NODE - NODE 2 (2014 LTD EDITION/JEWELCASE/24-PAGE BKLT)

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Legendary UK analogue synth supergroup return with their first new release since 1995 and it was all recorded on a large collection of vintage equipment!

Opening 2014 with a massive bang, ‘Node 2’ proved to be the fastest / biggest selling release on DiN ever!

It features three of the original NODE members, maverick producer and sonic legend: Flood, renowned producer and composer: Ed Buller and classically trained Doctor of music: Dave Bessell.
The band are now joined by new member, Hollywood composer Mel Wesson, who has most recently provided the soundscapes for Hans Zimmer’s run of blockbuster films!

This extraordinary collective have taken time out from their high-flying day jobs to indulge their secret passion for all things analogue. The result, ‘Node 2’, is the culmination of two recording sessions that took place over the last year and a half at Battery studios in London, the one time playground inhabited by Mark Shreeve during his Jive Electro years of ‘Legion’, ‘Crash Head’ and more.

Featuring what is quite possibly the largest collection of vintage analogue equipment that has been assembled in a studio in recent times, this quartet drag their favoured analogue tools, crackling and bleeping into the 21st century!

Staying true to their roots the band improvised everything live and recorded straight to a two-track machine.
The final result is edited down from the mass of material that was recorded, but is otherwise presented as it was played, without the computer tidying up or overdubbing that has become part and parcel of most contemporary recordings.
The resulting nine tracks range from the classic Berlin sequencing of ‘Shinkansen East’ and ‘Shinkansen West’ to the moody introspection of: ‘Dark Beneath The Earth’.
Along the way we are served up such unclassifiable treats as: ‘March Méchanique’, which mixes martial rhythms with Arabic flavours and subtle sequencing, or the extraordinary: ‘No Signal’ which pushes sonic boundaries, mixing custom written physical modelling software with analogue microtones.

Don’t miss this increasingly rare chance to hear what these legendary machines can do in the hands of experts.
Presented with an extensive accompanying booklet that contains fascinating insights into the recording sessions and working methods ‘Node 2’ is another must have release on the DiN label.

Personnel: Dave Bessell (synthesizers / keyboards / guitars), Ed Buller (synthesizers / sequencers / keyboards), Flood (synthesizers / sequencers / keyboards) and Mel Wesson (synthesizers / sequencers / keyboards)

All music written and performed by NODE and recorded with infinite patience by Drew Smith at Assault & Battery Two in Sunny Willesden.

Track by track in brief…

‘Shinkansen East’ is almost eleven minutes of cosmic joy that starts and ends in a style similar style to TANGERINE DREAM’s ‘Rubycon’ and ‘Ricochet’ epics with sea effects and the likes, with “Berlin School” sequencing and improvisations in-between, but the closing atmospheric sequence is much more lush and grandiose, with a mass of cosmic choral work in the closing flourish.
‘Traveller’ is just over eight minutes long and it opens out as a light and airy melodic cosmic track with some really nice sounds and string effects. After the first three minutes, equally lightweight sequencer rhythms arrive and provide a rhythmic undertow to the melody lines with the final two minutes increasing in strength with added high-register electric guitar adding to the sound sculpturing.
‘Becoming’ is also over eight minutes long and after two minutes of crystalline atmospheric effects, a slow galloping rhythm emerges with an electric guitar improv weaving in and out and roundabout it. After four minutes the sequencer penetration increases with dated echoed effects taking you right back in time to the days of TD’s ‘Phaedra’ & ‘Rubycon’. At the six-minute mark the track has reached top speed and from here there’s a gradual deceleration back into atmospherics and effects.
‘Doppler’ clocks in at a shorter five minutes, and thus is an altogether grungier, darker track, creating a mind vision of a dark, dingy industrial landscape. After a couple of minutes the gloom clears somewhat to make way for a friendlier sounding rhythmic flow that builds in power level, with a lot of swishing and other percussive effects layered on top.
‘Marche Mécanique’ is another eight-minute plus track that opens with an eerie, dark and threatening atmospheric soundscape, with huge funnels of dense sound spewing a molten brew of percussive sounds and rhythmic effects. After a couple of minutes sequencers filter through the smokey walls of sound, and at just over three, a looped synth melody line comes in. The sequencers step up the pace by the 4th minute mark, with echoed keyboard chords creeping up in the mix. The 2nd half starts out quieter and more subdued with rippled synth effects rolling in.
Mellotron bass sounds enter the mix at the seven-minute mark and speedy sequencer rhythms drive it to a close.
‘Dark Beneath The Earth’ is just as the title suggests... a dark electronic soundscape with moderate melodic content until just over three minutes in where a meld of organ and Mellotron-like sounds merge in waves of cosmic grandeur.
Deep synth sounds pulsate at one side of the soundstage to end this abstract-ish track.
‘Shinkansen West’ opens with weird animal-like synth sounds blistered by jabbing electro effects before a distant melodic (or as near as NODE get to melodic) motif hangs above in the air. Then a just over the two-minute mark a beep low flying sequencer line comes in like a huge military helicopter with guitar/synth melody lines flying all around like demonic birds of prey. As the track reaches the halfway mark these have become electronic jets attacking from all sides, forming a huge wall of sequencer sound that will test your eardrums (or leave your speakers in a pile of molten rubble!
‘No Signal’ is a bit spacey, abstract and experimental with deep bass rhythms slowly emerging through the second half.
‘Thin Air’ is again experimental and opens in a deep cavernous space with tinkling effects cascading down all round. A faint synth melody wails in the distance while another get so much closer, then after three minutes a rhythm of sorts works its way through the dark haze to form a lightly flowing rhythmic flow. Next the big sequencer guns follow on through with a building blast that slowly comes up under Mellotron bass sounds before disappearing back into a thick bubbling marsh of atmospheric sounds, then followed by a cosmic choral closing section that just drifts off aimlessly into space.

NODE: NODE 2 Track List:

01. Shinkansen East (10:37)
02. Traveller (8:17)
03. Becoming (8:32)
04. Doppler (5:07)
05. Marche Mécanique (8:30)
06. Dark Beneath The Earth (6:06)
07. Shinkansen West (11:11)
08. No Signal (6:07)
09. Thin Air (8:38)

TPT - 73:31