THE TRANSCENDENCE ORCHESTRA レコード& CD

Review: Two years on from the release of their first Transcendence Orchestra album on Editions Mego, Anthony Child AKA Surgeon and Daniel Bean return with a second set of otherworldly ambient experiments. It's a suitably otherworldly affair in which the pair brilliantly combines the avant-garde minimalism of La Monte Young, the Music Concrete of Stockhausen, and the immersive ambient synthesizer washes of Pete Namlook, with droning tones, slowly-shifting, Krautrock style musical movements and - more significantly - the kind of psychedelic folk and folk-rock sounds most often found on late '60s albums by the Incredible String Band. If that sounds like a heady, intoxicating and otherworldly brew, that's because it is - and the album is all the better for that.

Review: Debut LP from The Transcendence Orchestra: the pairing of West Midlands techno legend Anthony Child aka Surgeon and Dan Bean of Bleep43. Recorded in a remote English rural setting over a period of 24 hours, 'Modern Methods For Ancient Rituals' is an experiment in acoustic and synthetic symbiosis. Like the name of the project might suggest, it is deeply influenced by the atmosphere and acoustics of the rural location in which they recorded 'which can aid to the transformation of consciousness.' Deploying a range of ancient and modern instruments and effects, Child and Bean conjure an audio experience which encapsulates elements of drone, trance, pulse, rhythm and melody. Bean and Child have been familiar with one another for many years, since Child was a staple performer at Bean's Bleep43 parties in London. The duo debuted the project live at Freerotation festival, Wales in 2016.