Slide – Unstable

Slide is the solo project of Pete Martin, one half of UX (alongside Kris Kylven). His early style is unique: a brash fusion of high-energy psychedelic trance and funk, with slight hints of jazz and blues. Unstable capped the first two years of Pete’s production career, gathering a few singles and introducing a number of unreleased cuts for a neurotic full-length CD experience. The name is well-chosen as the mood of the album is tense, paranoid, and rather sinister. At the time of release, the reception was mostly favourable, although many fans seemed prefer UX’s heavier album Ultimate Experience from the previous year. Long ago, when I first began to review music, I referred to this album as “cybernetic hypertrance with jazzy touch” and I think the description still fits.

Unobtanium (Dirty Angels Edit), previously released on Black Rhino, opens the album in style. Mysterious atmospheres congeal from the murk, tingling the senses with a sinister breakbeat loop. Gothic orchestral flourishes, distorted guitar riffs, and demonic voices are elements of the early minutes, once the frantic beat drops in. Once the middle moments are reached, scratchy synth-work provides a solid introduction to Pete Martin’s uncommon style of melodic composition. The final minutes feature a momentary return of the breakbeat heard in the introduction, and one last energetic run.

2274 might be known to some long-time listeners from the Goa Gil compilation Forest of the Saints, released in 1998. This song is memorable thanks to a whiny high-pitched melody that sounds like the aggravated shriek of a stinging insect. A slick combination of breakbeat rhythms, creaking noises, and bluesy chords fills the space in between the scathing peaks. Samples from Logan’s Run complete the picture: “year of the city: 2274.” It might sound a bit odd, but this is still one of my favourites from this album. 2274 strikes a bizarre balance between harsh and funky that totally works.

Radiation 3 is produced in collaboration with Lumen (Chris Conklin). Here is where things start to get really unstable; a chaotic jumble of shrieking melodies and twisted breakbeats flutter and contort as the minutes go on. It seems a bit more outdated than some of the other tracks here, unfortunately.

Saturnalia is sourced from a vinyl single on Flying Rhino. Metallic leads are bent into strange shapes, distorted rays of static seethe in the background, and a wild array of scratchy melodies eventually develops. The pulsing kicks and acidic bass line may sound older than some of the others here, but the crazy noises layered on top handily redeem this track. It is neurotic and out of control yet not random. This is complex, weird, and delightfully good!

White Knight opens with lazy breakbeats, sinuous atmospheres, and crunchy industrial noises. The body of the song doesn’t really break any new ground. Lit up by squelchy electric sounds, it gets to be rather upbeat and almost cheerful at times. Those odd crunching sounds get to be quite powerful by the very end, but it never really takes off. I remain undecided.

The title track Unstable is one of the hardest and most insane pieces of Goa trance ever made! This is as close to UX as this album gets. From the second the first beat drops, this track is already cluttered with innumerable layers of sound. The aggressive analog bass line is topped off with a pounding kick and sharp psychedelic noises. An ever-evolving series of leads develops as the track wears on, remaining one of the few rational elements the mind can stay focused on when it all explodes a torrent of psychotic energy. Riding on the back of hard snare hits, as the dizzying arrays of complex fractal sounds coalesce, the climatic moments emerge as glittering cybernetic access ports, primed with universal knowledge encoded in alien frequencies. In the proper context, these fractal wave patterns will push any mind to the melting point. Absolutely transcendent!

Pete Martin achieves his all-time best with The Predator, a strong piece of experimental trance loaded with punishing percussion, killer snare rolls, timely guitar riffs, jazzy organs, and otherworldly melodies. The crunchy rhythms are a solid foundation for ecstatic leads and sinister atmospheres. Wicked hooks sink in without warning, perfectly accentuated by all these versatile elements. Really, this is what the Star Wars cantina band should have been playing. The Predator is still an intense piece of work, brashly fusing disparate elements into a compelling future vision.

According to Discogs (but not the liner notes of my CD or vinyl editions) Celestia is made with Marc van der Vlugt, a future collaborator with Slide under the moniker Avatar. The fast-paced rhythms, wailing synthwork, and mysterious voices are completely familiar by now; this track doesn’t feature much in the way of fresh innovations. Marc’s influence seems to take the form of a more liquid bass character. Celestia might not be exceptional, but if you already dig Slide’s style, this will satisfy. A small note for vinyl buyers: this track is not featured on the LP release.

The album comes to a chilly close with The Zinc-Plated Goddess, a surprisingly engaging piece of low-BPM trance. Aside from the ever-prevalent breakbeats (now slowed to a pace where they really shine), an incomprehensible stream of female vocals gives this track its sensuous character. Slick harmonious melodies come out to play inspiring a final sense of mystery before evaporating into hazy particles.

Pete Martin would never again attempt anything so bold as Unstable. In the years that followed, the trajectory of his productions angled sharply downward, into the realms of funky beach house and illicit pop music covers. With Confusional State (1999) and Closure (2000) he momentarily gave the emerging progressive psytrance scene a kick in the ass, but didn’t stick around long enough to develop the promising sound. He was last seen leaving the outskirts of anything resembling psychedelic trance at the end of the year 2000, and has never looked back. Four years from initiation to departure is not long at all. Luckily, Pete Martin’s creativity is captured on this album, released in the very middle of his psytrance career.

I will admit I am completely biased with this review. I’ve always enjoyed Pete Martin and Kris Kylven’s extreme approach to trance, and the funky influences on Unstable really push the envelope into uncharted territory. Few other artists have returned to see what else could be discovered in the intersection of hard beats and demonic funk, although I might tentatively draw a connection with the recent productions of Eraser vs Yöjalka (such as Tarinat), Artifakts II, or the recent compilation from Afrogalactic Records entitled Decadance.

In essence, Unstable is a great album. I have my doubts about how much fun this would be for modern listeners, but there should be enough meat in this review to make a decision about whether to investigate. I feel that Pete Martin was very successful with this full-length CD, exhibiting a unique and original style that defies convention without losing anything through the experimental process. It is a worthy addition to any Goa fan’s collection.