When's The Future - "Same Time Tomorrow"
After I had recovered from the initial shock of a When’s The Future sound devoid of words, a seemingly unfathomable collection of weirdness dominated by drum ‘n’ bass and samples and virtually stripped of guitar I found myself being drawn into the music particularly the more up tempo moments like ‘General Jigg’ with its liberal sprinkling of flute and vibes and the irresistibly entitled ‘Articulate Hoover Nozzle (Slight Return)’. After the early promise of the Nick Mason inspired drum rolls of ‘Radiation Meditation’, the album really begins to catch fire with the impossible synth solo and organ stabs of ‘Vague Mutterings’. My favourite piece of music in the first part of the album though is ‘Choroid Plexus’ with its crisp, snappy drumming, the strings curiously reminding me of Angelo Badalamenti (Remember ‘Twin Peaks’?) and dreamy guitar. ‘Same Time Tomorrow’ is full of surprises, constantly restless in its (successful) attempts to grab your attention- ‘Lyre in the Tyne’ starts with plucked strings and continues with sampled double bass and ‘skat’ vocals that sounds like Lemon Jelly (A good thing in my book!). And who could resist the oriental strangeness of ‘Yin Tang Meringue’ or the aptly titled African rhythm odyssey of ‘Smelifant’? All the music was written and produced by the Musgrove brothers, Dave, the guitarist and John the drummer (Both play keyboards) who many of you will remember from Kromlek and the album was mastered by Tim Jones at The Stone Studio.
Definitely an album that will figure prominently in the alternative musical history of the Stone Premonitions label, a very contemporary sounding release that will hopefully open up When’s The Future music to a wider audience. Now I wonder what other surprises are in store?
by Phil Jackson - Zeitgeist