Bandulu
Guidance

Ahhh, techno, how could we live without it? Especially at its peak during the nineties, thanks to contributions from more or less legendary authors. Among the lesser-known, however, are Bandulu, an English team active throughout the decade but will be rightly remembered for the Guidance in question, the group's striking debut in 1993, which perhaps didn't enjoy the exposure of similar artists. Perhaps someone missed it, and now is the right time to fix that.

Guidance is essentially a techno-tribal session, with a trace of trance, but not too much. It consists of 10 very long tracks, the slimmest don't go below 5 minutes, while the most extended ones gladly reach or exceed ten. Guidance is the title track that immediately sets the album's rules: structurally strong four-on-the-floor beats and jungle-tribal rhythmic inserts, including well-measured vocal samples on the theme and an intricate mosaic of melodic synths. The composition is very interesting, not at all trivial; despite the track playing with few elements, it manages them in the best way without ever boring the listener. Music for the brain disguised as dance, in reality, the contours of EDM can be glimpsed in the meticulous choice of sounds, which today may seem dated but never cease to fascinate. Notice the overall dirtiness of the mixing; the album is conceived as a DJ session, so there are some rough edges in the sound progression that make it even more vibrant and wild, despite all the music being machine-generated. The record then betrays its analog origin, a very tempting material for enthusiasts, marking a vast gap with the crystalline and disturbingly clean productions of today. After all, technology has fortunately changed for the better, but unfortunately, ideas have not.

And here, ideas are certainly not lacking, like the hypnotic bass in Messenger, paired with a mesmerizing series of arpeggios, but it's with Revelation that things start to get serious: a ten-minute missile, with the first four cooked in a seductive ambient sauce. Then, however, brutal and delayed percussion worthy of the best vintage AFX kicks in: a total delight. Peacekeeper plays with a pulsating bass and distorted hats, it sounds like listening to Spooky, and that is just a great compliment. Earth 6 brings back tribal samples and a bass line with house contours, the same goes for Flex, while for Better Nations even Carl Craig shows up, which is no small thing. Invaders is another monolith of almost 12 minutes and yet another high episode of the record. On this occasion, the rhythms calm down to make room for a cosmic dance immersed in a symphony of space synths; a soundtrack for earthlings contemplating space, dreaming with their feet firmly on the ground. Guess what? The discussion closes with Tribal Reign, in the name of the most shameless eloquence. For the occasion, the four-on-the-floor beat returns, along with an extraordinary play of reversed samples with a frenzied rhythmic fresco; it's music that simply isn't made anymore today and brings more than a tear to one's eye.

It's not out of the question that this cult has slipped from your library, perhaps distracted by Aphex Twin and Future Sound of London. If you're not afraid to engage with a 23-year-old space dinosaur, I invite you to step forward, I assure you that you'll feel absolutely at home.