Off and Gone
"Everest"
Harthouse HH1026-2
1996 (72:56)
Overall impression: excellent! Dan (Mere Mortals) and Philth (Download, Plateau)
collaborate once again, this time as Off and Gone. "Everest"'s sound is in the same vein
as Plateau's "Music for Grassbars" (only much more complex/textured), Download's "III",
and those put out by Map Records (see the "Welcome to Lotus Land" compilation): lush,
ambient techno. "Everest" remain consistent throughout though ... with the exception of
"Sprinkle" (a wonderful beat-less shifting ambient track), the songs are based on mid to
fast tempo bpm rhythms backed by first class, swirling, ambient synthwork. Excellent
techno, I wish all "techno" was this cool and interesting ...- (Mark Weddle)
brainwashed.com/weddle/reviews/
Off and Gone
Everest
Harthouse/Ger-US/CD
Hailing from Vancouver BC, Off and Gone are typical of the kind of eclectic musical
experimentation one has come to expect of the West Coast of North Ameica. A wacky,
psychedelic, out-there techno-hippie ethic permeates every groove of this album.
1994's 12" release by these guys on the vehemently underground Left Coast label Exist
Dance was merely a taste of things to come. Like that esteemed debut, this album revels
in its own depth, a deepness that is created by the willingness to push musical boundaries
without sacrificing expression. Unlike alot of sonic experimenters, for whom the music is
merely an excuse for the experimentation, I get the impression that Off and Gone have
something worthwhile to say musically, and they do so successfully.
This is an album, and as such it has to listen as an album. To be fair it does this very well.
However I must admit that the first time I listened I found the beatless ambient-wash tracks,
programmed to break the album up, to be a little tiresome. I just wanted them to get on with
the grooves! If only because those tracks that do have grooves are brillantly executed. But on
subsequent listens it is obvious that those tracks are intergral to the flow of the whole
thing. Opening with the simply stunning pair of tracks "Gods Have Gone"- a fast,
shimmering metallic edged track that could be either techno or drum'n'bass, a fabulous
combination- and the haunting single "Everest"- a twangy bassed tripper of a tune,
swirling effects and backwood loops mingle with a filtered synth riff and pseudo shortwave
radio signals- this album moves through many different moods and styles. The overwhelming
impression is of half-heard music and conversation, as if listening to someone else's
radio at the other side of the house, or your ears catching sounds emanating from hotel
windows whilst walking down streets in East Asian cities. Ghostly melodies and harmonies
bathed in delay float across every track. On "Shasta" didgiredoo-like drones alternate with
clipped percussion loops over a rubbery propulsive bassline, whilst "My God" link a
Detroit-ish groove with panpipe doodles and subdies chants. Ethereal without being
pretentious, keeping the dancefloor firmly in mind, yet communicating a sense of
otherworldy, "Everest" is proof that not only are Off and Gone top notch representatives
of the West Coast for the world, but that Harthouse is serious about changing its image.
Trance with soul, now there's a concept. Rawnsley- (XLR8R)
Off and Gone Everest
(Harthouse) These Harthouse folks just don't fuck around, now do they? Not content to just
scoop up any North Americans as their first extra-European signing, they had to go
and get Off and Gone, an an underrecognized Vancouver assemblage whose self-titled EP on
Exist Dance last year was- for those who heard it- certainly a high point.
Now, with the power of Vath behind them, Off and Gone's brand of hazy,thumping ambience will
certainly find the audience it deserves. Phil Western (Cap'm Stargazer, Download) and Dan
Handrabur (Mere Mortals) had previously teamed up under the Floatpoint moniker, but for
this project, they've enlisted the assistance of Handrabur's wife, Cristina, and with her
vocal samples adding a gauzy sheeen to already dreamy tracks like "Kopli" they've far
surpassed their previous efforts. Buzzing echoes of Kraut-like ambient such as "Phoshanes"
and "Sprinkle" mesh seamlessly with thick, virulent grooves (the title track and the epic
"Shasta"), while other tracks like "Gods Have Gone" and "Sigma Receptor" fall somewhere in
between. Completely devoid of blatant dancefloor rhythms, yet immenently danceable.
Everest is the sort of record that exists in that weird waking dream state where
everything is vivid and real, yet glazed in surreal fantasy. Yeah, it's that good.
-Jason Ferguson (URB, May 1996)
Off and Gone
Everest
(Harthouse/Eye Q)
You've heard of "intelligent dance music," right? Well, Canadians Off and Gone are valedictorians
of the groove. Anything but one-dimensional, they can alternately rock your cosmos with streamlined
techno rhythms that permutate in unexpected directions or blissfully chill you out with heady
ambience. Though the rhythms seem mostly sequenced, the tracks radiate a warm, organic vide.
Listening to "Everest", "Gods Have Gone", "Sigma Receptor", and "Phoshanes," you feel as if
O&G's synths have lungs and hearts instead of circuitry. Fruitful excursions into tribal trance
mesh seamlessly with fleet trancematic pieces and more ambient cuts. Finally, Plastikman has
some competition from his compatriots. -Dave Segal (Alternative Press, Nov. '96)
Off and Gone
Everest
(Eye Q)
Not too long ago, talk of West Coast dance music meant San Francisco. Not long before that,
it meant Los Angeles. Now, however, according to British Columbia-based electronic producers
Off and Gone, that left edge vibe should have included Vancouver all along.
Off and Gone are partners Phil Western, Dan Handrabur and his vocalist wife, Cristina.
Individually, they have created a respectable library of music, released on various electro
labels all over the world. Phil Western has worked under the monikers XMT for the Dutch label,
ESP, Download for Germany's Offbeat, and Cap'm Stargazer for Exist Dance. As for Dan handrabur,
he's issued his works under handles Vuemorph for Silent, Mere Mortals fo Wax Trax! and Dreamlogic
for ESP.
Since joining forces in late 1993, Western and the Handraburs have been working under the
O & G moniker, releasing a full-length album, Beam Error (ESP in Eurrope and Apollon in Japan),
as well as a self-titled EP on Exist Dance, which literally thrust the outfit into the electronic
music spotlight. Off and Gone soon made some more history when they became the first North
American act to sign with the Germay-based Eye Q Music, better known as the home of Hardfloor
and Sven Vath.
After spending a good part of last year toiling away in the studio, O & G's second effort,
Everest, is finally here. Dishing up techno ranging from ultra ambient to spacey jazz,
apparently Off and Gone have been paying less attention to the flavors of the week and more
to the dissolving of boundaies within electronic music.
"I think the West Coast reflects more of what's going on in terms of the global culture," says
Dan Handrabur, explaining that his group takes advantage of the freedom that comes from living
a good distance from New york's sometimes creatively constricting housey vibe. "I think there's
elements of ambient, elemnets of ethnic, tribal and all this stuff kind of gets into a big soup
on the West Coast, whereas on the East Coast it's a bit more crystallized, more defined."
With Everest. serving as a momentous step in organicaaly merging a varitey of disparate
dancefloor styles, the triumvirate vows to continue experimenting in their secluded laboratory
in Vancouver. "I really see the incoporation of more organic instruments, more acoustic stuff
into the music," says Handrrabur, looking ahead into the group's future. "But I think the essence
of our stuff will remain the same- very melodic, very soulful." Just like the Carpenters once
sang, these sonic pioneers have only just begun. - Todd C. Roberts (Mixmag, May '96)
Off and Gone- Everest- Harthouse (US)
Yep, you read it right, Harthouse US. This is Harhouse's first North American signing and it
shows this label getting back into the swing of things. For a while, this veteran trance source
had gone in some rather sour direction... Off and Gone reassures me that this label is back
on track. Creating a bridge that spans the wates of house, trance, ambient, and a bit of that
acid stuff, "Everest" is. from open to close a postive, if not mind blowing, listening
experrience. The soothing ambinece of "Sprinkle" flows well into the open air trance sound
of "Shasta", while "Sigma Receptor", which is included on the EP released prior to the album,
is by far the most DJ accessable song with a midwest acid feel and a nice Harthouse overtone.
Closing is "Phosphanes", a song that pretty well embodies the Off and Gone sound with its
housier trance stylings and light high-in-the sky vocal samples. A very strong first release
for the North American branch of Harthouse. (Massive, June '96)
Off and Gone
Everest
(Harthouse, U.S. / Cargo, Canada)
Nine tracks of good experimental techno from this Vancouver group. Stand-out tracks include
"Kopli" (125 BPM) a 11:30 min. sound excursion with solid beats, spacey keyboards, female
voice sounds, various percussion sounds and acid embellishments, "Sprinkle" a nice ambient
track similar to better Orb material and "Phosphanes" (126 BPM) with it's gently building melody
line, funky beats, vocal bits and electro sounds. This is an extremely well produced album
with lots of interesting ideas and a good representation of the best of new music from Canada's
west coast. (DMC Canada, May 1996)
Off & Gone
Everest
(Harthouse/Eye Q, Box 46265, Los Angeles, CA 90046)
This is the most creative techno to come out of Canada this year, the debut of Vancouver duo,
Off & Gone, Phil Western (aka DJ Philth from Download) and Dan Handrabur (aka Floatpoint,
Vuemorph, Mere Mortals, and Dreamlogic). After Montreal's Brain Cycle, Off and Gone are only
the second Canadians to be signed to Germany's Hathouse label. Their music is a complex mix of
hard house, trance, and trippy techno. Like their West Coast-mates in California, their version
of 90's electronics marries the low funky basslines of dub-house with the blissed-out synths of
chill-out tracks like "Sprinkle". The opener, "Gods Have Gone", looks to the cosmic synth-filled
skies with feet firmly on the solid groove of a rolling bassline. The title track simlarly
scales the heights of hybrid techno-house with syncopated counter-rhythms, echoey flutes and
stereo-panning dubbed beats. "Kopli" moves with the digi-skank of groups like Bandulu, who look
toward the Mecca-of-techno, Detroit, with herb-blurred eyes. When Off and Gone hits the Detroit
sound, on "Sigma Receptor" their classy style is indistinguishable from the latest stuff from
the orgininators like Model 500. But Off and Gone is more likely to customize than stick to
blueprints and on "Europia" and "phosphanes" they approach house with the post-ambient sense of
layering and ambient-dub's feel for space. -Chris Twomey (Exclaim, June '96)
Off and Gone
Everest
(Harthouse/Eye Q)
I get sad everytime I hear this album. Not because it's particularly poignant or melancholy,
but because the artists in question are Vancouver residents who've off and gone to Los Angeles.
Phil Western and Dan Handrabur (now with vocalist Cristina) have long been at the forefront of
not just the Vancouver, but the interrnational, electronic scene, as exemplified by projects
such as Download, Outersanctum, and Floatpoint.
With Everest, the first Canadian and North American album to be released on Sven Vath's
prestigous Harthouse label, Phil and Dan craft their most elegantly accessible recording to
date. Skillfully, balancing ambience with danceability, the duo's work sounds completely alien,
yet retains an organic, human feel, despite the absence of any obvious melodies or conventional
song structure. The brilliant opener, "Gods Have Gone" has a meandering. unpredictable bassline
and heavily syncopated, non-repetive drum machine beats. "Sprinkle" is hazy, beatless psychedelia.
Cristina's vocals add just the right human, though heavily manipulated, touch to songs like the
groovy "Shasta". No matter what they do, Phil and Dan avoid cliche; I just hope they can keep
up the excellent work after reaching the peaks of Everest. -Jovian Francey ( Discorder, Sept. '96)
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