As I have no doubt mentioned before, I have long been a fan of those ambient masterminds from Oregon, Austere. I have been fortunate enough to have worked with these gents in the past (our Evergone CD remains one of those of which I am most proud) and am always pleased when they release new material, be it as Austere or under the guise of one of their various side projects, such as The Mystifying Oracle. I was particularly pleased by the latter's freshman offering, Quintesscence, so I was very excited to hear that they would be putting out a new CD EP.

It is quite a change of pace.

While Quintesscence presented a world of deep, mellow beats and hazy drones, The Kiffed EP finds The Oracle exploring the intricate polyrhythms of the Middle East. While the exact origins of this CD remain a mystery (quite in keeping with Austere's faceless approach to promotion), it sounds to me as if much of the sound is derived from field recordings. The liner notes themselves make reference to "traveling companions", Morocco, and Marrakech; and one of the songs is, in fact, entitled "El-Jareb (From Recordings, Essouria)". But whether these sounds are live recordings or a result of studio wizardry, there's no denying that they lend an intensely organic feel to the entire affair.

The first of the four tracks, the "CD version" of "Kiffed", begins with a soft, lilting intro of distant synths. This is, however, quickly replaced by a tribal sounding drum beat and shaker. This simple percussion is slowly built up until a steady, four-on-the-floor rhythm kicks in. A growling bass cross fades from one ear to the other, only to be joined once again by the dulcet tones used in the introduction. This proceeds until just slightly before the three minute mark, when the pace accelerates and then breaks away for a buried vocal sample (I won't say what it says; you'll just have to pick up the CD to find out). The steady rhythm then returns, augmented by more synths and well place percussive accents. In all, there is a distinctly chill (indeed vaguely stoned) feel to the piece.

The second (and, in my opinion, most interesting) track, the aforementioned "El-Jared", sounds like it was recorded live, for there is a slightly distant feel to the song. It is also the most "foreign" sounding of the tracks collected here, as if the listener was sitting in some smoky kasbah somewhere in Morocco. Again, the piece if rife with polyrhythms and odd instrumentation; an immediate (and perhaps strange) association would be to the work Peter Gabriel has done with both his Real World label and his soundtrack to The Last Temptation Of Christ, Passion. This song is a picture of distant, sand-strewn lands and mysterious characters; an exciting aural trip.

Perhaps the most conventional sounding track on the CD is "Pieces Of Bass (Yeah)", the third track. While it still retains the organic percussion, it is driven by squiggly bass lines and a heavy club beat. Repeated vocal samples are used throughout and lots of synth-driven sounds fly back and forth, making this one of the least organic tune here.

The final track is a remix of "Kiffed" (the "Kicker" remix, to be exact). While this remix sounds very similar to the "CD Version", it does feel heavier, yet sparser. There are several breaks and The Oracle once again has a good time with some amusing vocal samples here. This is also the most "clubby" track on the CD, the organic rhythms providing more of an aside to a straight up four-on-the-floor beat. It seems to mix the feel of the "CD Version" with the ethos of "Pieces Of Bass (Yeah)". It's a good balance of the two.

In all, this is an intriguing CD. While it is a radical change from Quintesscence, it does illustrate the depth of The Oracle's musical interests. Given this, I'm quite looking forward to the follow up release, the full CD, Rite Of Passage: Travels In Morocco.
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The Mystifying Oracle's 2002 EP "quintesscence" was definitely one of my faves for that year and a bit of the next (since I got it late in the year) and I'd been waiting for hopefully a full album of similar material. But as it is with the members of this group, they've veered off in a completely different direction.  Another EP for now, with an album promised "by the end of the year... mayhaps", this four track CD combines authentic ethnic Middle Eastern sounds with elements of psy-trance, techno, and electronic downtempo.  This comes out at a time when there seems to be a surge in this particular combo of musical elements but in the case of "Kiffed", three of the four tracks are less heavy on the "ethnic" sounds and much more on the electronic side, as opposed to other releases on Dakini and Six Degrees, which are all very ethnic-sounding, just updated with modern production and some electronic touches.  So despite being just one of many recent releases in this genre, The Oracle carve out a different niche by reversing the amounts of the ingredients, so to speak.  One track is very authentic Moroccan without any electronic dance elements, just great production from many samples recorded in Morocco.  Two other tracks (the title and a track exclusive to this release) are downtempo pieces while the last, a remix of the title track, starts out that way but suddenly jumps up to a 138 BPM trance piece.  All are great in their own way, and for only four tracks, covers a lot of ground.  As a pal of mine said when we listened to it, "that was really good... but it left me wanting more."  Personally, I can't think of a better way to put it and I'm just hoping they finish and release the full album to see what this is like in full form.  But in the meanwhile, this EP has stayed in my regular playlist for two months now and I don't expect to be retiring it any time soon.  Once again, the Oracle folks help renew my belief in independent music as well as convince me there's more to music than indie rock.  And that's saying a lot, coming from me.  Listen and enjoy.
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