As time went on, so did 808 State and their ongoing album releases. This album is their fourth main release to date and sadly does not have founding member Martin Price who left, just like Gerald Simpson before him. Still, one cannot deny the importance and impact musically of 808 State over time and continued to go on, regardless of the shedding of personnel. This album was past the peak of both 808 State and Acid House music and received mixed reviews from critics. Still, this is worth checking out so let’s take a listen and hear what this album sounds like.

Plan 9 begins with acoustic guitar parts and synth washes. Soon enough, this progresses into a strange and different piece of House styled EDM. To be honest, this doesn’t sound great. Regardless, this is 808 State trying to cope with a changing musical world and adding some unusual sounds to boot. The breakbeats that are here remind us of the ongoing UK Hardcore/Jungle scene of the time, and this tune does progress along quite well. The only issue is that this music sounds quite uninspirational and burned out. It lacks the magic and innovation of earlier releases by 808 State. In the second half are some interesting sounds galore, but nothing interesting or special overall is here. It sounds really lethargic. Worth skipping, and this is merely the beginning of the album. It ends with some samples of strange childlike sounds and keyboard patches. Not good enough.

Moses features Ian McCulloch. It begins with a good electronic riff, and some rather awful high-pitched melodies and launches into another beat-heavy piece. Soon enough, our guest gets singing nicely here and sounds halfway between Bernard Sumner of New Order and the 808 State collaborator and Rapper MC Tunes. This track has no real connection to Moses himself from Judaism and Christianity tradition. Instead, it is a fairly average listening experience showcasing the lack of imagination and again, the lethargy of 808 State at this time. The melodies, sounds and beats really aren’t interesting or inspired throughout. An okay listen, but nothing interesting nor sensationally great here. It ends with a looped patch of melodic force.

Contrique begins with some ethereal melodies, a female soul singer sample and church bells. Bongos and other percussion get this piece going. Again, this is not what one should spend their time hearing. It seems that 808 State had lost a lot of momentum after the release of Newbuild and Pacific State, and this became much more apparent as the 1990s progressed. There is even a sample of the She’s Lost Control bassline here by Joy Division, but it sounds out of place here. This still sounds really average and lethargic, as though 808 State were unable to progress as musicians over time. The bird calls, bongo beats and mixed-up sounds really sound forced here. There have been better EDM-based albums out there, especially by this point in time. It ends with the church bells ringing and other textures present.

10×10 is a Rave-styled tune with an electric piano, to begin with. This is surprisingly a better listen, although the addition of female Soul/Gospel styled vocals indicates little has changed here. Nonetheless, this piece of music is definitely different and a better listen. Soon enough, this launches into a dirty patch with a groovy bassline attached. This doesn’t make the album a great one, but it certainly is one of the better cuts here so far. The variety of sounds and textures make for an interesting listen. Again, it samples a famous bassline, this one from The Jam’s Start! A really good listen, without being a great listening experience, this one sounds like a cut that had some genuine effort put in this track. A weird and good mixture of sounds and textures throughout, but with some extra additional twists and turns throughout. It ends with a looped male vocal repeating the track title and some dark sounds. Decent.

One In Ten – Edit is a collaboration effort with Reggae group UB40. It begins with some pitch-shifted percussion and other interesting sounds to boot. Soon enough, this tune gets going nicely and has an Amen Break sample throughout. This is actually a good remix that sounds fresh and fun. It’s the only real highlight of this album so far and sounds quite refreshing as a result. The intricacies throughout are really excellent and cool to listen to. A good idea for a track, although this is the best track on this album, and is still a laboured-sounding musical exercise. Regardless, this is good to listen to. It wraps up with quite a different spacey outro.

Europa features Caroline Seaman. It begins with some stardust-styled spacey sounds, a keyboard melody and this sounds incredibly dated. It’s a group creating 1980s music well into the 1990s, and failing to impress as a result. Musically, this is barely passable and it has aged incredibly poorly. The vocals by the guest are okay, but this album is quite a failure, sadly. It needn’t have been, but that is the end result of this listening experience. Hit stop and go and do something else if you agree. There is very little imagination and consistency in this music and the album suffers as a result. From the Newbuild album to this? It’s not worth hearing, this album that is. The track drags on and feels like a listening chore. Which isn’t good. It’s okay at best, and uninspired at worst. The outro has looped vocals and melodies that sound stale. A poor effort.

Orbit begins with an unusual (at last) Acid-liquid-styled patch, before launching into a track that is surprisingly welcome here. It has some good melodicism and sturdy beats to uphold it well. It still sounds as though 808 State is stuck in 1987, unable to move on musically, but this is an enjoyable listening experience. This isn’t a really stunning listen, but it is good without being great. The music here is quite interesting, however. It still also sounds incredibly dated. 808 State was obviously just going through a routine here musically, without effort or inspiration put into the music by this point. The second half has more tribal-styled percussion and some neat TB-303 styled sounds. A good listen, but this is on a poor album. The end of the track has some wicked Acid House-styled textures.

Black Morpheus begins with some dated and ordinary atmospheric sounds that sound quite bad. Soon enough, percussion enters and we are underway. There is nothing overly special on this track, and this album is very disappointing. A clarinet is present throughout, adding a difference, but not much of a welcome change. Bongo beats enter in the middle, along with saxophone playing as well. A really half-baked effort by 808 State. They would have been better off not delivering this album at all, and just have gone their separate ways as musicians. This is very average and drags on over its four-minute length. Some interesting samples are in the breakdown in the second half of this tune before the main section kicks back in. A poor mish-mash of sound that does not sound great. Skip this one, and maybe the whole album as well, it is not good.

Southern Cross begins with some digital melodic bleeps, and wind chimes and sounds quite interesting throughout. Soon enough, xylophones enter and liquid melodies do so as well. The Southern Cross is generally only seen in the Southern Hemisphere at night. A didgeridoo-styled melody is present on this track as well. An interesting concoction of melodies and instrumentation. There is a looped gospel voice-styled patch, along with loads of other intricate melodies throughout. This is one of the better tracks of this album release, and the music present is actually surprisingly good. Towards the middle is a very good breakdown with the digital melodies flowing through and sounding great. This is a good and explorational listening experience throughout sound. A good listen, although on an ordinary album, this sounds very moving and upbeat simultaneously. The music present sounds quite magical and inspired. A bit repetitive, but enjoyable enough nonetheless. It goes on for around five minutes in length and is a very good tune. Decent to hear, despite the music before it.

Nimbus begins with some ethereal and memorable melodies that are actually really quite good. This is one of the better and more noticeable pieces of music from a mish-mash of different quality tunes musically on this album. It quickly launches into a spacey piece of grooviness, with some original breakbeats present. Fresh, interesting and enjoyable, this is the better side of 808 State. This tune is danceable and different from start to finish. A fun and melodically well-pieced-together listening experience, this does capture the imagination well. In the second half, there is a cool breakdown with bombastic beats galore that sounds sweet. This progresses along very well, and 808 State sounds like the 1990s version of New Order. This begins to wrap up with the main melodies and a decent conclusion for this track. Not bad, it fades out quickly.

Colony begins with some decent drum machine programmed breakbeats and quickly launches into a weird and fairly average listen. This album and tracks like these show just quickly 808 State had lost musical momentum by this point. A promising piece, but ultimately a lacking listening experience. The retro 1980s melodies do not sound good nor evolutionary/revolutionary in a musical sense on this tune. Another rather disappointing piece from this album, and something you can easily skip, should you desire to do so. In any case, this borderline awful music is not worth being remembered in general, and it is ultimately lacking. If you really want to hear 808 State, try their earlier works such as the 90 album. In the meantime, sell this album or ditch it out of your bedroom window. This is fairly ordinary listening overall and drags on a bit as well. Another disappointing tune, with some strange melodies to conclude with and ending just before the five-minute mark. Weird.

Timebomb begins with some electric sounding EDM sounds, beats and robot voices. It quickly enters into a fast piece with breakbeats galore and is okay to listen to, but not absolutely fantastic overall. This is another straightforward tune from this album that is ultimately dull and a musical exercise more than anything. Fortunately, you don’t need to hear this garbage, and nor should you. A very lacking listen, and proof that 808 State’s best days were behind them. The breakbeats throughout are really good, and the outro is quite good with wordless harmonies, but it is again on a duff album. Enough said.

Stormin Norman begins with a liquid bassline, a 4/4 kick drum beat and quickly launches into another 1980s piece. This is 1993, not 1985 folks at 808 State. There is nothing overly imaginative or decent about this track, once again. It sounds like a futile effort overall and is another forgettable piece from this album. At this point, 808 State probably should have given up and gone home. In the midsection, some violin strings enter, amongst Electronic melodies that sound horrid. In the second half are some quite good melodies, followed by looped sections of string-based sounds to drag this all the way along to the finish. A rather substandard listen, once again. It ends with the TB-303 melody from the intro.

Sexy Dancer begins with some minor key high-frequency melodies, 1980s sounding beats and other weird sounds galore. Obviously, nobody told these guys that being stuck in the past isn’t always a good thing. Repeated vocals about a sexy dancer are here, along with the sense that this album is a dismal failure. It sounds really awful throughout and puts a nail in the coffin for 808 State’s credibility at this point. Not really worth hearing, and a drag to listen to. You can shut this music off from Spotify (or whatever means you are hearing this) and hurl your phone out the window in pure frustration. This is atrocious and is three minutes of hell. Avoid this garbage like the plague.

Sexy Synthesizer is the final track on this below-average album. It begins with some punchy beats and decent programming. Soon enough, bongo beats (again) enter this track and we go into a very weird tune. If you are still with us by this point, that is truly amazing. Painful music to get through, but there are better things one can do with their spare time than listen to this horrid music. Some of the mixing and programming here are good, but again, this is not worth it. Fortunately, this track is less than four minutes long. Still, one can fall asleep to this awful music. Nothing decent nor special musically here, just a lame and avoidable listening experience. Not even the harmonies near the end can save this from being a good listen. As we approach the end of this album, it gets very random and weird, before finally finishing. Thank goodness that’s done.

This is not a recommendable album, to be frank, and upfront. It sounds almost like a parody of 808 State. The music sounds so lacking, uninteresting and unentertaining that you should write this unpopular release off and go and check out early releases by The Chemical Brothers instead. This is not just a bad album, but one of the worst EDM albums ever made. Therefore, write off 808 State from this point onwards. This is not worth considering listening to.

Gorgeous? More like garbage.

3/10