Trance Vision Steppers’ Timeless collects the dub and trance-influenced late `90s productions of Hanover-based musician Felix Wolter. Some of the tracks, to be honest, tonk a little too hard for me. The opening To All The Children, for example, is kinda gothic, industrial electro. ReAction Dub, however, rocks. A powerful piece of post-punk funk flavoured digidub that could have slotted right into an Andrew Weatherall DJ set, circa 1993 / 94. Oh George also moves at a 4 / 4 tempo, but cool, jazzy chords counter its filtered breakbeat. Resulting in a slice of divine, dubwise deep house, in the mode of, say, Original Rockers / Rockers Hi Fi’s classic, Sexy Selector. A vocal sample, lifted from Aisha’s Mad Professor-produced The Creator, providing a respectful nod to one of TVS’ key sources of inspiration.* All of the mellower moments are terrific, and there are plenty of them. 

A few tunes, like the title track, boast busy percussion, and acidic squiggles. Weekend Steppa is another rhythmic river. A pumping, but peaceful, drum circle ritual. Packed with akete, bongos, congas, repeter, and trippy, spiralling detail. Und Imma Welta is a wash of wonderful electronic waves, whose calming ethereal chants and banging but slo-mo beat are strongly reminiscent of Ozo’s David Mancuso / Loft “re-entry” favourite, Anambra. 

There are 2 digital bonuses, the gently psychedelic, tabla-tastic, Prasadub, and the 16-minute-plus Banyantree. The latter has a traditional stringed thing – an African harp or lute – racing above a leviathan low-end, exposed to echo, delay, and subsequently shook by feedback and phase shifts. It sneaks up to surround you, brilliantly building from its organic intro into a fantastic, epic, pretty sophisticated journey. The joint suddenly jumping, before you’ve noticed. Accordion / bandoneon drone in there somewhere within the interlocking layers and loops. 

*This super sample has also been used by The Orb, and J. Saul Kane’s Depth Charge. The original in demand 1986 single just got a 7” reissue. 

Trance Vision Steppers’s Timeless was released, digitally, a little while ago on Mysticisms. The vinyl is due come October.