PRESS
Phaedra
Various Artists Themes From a Common Dream (Lowdown) Over the last couple of years, the Vancouver electronic music scene has been one of the most fertile in Canada, with studios and labels like Subconscious, Map and Subduction revealing the sounds of Canada's west coast to the world at large. Lowdown Records easily joins those esteemed ranks with this compilation, a gathering of works by seven Vancouver artists - Iridium, Mince, Catalyst Sound, MK Naomi, Steb Sly, Prime and Phaedra - most of whom work in the tech-house and trance realm of electronic sound. Admittedly, the repetitive nature of much of the material causes the tracks to blur into one another somewhat as the disc progresses, which is fine on the dancefloor but generally not what I want when listening at home. Despite that, the material is still excellent, and the closing track - a quirky, distorted slab of intelligent techno by Phaedra - makes it worth sticking around until the end.

Hemisphere (Quantum Loop) A Vancouver duo featuring Greg Price and Eric Chalmers, Hemisphere first attracted notice with a track on last year's Lowdown Records compilation under their other moniker, Phaedra. On this 37 minute mini-album, the experimental techno sound of that work is still in full effect, and is joined in places by an edgy tech-house groove. The result suggests what might result if Autechre took a stab at the west coast house sound - thick and quirky electronic listening music that you could probably dance to if you tried hard enough. By the time you reach the end of the closing track (a crisp drum'n'bass reworking of the disc's opener, "Scetch", by DJ UFO), you'll likely be wishing the disc was twice as long. rev by feedback monitor (us)
Hemisphere (Quantum Loop, 1998) is Greg Price and Eric Chalmers. This mini-album is a programmatic manifesto of their hard and frequently dissonant house sound, that often sounds like Autechre performing Morton Subotnick's noisy scores. From the hypnotic, exotic Scetch to the tribal, pounding Spaces, from the David Byrne-esque ethno-funk of Shape Of Things sounds like to the robotic drum'n'bass of Go Direct, the duo shows enough ideas for six records. NXNE SHOW/REVIEWS
Hemisphere 'Hemisphere' Quantum Loop****....Scintillating techno with feeling. THIRD EAR
Reviewed in issue #159, 5/18/98 The term EP is becoming more and more meaningless in this age of compact discs. Even without the remix of "Scetch" appended to the end, this set is longer than most punk albums. Hemisphere trucks in rather sterile explorations of techno sounds and electronic drum formations. So in other words, this is stuff you might like to play at your next dance party. Or maybe not. We're not talking about strict 4/4 stuff here. A bit more complicated and strange than that. Beats drop in and out at almost random intervals, and the music isn't terribly inviting. Kinda alienating, really. And I like that. Hemisphere is taking chances, as it should. Sometimes the melodic lines work with the rhythms, and sometimes they don't. Sometimes the songs themselves sound woefully out of sync. Just more exploration. Those efforts pay off. Yeah, some of this stuff is way out there. The sounds of an alternate universe. The sort of thing that spaz in the corner dances to after one too many beers. Hey, everybody needs something. And Hemisphere provides admirably.A&A 1999
Erik West/The Weekend Warrior
Eric West is, according to legend, Vancouver's No1 badboy. If you ask us, he's probably the most talented producer of 'tech-house' to come out of Canada. His first four track EP is due to be released in February 2001, and you can expect to hear plenty more from him the coming months. Excerpt from 20:20 Vision Recordings website 'New Signings'.
His superb, clinical production and unique style fuses the sweet sounds of labels such as 'Forensic' and 'Plastic City', creating a crisp, punchy sound, delivering drum programming which points you firmly in the direction of the dancefloor. NEW REVIEW BY DOTMEDIA

...The four tracker is a mass of techly percussed pounders, which all rely on great helpings of absorbing bass, synths and atmospherics. The highlight is "Weekend Warrior" itself, which emmerses all in dreamfully grooving playful keys. Taken from Housemusic.com/reviews/July2001

see links below for more...
Alot of DJ's have been getting behind this release with all four cuts getting excellent feedback. The ep is receiving a lot of credit for being varied. Rocket science media's Alex Black.
Rocketsciencemedia's DJ Comments:
-Josh Wink - Like A.1 (Weekend Warrior) 4/5
-Digs and Woosh - Weekend warrior is stand out for us. Will definately get airtime.
-Dave Mothersole - B1 and A2 are especially good...Another good record from a very cool label.
To see other DJ/Press reviews go to rocketsciencemedia.com and check out more reactions from Chris Duckenfield, Laurent Garnier, DJ Paulette (Ministry of Sound) + many others. For full media press release see links at bottom...

rocket science media press for The Weekend Warrior

Housemusic.com press for The Weekend Warrior