also found success with "Voodoo Ray." To the remaining two members of 808 State, Darren Partington and Andy Barker were subsequently added. Even Autechre and Aphex Twin were impressed by the 1988 debut "Newbuild," endowed with great sonic cohesion thanks to the fine work on the bass synthesizer and the tight drum machine. With seven tracks, they inaugurated seminal ambiances for all of '90s electronics, and the group's name started circulating in various club circles and beyond. Because 808 State didn't present themselves with the sterility of any DJ, but as a band, like New Order indeed.

The means they employ to express their electro world are impressive, where dense sonic interplays are embedded in the rhythmic patterns. Seminal is "Pacific State," a track that allows them to enter history. The ethereal keyboard, the bliss of being suspended, and being hurled into aurora borealis by that sax, which inevitably gets into your head. What a treat, in five minutes they rejuvenate electronics and many other sonic realms. It's like Hassell lying on a crescent moon being a minstrel to the underlying nature's games. Nothing more celestial. We should wait for "Porcelain" and "Midnight In A Perfect World" to revisit the empathy of this paradisiacal landscape, almost a gentle Eden.

It's the track that made me fall in love with 808 State, who in 1989 literally broke down the door of success with "Ninety," an album featuring "Pacific State" indeed. An otherworldly sabbat of electric games and the mechanical nature of rhythmic dances. The sound, however, never sounded so "alive." The interplay between the instruments is perfected, and the synth base that constantly manipulates the slaps of the drum machine does not go unnoticed. In "Cobra Bora" and "808080808," we have the perfect example of this. Until the exotic "Sunrise," the ear is never freed from the obsessiveness of pulsating basses. It's a continuous basking in such perfect rhythm changes that make the Kraftwerk of "Electric Café" envious. With the aforementioned song, the colored lights instead dim to access a "lunar jungle," thus expressing a minimal idea of future jungle, nonetheless impregnating it with the sugary synth stalactites.

The Nineties, which the band heralded so much in 1989, are characterized by evolving sounds with "Ex:el" and "Gorgeous." Always well-crafted products, and obviously full of that precision and mannerism that distinguishes the combo. The industrial feel of "In Yer Face" and "Cubik," and the remix of "One In Ten" by UB40 are the last gasps, while the crazy collaborations with MC Tunes in "The Only Rhyme That Bites" and "Tunes Splits The Atom" are interesting. Also notable is "Spanish Heart" in "Ex:el," where we have the lovable Sumner from New Order on vocals. In that album, a very young Bjork also pops up, making her mark in "Ooops" and "Qmart."

Nonetheless, along with "Yellow Submarine" and "Ode to Joy," the sax part of "Pacific State" deserves to be played on the flute by middle school kids.