Trousered bliss ahoy! Started around 20 years ago as a spinoff project from veteran space-rockers Ozric Tenacles, Eat Static were initially a vehicle for drummer Merv Pepler and keyboards-player Joie Hinton to indulge their new-found acid house fixation. Using alien visitation dialogue from b-movies, cosmic melodies and mindblowing effects over pummelling techno beats, they inflated a technicolour levitating hippo, donned garish sonic pantaloons and pioneered the now globally-huge psy-trance, becoming firm favourites at festivals and countless Megadog events, whose record label Planet Dog released four albums and a string of singles throughout the 90s which have since become collectors items [maybe because, at the time, their audience were too hammered, broke or busy partying to buy them]. With many old ravers now retired from all-night hedonism, this two-CD set provides a perfect souvenir from psychedelic dance music’s golden age, gathering tracks from the nine EPs Eat Static released during the last decade, starting with 1993’s ‘Lost In Time’, roaring through high-octane romps like ‘Epsylon’, ‘Bony Incus’, ‘Hybrid’, ‘Interceptor’ and ‘Contact’: all joyfully scrambled and pounding but, amidst the relentless repetitive beats, often musically complex and always managing to retain a smile-inducing element of silliness. The set also features the previously-unreleased ‘Cocoon’ from 1991 and 1992’s ‘You Are Being Taken’. So-called ‘nu ravers’ could do worse than experience some proper dancefloor lunacy.
4 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
