I had nearly all the tracks on this compilation, even those mentioned the brilliant accompanying booklet, that, for one reason or another missed the cut and have been held over for a hinted at Volume 2. 

For example, the Keiichi Suzuki tune I have on a massive 4 LP set of rare Orb remixes (1). The veteran Japanese artist’s Satellite Serenade, when re-imagined by Dr. Alex Paterson & Co. is 6 minutes of synthetic bubbling and blues guitar picking and then, as it takes a trance-y turn, another 6, or 7, of gently jacking acid house. All Introduced by Sir David Attenborough. 

Barbarella, well, the old E-ed up me just couldn’t resist a number that opens with the sample “An angel doesn’t make love… an angel is love…” Mixmaster Morris transforming Sven Vath’s epic banger into an equally epic 9 minutes plus of heavenly harps, orchestral sighs and suggestive staccato-ed heavy breathing. Treating listeners to a twinkling, beatless lullaby, “fluffed” by fragments of actress Jane Fonda trapped in the movie of the same name’s “Excessive Machine”. 

I actually bought this Telepathic Fish comp solely for that 20 page booklet, because I really wanted to learn more about the story of their fabled parties. I’d heard tales of heroic 24-hour sessions in Brixton, but what I’d heard was only hand-me-down whispers. The stuff of myth and legend. Mixmaster Morris had told me a little, when I spoke to him earlier this year, but really he was only really repeating the broad brush strokes that I already knew. 

I hadn’t gone to any of the events, but I had, somehow, stumbled into an early Big Chill, held at Islington’s Union Chapel. Wandering around wasted, holding a pint, not quite knowing what to make of everyone lying on the floor. I also shopped regularly at the Ambient Soho record store, unaware that it and Telepathic Fish were linked. However, when reading the comprehensive text, I realised that I’d got my connections and time frames all jumbled up. For instance, I’d always assumed that DJ Food’s Strictly Kev was down with Coldcut from the start. I had no idea that Kev was a founding member of Telepathic Fish and it was this that brought him into contact with Matt Black from the groundbreaking, music making duo. 

The sides selected are also not what I was expecting, based on the outfit’s reputation. I’d assumed it would all be obscure, metallic `90s techno, but the choices made are instead playful and eclectic. Admittedly steely and glacial, Spacetime Continuum’s Flurescence (2), Global Communication’s Incidental Harmony and David Morley’s remix of Golden Girls’ Kinetic (3) all pair stretched, synthetic, Detroit-influenced strings, and scurrying, scattered percussion with fearsome, half-speed, dub bass-lines. The first feeling improvised and incredibly warm, the last adding panpipes and warped jazzy keys, while the one in the middle features a bucolic, bleepy melody.

These flickering, futuristic sides, though share friendly a spliff with Nightmares On Wax’s huge chillout crossover – every home must surely have one – Night’s Interlude. An irresistible combination of softly, swinging easy-listening loops and catchy jazzy organ. Tranquility Bass’ Cantamilla was a Jose Padilla sunset favourite – all be it in a different take to the one the Telepathic Fish team preferred. Bumpy, bouncy bass-ed, blissed out, spacey boogie with psyche guitar licks, Bollywood strings and catchy vocal hooks borrowed from Asha Bhosle. Another Balearic / Cafe del Mar biggie, this time for Phil Mison, No Man’s Days In The Trees repurposes Lara Flynn Boyle / Donna Hayward’s poignant memories of falling in love for the first time – lifted from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks – as she lights a cigarette, and recalls “Rick asked if we wanna go party…”

None of the curation smacks of in the slightest of snobbery, even if Caustic Window’s Cordialatron – a tumble of piano, faux marimba and tiny busy beats – would set you back an arm and a leg (4), and the Insides’ promo-only Skinned Clean is a little bit of a showoff. The duo following their dynamite debut LP of confessional, song-based, post-rock with chiming counterpoint and handclaps, tribal tom toms and timbales (5). Creating something akin to a delicate dance remix of Steve Reich’s Music For 18 Musicians. 

Buy this, then, not only for the musical selections, which are a flawless genre-hopping cross-section, but also the writing, which clearly, and enthusiastically lays out the history of the totally horizontal Telepathic Fish. A revolution in recline. 

Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s Ambient Underground can be ordered directly from Fundamental Frequencies. 

NOTES

1. The vinyl is a tad crackly but a lot of these Orb-scurities – like Primal Scream’s Higher Than The Sun – come in otherwise unreleased, extended versions. The collection, consequently,  worth its weight in gold. 

2. The Jonah Sharp selection has only relatively recently been comped by Music From Memory, on their amazing Virtual Dreams.

3. David Morley’s remix of Golden Girls’ Kinetic is on the seminal 90s Apollo comp – which way back when I bought primarily for Aphex Twin’s Xtal.

4. I once had all of these tracks, bar the Global Communications. I can’t believe that I sold my copies of the Caustic Window EPs because I only really liked a couple of the tracks. 

5. I got totally, belatedly, into Insides when their Euphoria LP was reissued. This was hand-in-hand with my similarly tardy, long after the fact, obsession with fellow UK post-rockers Seefeel. I subsequently Hoover-ed up all of their records I could find.