label: Waveform Records country of origin: USA style(s): Ambient/exotic dub, ethno-ambient, trip hop, psychedelic essential compilations: One A.D. - Ambient Dub Volume 1 (1994, Waveform) Three A.D. - Ambient Dub Volume 3 (1996, Waveform) Frosty (1996, Waveform) Slumberland (1997, Waveform) Earthjuice (1998, Waveform) Voodoo Roux (2001, Waveform) Voodoo Roux Deux (2002, Waveform)

Waveform Record's founder is ambient DJ Forest, host of the long-running American public radio show Musical Starstreams. His amazing label is the surviving offspring of now defunct UK imprint Beyond Records which in the early 90's pioneered an exotic strain of downtempo called ambient dub. Although the product of the same new-generation music technology that figured in the rise of house, trance and techno music, ambient dub's relation to clubland is only marginal. Much of Waveform's output is instead anchored in slow, seductive bassy grooves influenced by the studio techniques of 70s' Jamaican reggae producers like King Tubby and Lee Perry. Relaxed and spacious with deep basslines and gently hypnotic loops, dub reinvents the idea of trance music by stretching out the basic components of a track using echo, reverb and delay effects.

That said, Waveform's brand of downtempo exotica has taken dub a long way up and onwards from where it started. This is richly coloured and often deeply psychedelic music, drawing on trance, techno, world fusion, science fiction literature and film soundtracks. The generally glowing, positive vibe harks back to Mike Barnett's original aim to offer an alternative to what he winningly described as "the dark miserablism of an industrial, isolationist agenda". The reggae link is rarely obvious, something I once pointed out to Forest in an interview. "We're not a reggae label. Ambient dub is merely a descriptive phrase to let listeners know that it isn't minimal wallpaper or heavy industrial techno", he said. "We try to be in the middle of those extremes for our albums, so they necessarily fall into a groove, often dubby." The influence of Jamaica, then, is more one of studio technique than composition even if it does remain cloaked in a colourful haze of funny-smelling smoke.
 
The One A.D. and Three A.D. compilations remain superb summaries of the Waveform ethos, featuring both artists who've released full-length albums on the label and those who've contributed occasional tracks. Most are UK or European, with Higher Intelligence Agency, Banco De Gaia and Coldcut the most well known. Among the many highpoints on the first volume there is one track that still stands out: Banco De Gaia's breathtaking "Shanti". A simple progression of two minor chords with a wailing Mid-Eastern vocal, deep bass and richly detailed atmospherics, it's one of the most gorgeous, haunting, rapturous pieces of rhythmic ambient ever made.

Frosty is also a fine compilation in the Waveform tradition but with extra flavourings courtesy of trip-hop and acid jazz: lots of vibraphone, wispy vocal bits and hypnotic breakbeats. Those clockwork snare/bass hip-hop drum loops come to the fore on Howie B's splendid "Birth", a track embellished with jittery strings that give it a weird cinematic feel. There are plenty of "live" soundng instruments on Frosty but this is still unquestionably electronic music, with the artists using hip-hop style sampling and various other studio techniques to shape their dreamy, expansive soundtracks. Heavy studio processing also informs Earthjuice, the Waveform compilation that aesthetically most closely resembles traditional dub reggae. It's a rich collection of self-styled "electromagnetic dub" from some of Europe's finest spiced with monstrous echo, clever voice samples (like the drug education film sampled on Qualia's "Plasma") and absolutely huge bass sounds.

Slumberland is often exquisitely beautiful, a more restrained collection designed to evoke a state that is equal parts dreaming, sleeping and being awake. It may well achieve that, being far less rhythmically instant than the other compilations listed above. "Generic Actress" by Lucia Hwong has an oddly Japanese sense of stillness, it's pristine synthetic surface gently rippling with what sounds like plucked notes from a kantong and a bouncing marble being dropped on the string of a hammer dulcimer. "We Rest" by Witchcraft is a song of sorts, sung through a vocoder while synthetic waves and winds swirl around its slowly throbbing pulse.

Since the turn of the decade Waveform's output has remained generally progressive, melodic and stimulating. Among the compilations released since 2000, Voodoo Roux and Voodoo Roux Deux are outstanding. Both are less rooted in dub than the A.D. series, reaching into the soundworlds of techy lounge and slow-mo electro. German duo Deep Dive Corp are a stunning find. "Imagination" sounds like chase music for a movie set in some exotic, futuristic cityscape but without any reliance on obvious hi-tech sounds or effects. Their "Relaxer" is a minimal, floating lounge groove with a subtle psychedelic edge, spiced with voice samples that dip into your consciousness with beguiling lines like "wave upon wave carried me over, beyond the peripheries of hope and fear". Equally fine are the contributions by X.I.S. and Bjorn Fogelberg on Deux, two tracks with their own distinct downtempo takes on the sounds of trance and electro meshed with lush keys and gliding euphoric strings.

Waveform's catalogue of some 35 releases to date includes some brilliant artist albums as well. If you like the the compilations above then try releases by Sounds From The Ground, Loop Guru, Higher Intelligence Agency or Phuture Primitive.

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