Wasteland: All Versus All (2006)

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: June 22, 2006

The New York/London duo of Toby Reynolds (DJ Scud) and Craig Willingham (I-Sound) generates a space-rock vibe on All Versus All that judiciously parallels the album's title. The music provides lucid semblances of an interminable void, anchored by layered electronics and often dappled with hallowing background treatments.

The set is largely vibrant, due to the duo's upbeat rhythmic extrapolations. The musicians periodically render a sonic hall of doom, offset with cyclical motifs and expansive synth swashes. Besides the focus on EFX, these gents infuse the human element through soul-stirring themes. On the title piece, they dish out a meditative trance-like component, spiced up with eerie sounds and a gushing, waterfall soundscape.

Here and elsewhere during this studio set, the duo merges notions of paranormal dialogues, conveying an overall sense of living dangerously. However, the artists' creative mindset intimates that's all in good fun—their musical scope is not firmly rooted within an ascetic state of being. In sum, this album presents quite a few thought-provoking frameworks, coupled with tangible grooves where '70s style electronics stylizations receive a contemporary uplift.

Track Listing: Intro; Enticer; Himmel; All Versus All; Radicalized; Mavericks; Technology; In Strength; Hold Out.

Personnel: DJ Scud (Toby Reynolds) & I-Sound (Craig Willingham): production, all instruments.

Record Label: Transparent Music
Style: Electronica