Who remembers the beacon of hope and shining artistry that was VISION’s Mission 01 compilation mega album in 2020 on the darkest level of the pandemic? Though theter had been possible planning it earlier than the lockdowns even began, with 23 of essentially the most artistic bass tracks on the time, the primary installment of the Mission collection lifted quite a lot of spirits and performed in quite a lot of reside units (on-line although they could have been). Two years later, nevertheless, many could have been questioning if the Mission collection would truly proceed. Good information, Mission 02 is sort of right here and it’s much more modern and unhinged than its predecessor.
This time that includes a whopping 28 tracks, Mission 02 picks up and expands the place Mission 01 left off. Where the primary installment had an experimental bent with an expeanded reportoire of genres like dubstep tracks by Posij and Former’s “Ultra,” halftime in Euph’s monitor “Stolen” and even some onerous industrial techno from Icicle and IMANU’s “Preamble,” Mission 02 is even much less D&B-forward. It additionally presents many extra up-and-comers amongst the large names like The Outsiders, Forbidden Society, Jam Thieves and naturally Current Value. The mission of Mission is experimental, so let’s get experimenting.
The album opens with a full 29-second model of the traditional Noisia Radio tag, “hello, person,” modified on the finish with “you are now tuned into Mission” which, to most followers, signifies issues are about to get very VISION-y. That’s adopted up with the primary shock of many on this album, a mix-in storage monitor by Holly referred to as “DARKNESS EDGE,” which works with the spacey theme of the intro. From there, the variation in type and style is all over: snare-forward periphery D&B by Maysev, quick techno by newcomer Hamdi, hip hopped halftime by Mono/Poly, barely recognizable experimental dubstep by Monuman and Secret Tape…we’re not even midway by way of the tracklist but. It’s a style free-for-all, and the artists should have had a discipline day creating these super-out there tracks.
There’s nonetheless loads of D&B on Mission 02, so D&B adherents needn’t concern: tracks from Rohaan and Tom Finster, Dez, the afore-mentioned Jam Thieves and The Outsiders et al. push the boundaries of the 174 breakbeat however are nonetheless very a lot D&B. Our YEDM premiere immediately, Current Value’s “Life of Its Own,” nevertheless, is a standout amongst standouts.
With an extra-long intro and one of many longest runtimes on the album, “Life of Its Own” hearkens again to the heady 1996-7ish days of D&B tracks being ambient, clever and greater than 4 minutes lengthy. The intro and breaks are fairly ambient and cinematic for Current Value, with blaring horns and a great deal of meditative background music, however this appears solely to be to steadiness the monitor and lull the listener right into a false sense of safety earlier than the insanity of the primary monitor begins.
With CV’s attribute radio pops and minimal drumline driving the tracks, tiny reverse sine splices make up the mid line as extra experimental chaos erupts round them. Loads of syncopation with the sub synth, cyclone snare sounds that aren’t the precise snare and an eerie ambient background make this monitor sound like a steampunk robotic being eaten by interstellar static. All this might be stunning, besides that it’s Current Value. In his case, as all the time, as soon as we’ve picked the remnants of our brains up off the ground, the response is all the time “of course; it’s Current Value.”
If VISION’s mission for Mission 02 was to present followers the mind scramblies with not simply CV however all the opposite artists, tracks and types on this big album, then mission achieved. It’s a complete physique of labor that picks up the place Mission 01 and the Outer Edges album and collection left off. Here’s hoping that the subsequent installment comes before this one.
Mission 02 drops on VISION this Thursday, December 1. click on right here to pre-order or pre-save.