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Hi-Fidelity House: Imprint One

Robert Kouchoukos | New York | 08/17/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Out there in the charged, otherworldly realm of head warping house, of grooves that spin and twist your consciousness, Guidance are forging sounds so weird, so wild and so totally brillant they almost defy human perception. Picking up from the glittering trails of forth realm house tracked by Chez Damier and Ron Trent's Precsciption imprint 18 monthes ago, the Guidance team have in under a year programmed a back catalog that's sent house heads spinning headlong into the new millennium. To most, they're the label that launched Blueboy's "Remember Me" into the world but listen to this album and you'll soon realize how much more there is to Guidance than this retro fuelled pop. Where better to start than chronologically: if the sencond release "When The Voices Come" sets an agenda for the label's musical direction than its truly a cosmic one moving from ambient deep house flutes into a strange but wonderful synthesis of Blade Runner style vocoder chorale and exqusite slanted soul. Abacus contrbutes the excellent spoken word "Opinion Rated R" which rides black radical sentiments over his trademark balmy bass sounds. Also, noteworthy: Fresh and Low's "Wind on Water" the Wamdue Kids gentle and detailed "Echoes and Instruments" and tracks by house ambience masters Don Carlos and Larry Heard. Guidance-an appropriate name for a leading light in the world of house music."