Spicelab – Lost In Spice

finally found where SP23 catch the good and old spice

Brilliant release !!! I changed my opinion on techno LPs! lovely masterpiece of variations of techno, that early 90es could offer, every track like a little mix itself, wandering from acid over trance to hardcorelemetns with a mellow melting. Thank you Oliver :*

Each track here is of the very long kind and has a live feel to it. Monotonous in parts, yet extremely varied from one section to another (with even a 20bpm shift in one particular instance). The downside is that they are a bit all over the place, not entirely sure of what they are trying to be. This results in the (very) good rubbing feathers with the (very) cheesy. That renders this double pack pretty much useless for conventional DJs, and is probably the reason why it has mostly disappeared under the radar. As a collection of shorter tracks, it could have become a classic. As it is, it is a confusing piece.

Even though Hardfloor was my first exposure to Harthouse, it wasn't until I heard Spicelab's LOST IN SPICE that I understood what the whole trance thing was about. And right from "Cold Chillin," you can hear the trademarks: Roland acid, beats that rarely dip below 160 BPM, crazed Korgs, and a quick woodwind break for extra flavor. "Spicelab" starts out more atmospheric and carries a deeper beat for a more sci-fi feel overall, replete with an angelic interlude, "The Spirit of Fear" is smoother and more mellow, but "The Last Supernova" immediately goes back to the hyper-fast with those driving cymbals. "Lost in Spice" returns to the atmospheric side of things, though not without some acid and a subdued beat to keep things real, The album shows its age, but still has plenty of old school charm.

The first four tracks are part of a Barbarella sci-fi boom that was for some reason circulating in the techno world at the time. Fast beats, cold and mechanic sounds, and strange vocal samples summed up a "rave" tune at that time. The title track at the end is my absolute push, because I fall helplessly in love with tunes that catch you at the last 10 or 20 percent of the time in minutes remaining. These harthouse guys are hopelessly dependent on Roland machines and analog bumps or burps that have been in circulation forever, but they did it the best. I also like Dune and its idiotic "Cha~" laser shooting with eyes gone blue.

I've submitted a review of the CD release of this and whatever I said stands. This is some of the finest techno ever produced, HANDS DOWN! Well, what makes it so great? The fact that unlike so many releases to come along, even for its time, these tracks completely defy subgenres. There's a little hardcore, trance, acid, breaks, even mild elements of house, all within the span of a track! Exceedingly innovative, the high point on this collection is the title track "Lost In Spice". I think it blows away just about anything else ever written. I used to think it was the weed making me feel that far out in space, but now that I'm a father and I've given up the weed, I now realize that it is in fact the music itself making me feel that far out in space. That's no lie - when I want to "get high" now, I just slap on Side 4 of this definitive collection, and it's rockets away for my mind. It'll launch you there! And each track is unique in its own way. Yeah, this was before the "same-old" bug bit techno as a whole. This was when creative drive was still climbing in the world of techno. This was before the "Great Sell-Out" of 1995. I know this isn't the only superiorly innovative techno out there, I have lots of other really innovative stuff, too, but this is way at the top of the heap. Then, now and forevermore among the best of the very best ever made - A CORNERSTONE OF MY COLLECTION! This rates about 300 on a scale of 1 - 10.

This is an important release. I feel it represents one of the last forays into truly experimental techno before Richie Hawtin "showed" how techno "should" be made - said - minimalism and repetition. This album explores universes right before everyone started landing on their favorite techno planets - i.e. "Planet Trance", "Planet Acid", "Planet House", etc. Oliver Leib produced a milestone album that showed vast flexibility and flavor. Within each track you may hear elements of trance, acid, techno, even breaks when they were still just spice (pun intended) in the recipe. I think this was the last CD I bought before coming to the abrupt realization that techno was becoming very formulaic and losing its cutting edge status. After languishing for years in my collection I now realize that this may be one of the best, most all-'round varied works of art during the formative years of techno. Since that time techno has become quite two-dimensional and stale. But this CD represents the wide-openness of where early techno could and did go. If you'd rather travel the expanse of the universe instead of landing on a planet and settling, then this release is for you! Definitely check it out!