- This is not a 'best of', more a career retrospective of Kirk Degiorgio's work under the 'As One' moniker, and with three previously unreleased tracks it's the sort of package fans of cool techno should head for immediately.
Degiorgio's style is organic, his tracks developing as they go rather than settling for straight repetition, and they are incredibly easy on the ear after a hard night out! He's comfortable working with or without beats, as 'Music Box' shows, and when beats are employed they can be four to the floor, breaks, drum and bass or a wierd and wonderful combination of all three, as on 'Epic'.
Cool synthesizer tones abound, nowhere more so than 'Amalia' and 'Celestial Soul', whilst there's no shortage of funk on tracks like 'Chiaro' or 'The Electric Hymn'. Two of the unreleased numbers that demand to be heard are the edgy 'Circle Suite' and 'Contours', wielding an impressive array of beats.
If you're a fan of the stuff on Warp or Carl Craig, As One is definitely a name to add to the shopping list - definitely so far so good, and a collection to die for from Ubiquity.
TracklistA1 Amalia
A2 Isatai
A3 Shambala
A4 Hyeres
B1 Meridian
B2 Celestial Soul
B3 You Who Never Arrived
C1 We No Longer Understand
C2 Theme From Op-Art
C3 Queen Constance
D1 Return Of The Kingpin
D2 Epic
E1 Chiaro
E2 The Electric Hymn
E3 Music Box
E4 Reunion
F1 The Circle Suite
F2 Contours
F3 If It Ain't Broke