Personnel: Mimi Parker, Al Sparhawk (vocals); Mark Nelson (pedal steel guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, programming); Rob Mazurek (cornet).
Mark Nelson of space explorers Labradford steps out on his own as Pan American. 360 BUSINESS/360 BYPASS is Nelson's second slice of prime American electrodub. Like Vladislav Delay, Kit Clayton, and most of the Chain Reaction crew, Nelson constructs slow, intricate dub jams that absorb the listener into their respective dream states.
"Steel Stars" offers gently ebbing pulses of processed Rhodes piano and twinkling starshine amidst its mesmerizing cosmic eddies. "Double Rail" recalls Kit Clayton in its casting of reverberating bell tones against a humming background of cricket choirs and chattering hi-hats. Nelson equals (if not betters) the proactive sound environments so favored by his sonic brethren, while Pan American's lo-fi indie aesthetic renders the music's makeup that much more corporeal.
Professional Reviews
Q (6/00, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Supremely mood enhancing, this is careful, deliberate music whose only objective is to alter the atmosphere if any room it's played..."
Alternative Press (5/00, p.97) - 4 out of 5 - "...A beautiful thing....with a cool, glacial pace."
Magnet (6-7/00, pp.85-6) - "...A dreamlike effect wherein you're never quite sure exactly when during the past hour the music began or at what points your attention focussed, drifted and reoriented....This is the first unassailably great album of the century."
The Wire (3/00, p.52) - "...Repeatedly processes experimental sounds with limpid grooves until the music finally emerges from its murky beginnings in a state of clarity..."
CMJ (2/7/00, p.22) - "...A subtle and wonderfully imagined work of narcoleptic bliss."
Mojo (Publisher) (4/00, p.92) - "...Evolving towards a definite destination....Mark Nelson is charting his own course between the margins of dance and the leftfield, drawing the best from both worlds."
NME (Magazine) (3/4/00, p.36) - 7 out of 10 - "...Mark Nelson channels his warmer electronic impulses into this strange, bobbing craft....as rare - and rewarding - as sunken treasure."
