In 1992 the fledgling record label “Warp” began releasing a series of albums titled the “Artificial Intelligence” series. Described as “electronic listening music”, this succession of releases was the perfect antidote to the post-rave chart fodder that came to represent electronic music in the early nineties. As a lover of innovative electronic music, I devoured each release with great zeal. Whilst the albums by Speedy J, Black Dog and Autechre were not wholly to my liking, those by Polygon Window (Richard James/Aphex Twin) and B12 most certainly were. In fact, I still regard “Surfing on Sine Waves” and “Electro-Soma” as two of the greatest albums in the genre.
Despite my love for “Surfing on Sine Waves”, the majority of Richard James’s other work is not to my taste. Yet in the case of B12 it seemed there were no other releases to like or dislike. I spent a great deal of time in the 1990’s looking out for another B12 record that never appeared. Before the advent of the internet, it was difficult to monitor low-key artists who used multiple pseudonyms. For a long time I had no idea B12 even used the names Redcell, Musicology etc. Therefore, it is no surprise that I completely missed B12’s second album “Time Tourist” in 1996.
I recently acquired “Time Tourist” and whilst it is not quite on a par with its predecessor, it is still a very good record. The song “Epilion” ranks as one of my favourite B12 tracks. B12 are not exactly prolific though.
Following a 12-year break, they decided to release their third album “Last Days of Silence” in May this year followed by the “Last Days of Silence Remixes” album. These two releases see B12 moving from the Detroit tinged techno and ambience of “Electro-Soma” to pounding IDM. Both albums are once again very good with “Magnetic Fields” and “32 Line Up” being stand out tracks.
Not content with these two albums B12 are set to release the entire catalogue of their own label on seven double CD sets. For lovers of IDM and aficionados of electronic music this is very exciting news. Now if you will excuse me I wish to travel to another dimension via “Soundtrack to Space” once again.
