Track Listing

1. Fathom's Down
2. Swingin Millie
3. No Bamboo
4. Alvin's Blues
5. Ocean Hill
6. Jet
7. Blues for VC
8. The Manta
9. Body Sound

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67146 in Music
• Released on: 2001-02-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Along with Kruder and Dorfmeister, IG Culture and Freerange's Jamie O'Dell, Ian Simmonds is one of very few producers to have successfully breached the chasm that has traditionally separated DJ culture from more tangible, organic material. A musician first and foremost he made his mark in the early 1990s as a founding member of influential acid jazz band The Sandals before an imploding deal with London Records forced him to go it alone and although early hard-to-find twelves as Juryman found acclaim among those that know, it was the release of The Hill longplayer that provided the catalyst for more widespread attention. While last years outing was made distinctive through its use of vocals from the likes of Alison Goldfrapp and Roger Robinson, his own moniker has remained reserved for solo material with this latest album expanding upon the slippery musical style which defined 1999's Last States of Nature. Odd time signatures and unusual programming abound, though the shape shifting melodics are prevented from straying too far by stoical rhythm sections--the electronic elements warmed through by occasional acoustic touches. Standouts include "Alvin's Blues" where the percussion finds itself caught in bleary-eyed filters and the not-quite-house grooves, which underpin the wandering sounds of "The Mantra." Music for more adventurous lounges. - Kingsley Marshall

Customer Reviews

dark acid jazz and lounge fussion
Ian Simmons' "Return to X" has a smooth texture to it, with superb percussion found in "the Mantra" and "Alvins Blues", in my opinion the stand out tracks. there is a hint of cinematic orchestra in the less brooding tracks and I would make a comparrison with St. Germain "Tourist", although Return to X never gets uplifting to house beats. This album has a feel of true work to it and slides together with the greatest of ease but somehow feels complex at the same time.