Sonar Circle
Radius

There is truly something magical about Drum'n'Bass, with its complex rhythmic structures, sometimes powerful and destructive atmospheres, and other times dreamy, meditative, and disorienting. It has experienced a revival in recent years, transforming into a "rave" genre, yet we must absolutely not forget its constant presence among the sounds of the end of the last decade. Our future lies in the past, we know, and that is precisely why it is always possible to discover new gems that, even years later, maintain their brilliance intact.

Among the most interesting formations of the "first wave" of Drum'n'Bass, the brave Sonar Circle can undoubtedly be remembered as one of the flagship bands of the historic Reinforced Records (an already active label in the first half of the '90s, specializing in Hardcore/Breakbeat, later converted to the new "verbo" by the end of the decade): the duo, composed of the talented English producers Dominic Stanton and Jaimie Norman, distinguished themselves from their earliest appearances on 12" and mixes for their bold experimentation, the choice of dreamy and evocative samples, the almost total absence of digital sounds and vocals, intriguing features that immediately captured the attention of listeners most attuned to the underground movements.

It is 1999, the year when the experimentalism of the two reaches its culmination with the release of their first album "Radius", which unfortunately remains the only one of their brief but intense career: within eleven tracks, the album provides an excellent synthesis of the elements that characterize the dark, cosmic, and far from "easy" sound of Sonar Circle, and at times, it truly feels like floating in space or in the orbit of some remote and unknown satellite. The cover, with its indecipherable biomechanical design, almost seems to foreshadow the content hidden beneath it, and once you insert the CD into the player (or the vinyl into the turntable), it is impossible not to be swept away by the enigmatic flow of syncopated beats and spatial atmospheres that is "Radius."

The track-by-track becomes unnecessary for this reason, although it is possible to note a certain sonic variety that pushes the group beyond the restricted limits of a "Drum'n'Bass ensemble": they smoothly transition from a mix of threatening vocal samples, hypnotic sounds, and changes in the register of the initial "Face Off" to the Kruder & Dorfmeister-like Downtempo suggestions of "Something Special", passing through the jazzy and Hip-Hop oriented atmospheres of "Mist From Mars", the voids and disturbing syncopations of "Communication", and, above all, the magnificent "Susejo", which, with its dirty and powerful drums, likely represents the pinnacle achieved by Sonar Circle. The tension seems to partially dissipate in "Reincarnation", but then comes a nervous breakbeat, combined with magnificent Funk and percussive suggestions, truly deserving of a standing ovation. Once again, black music merges with sounds worthy of a space cruise in the concluding and smooth (but not too much) "Soul", the final farewell of the duo and the definitive end of the playback. It goes without saying that such an experience urges anyone to repeat it immediately.

In short, the masterful "digging" ability of Dominic Stanton and Jaimie Norman, the brilliant mixture of Jazz/Funk sounds and cosmic suggestions, the continuous changes of style and register, all contribute to making "Radius" an absolute masterpiece of Drum'n'Bass and Electronic music of the late '90s, and it is truly a shame that works of such caliber often fall into total oblivion: fortunately, the possibility of discovering, going beyond the surface of things, and reviving jewels of the recent and distant past remains ever bright, which, with the passage of time, do not cease to shine with their own light.