Stop the Panic

Amazon.com
Luke Vibert of Wagon Christ fame teams here with session pedal-steel guitar player and electronic music collaborator BJ Cole for a mellow trip-hop and light drum & bass extravaganza. Closer in spirit to the minimalist leanings he's alluded to in early Wagon Christ incarnations, Vibert leans ever so slightly away from the dense experimentalism of fellow reclusive bedroom DJs such as Aphex Twin's Richard James or Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. Mu-Ziq, who Vibert is often compared to). This record is cheeky, even silly at times, casually projecting a tossed-off energy that's entertaining as well as engrossing. Cole's guitar lends the record a lazy drawl, mixing sliding, countrified guitar riffs with Vibert's tuneful turntablist imagination. Still, the record has another gear to shift into, as typified by slippery, tempo-shifting tracks such as "Watery Glass Planet (Pt. 3)." --Matthew Cooke

Product Description
Electronic release featuring Luke Vibert (Wagonchrist, Plug)who has mixed for Nine Inch Nails, Howie B, Moloko and Meat Beat Manifesto and legendary guitarist BJ Cole who's worked with Marc Bolan, Scott Walker, John Cale, Bjork, The Verve, Spritualized (he gets around) etc. An inventive and light-hearted collection of 13 tracks taking influence from Hawaiian, hip-hop, country, drum & bass, you name it. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Tracks:

Intro
Swing Life-Alright
Dishorozilla
Start The Panic
Hipalong Hop
Fly Hawaii
This Stuff Is Fresh
Cheng Phooey
Baby Steps
Party Animal
Nice Cave
Watery Glass Planet (Pt.3)
Songs Of The Night Life

Amazon.com

Luke Vibert of Wagon Christ fame teams here with session pedal-steel guitar player and electronic music collaborator BJ Cole for a mellow trip-hop and light drum & bass extravaganza. Closer in spirit to the minimalist leanings he's alluded to in early Wagon Christ incarnations, Vibert leans ever so slightly away from the dense experimentalism of fellow reclusive bedroom DJs such as Aphex Twin's Richard James or Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. Mu-Ziq, who Vibert is often compared to). This record is cheeky, even silly at times, casually projecting a tossed-off energy that's entertaining as well as engrossing. Cole's guitar lends the record a lazy drawl, mixing sliding, countrified guitar riffs with Vibert's tuneful turntablist imagination. Still, the record has another gear to shift into, as typified by slippery, tempo-shifting tracks such as "Watery Glass Planet (Pt. 3)." --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

Electronic release featuring Luke Vibert (Wagonchrist, Plug)who has mixed for Nine Inch Nails, Howie B, Moloko and Meat Beat Manifesto and legendary guitarist BJ Cole who's worked with Marc Bolan, Scott Walker, John Cale, Bjork, The Verve, Spritualized (he gets around) etc. An inventive and light-hearted collection of 13 tracks taking influence from Hawaiian, hip-hop, country, drum & bass, you name it. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Only if you like to bob your head!!!!!!.......2006-02-21

Stop the Panic is part hip-hop, opera, underground, you name it! The beats are infectious and the pace is hectic. I found something different to tune into on each track. This is the CD to buy if you like to listen to music with just beats. Luke Vibert & BJ Cole are a funky dynamic duo!

Summer all year long.......2002-04-01

This is the most brilliant cd i have ever bought.It`s summer all year long when you own this magnificent work of art. it`ll make you happy

Stop the panic--start the joy!.......2000-11-20

The last album from the inimitable Luke Vibert (a.k.a. Wagon Christ & Plug), Tally-Ho!, was such an unexpected boon to my collection that for a while I held off on getting Stop the Panic, worrying that there was no way anyone, even a wunderkind of Vibert's caliber, could come up with something to equal the beautiful intensity of "Memory Towel," "Shimmering Haze," "Piano Playa Hata" and "Rendleshack." Fortunately, my own panic was baseless.

You have to admit, though, it seems an unlikely combination: Vibert's electronic freneticism with a live steel guitar thrown into the mix. One might assume that Vibert would allow the guitar to dominate and simply settle for building his beats around it. But someone assuming that would have to be unaware of Vibert's formidable abilities, of what a freaking genius the guy is. Instead he conjures his usual ecclectic stew, using Cole as a master chef would use a potent, exotic spice, exercising a judicious flair. After a teasing, folksy spoken intro by Cole--a track that would've come off as a lame joke from anyone else, yet, under Vibert's sure hand, becomes a catchy and tantalizing groove all its own--a wash of sci-fi foley takes us to "Swing Lite--Alright," in which Vibert and Cole hit the ground running, letting us know that it's on. The twanging slide guitar creates a synergy that takes Vibert's triphop to a whole new level, imbuing it with a mellow flavor perfectly reflected in the color of the album's sleeve, something between powder blue and steel. The result is so amazing that if Vibert decided to abandon his Wagon Christ persona and continue this sort of collaboration with Cole for the remainder of his career, I would really have no problem with it whatsoever.

"Dischordzilla," however, is puzzling, a non-descript and overlong lull which, if it had to make the album at all, should've been buried with the B-sides. The album pops into neutral for 4.5 minutes, but then comes "Start the Panic," and if you're not hooked at that point, you'd better check yourself for a pulse. This is the album's powerhouse, eerie yet energizing--Vibert's specialty, and he's never done it better than this. "Yo man check this out--check-check this out! Kick some more flavor ..." "Hipalong Hop" is a banjo-happy barnyard stomp in the vein of Aphex Twin's "Logan Rock Witch," while "Fly Hawaii" is a nearly indescribable trip: it sidewinds stealthily along the sand before soaring suddenly into the wild blue yonder, yet keeps one eye fastened firmly on the beach.

The clutch pops into neutral again with the so-so "This Stuff is Fresh," and things nearly coast to a halt with "Cheng Phooey." Okay, it's great that Cole's mastered the cheng and all; but Vibert, of all people, should've been able to figure out something more interesting to do with it than a lame pastiche of Orbital's "Semi-Detached." Actually, this track is how a lesser artist might've handled the whole entire album, and I suppose we're lucky that, for the most part, Vibert had more vision.

Then comes "Baby Steps" ... oh boy. How can I describe this? Improbably cloying at first listen, this track becomes incredibly catchy the more you hear it, then insanely catchy. And am I just some kind of sicko, or is there something almost subliminally erotic going on here? At the very least, you have to admit that Holly Penfield's baby-talk has a lavish sensuality. Then the groove level goes through the roof again with "Party Animal," four minutes of swaying bliss, which from this point on should become a staple for all luaus everywhere. Luke Vibert, we love you! Jimmy Buffett, eat your heart out.

The album plunges into its third nadir with "Nice Cave," which sounds like something that got cut from Moby's Play; and I don't know what "Watery Glass Planet (pt. 3)" is about, nor do I really want to know.

Things pick up at the end for "Songs of the Night Life," a clever, extended reprise of the intro (which, you will notice, includes the P-Wing foley from Super Mario Bros. 3). My advice is to program your CD player to play tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 13, hit the repeat button, and let Vibert and Cole take it from there. Oh, and a billowy Hawaiian shirt and an enormous thatched sun hat will help, too. Aloha.

Fun for now..........2000-10-16

The mood from the first note is Hawaiian. Luke Vibert and BJ Cole have taken one more step into the already crowded world of "Trip Hop" and somehow managed to turn what could be conceived as a gimmick into something surprisingly fresh. BJ Cole, known for his slide guitar, and Vibert for his turntables are indeed an unlikely couple, but nonetheless successful. Whilst the combo of Hawaiian grooves and DJ scratches proves successful on this trial run, it does wear slightly thin towards the end of the album. Hopefully there will be only one Hawaiian trip hop album this year, or the next.

How in tha hell?.......2000-08-20

I mean...I lived in Hawaii all of my life and I never heard SLACK...key guitar played like that before. I've only heard "Swing Lite-Alright" so far and I'm really curious to hear what the rest of the album has to offer. I mean...I heard this track from one of my Dj buddies and from ah dead sleep, I woke up and started dancin'. True story!=) Slack key master guitarist Bj Cole Vs. One of my favorite artist of all time Luke Vibert...

Beautiful...

Tracks:

Edit
Original
DJ Dan Remix
Coffe Boys Remix
Micro's Crash Landing Mix
Deepsky Remix

Customer Reviews:

good electronica from Moonshine.......1999-07-24

Moonshine Records has had a history of great underground dance music - whether is be house, garage or electronica - and this cd fits the bill fine. With six versions of the song to choose from, there should be one to fit almost anyone's dance music needs. We have your harder mixes (remixed by Micro, Deepsky and The Coffee Boys) and you have your housier mix as well (done by DJ Dan) and you get your original mix. If you like anything by The Chemical Brothers or The Propellerheads, you should enjoy this one as well.