Omni Trio – Even Angels Cast Shadows

His most popular album, most probably because of "First " was featured in the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto 3.

I woke up today wanting to go through Omni Trio discography, as it is a very dark grey day in London and I have a day off after a festival in Barcelona, and it feels good and adequate with its moody pads and its sequences. Lucid is one of his most spectacular downtempo tracks, with an ear on the then popular broken beat scene - it is very Atjazz. On the rest, he shows also being closer to the popular liquid tunes from producers like Makoto (Nu Birth Re Lick reminds me so much of Sky High) - in general he adopts the trends to his own sounds and tools and it works really well.

But yeah, let's be honest, it is most people's favourite because of GTA.

You really can hear that Omni Trio actually has a classic education in composing and making music and it is a true loss for dnb that he stopped making music this way. He still does music but more experimental and classic, genius work though.

Coming back to this LP, of course FIRST is the tune as it just was the track on MSX FM on GTA3, nevertheless HIGHER GROUND follows it with close distance. With the other tracks, which are a bit too calm for my part, he should his musical talent and not being bound to any rules that music needs to be made for the dancefloor as his previous releases were.

Overall, a must buy for those that want to have an intelligent approach to dnb incl a knockout banger in First .

Just by listening, the CD is comparitively louder than his previous releases. Suffers from typical mastering compression abuses found on most CDs this era onward. I blame incompetent mastering engineers who know nothing about psycoacoustics. IT disgusts me this middle mans job is to ruins artists music for the sake of sales. The only compression applied should be at radio stations and kno where else.

Perhaps the the vinyl isn't as bad. Anyone know? (regarding it's dynamic range).

I'd probably only rate two tunes on this album anyway so no loss either way.

Higher Ground Is the special track here. Nice album overall highly recommend!

Utterly brilliant album by Omni Trio and maybe his best album full stop.
First off many people will instantly recognise First as 'that tune off Grand Theft Auto 3'.
Starts with pads and bass pulses and drops with a snapping beat, it is one of the more uptempo tunes on the LP but remains deep.

The album is littered with beautiful piano melodies, subtle sub bass tones, and light but snappy 2 step beats.
Kashmir is a a tune in you could almost describe as 2-step garage but done in only the way Omni Trio can.

The highlight for me personally is Higher Ground, which maybe one of the nicest, deepest piano tracks in drum and bass history, I have never spoke to anyone who didnt like it even if they claim to hate drum and bass usually.

Seems very sought after these days, probably no small part due Grand Theft Auto's usage of First on MSX FM, thankfully for me I persuaded a mate to buy this in 2001 and he pretty much gave up mixing later that month so its rested with me ever since.

Vintage stuff, if only Omni Trio would come back and give drum and bass a much needed musical kick up the arse.

The Omni Trio has always had a knack for making beats and loops come together in a gorgeous way, and his 5th full-length proves no different. It is, if anything, a furthering of his earlier album. The wavering synths and thundering drums of "Diffusion Loops" deliver all the digital emotion you'd need, and the piano line and more subdued rhythm of "Higher Ground" continues the trend. By the time the deep and wobbly "First " comes around, you'll wonder if the man can do no wrong. Well, he doesn't; there aren't any egregious missteps on this album. Instead, it's filled with smooth production and rolling loops that mesh impeccably. Although a few later tracks are less successful at integration ("Lucid", "Kashmir"), but the return to form on "Kinetic" quickly covers over any bumps. A remarkably accomplished album.