Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - Maenad plus

Yes it's a cheesy name. PWOG were a Dutch collective operating at their peak in the early 90s. Text on the back of their records invited "those who wish to get the most out of their lives" to contact the Katharos Foundation, or De Tempel, which has the Psychick TV logo next to it. I'm not sure how much any of them had to do with the latter; maybe they were hoping for greater interrest and intrigue by virtue of association.
Whatever their personal politics or beliefs, they were creating some perfect music at this time. They were pretty good at ambience - there's some great stuff on the 'Ov Biospheres And Sacred Grooves' LP, and the Obsidian 12" was an encapsulation of the 'ambient techno' sound and concept. It's their dancefloor stuff that I keep going back to. This 12" in particular, although Exit 23 is pretty good. The influences of the Belgian Nu-Beat sound, that was popular in the mid 80s with bands like Front 242 is clear on this 12" - the shuffling beat that is instantly recognisable. But there was a lot more on top of that beat - PWOG were superb programmers of percussion, generally tending toward a tribal feel, most evident on 'Ov The Maenad', with its weird manic bagpipe effect. My favourite is the 'Beyond' version. Super deep, with trancey (circa 1992) synths, and great use of reverb to give this a driving feel. Awesome - perfectly encapsulating the feel of a dank club at 4am, with just a single laser and some dry ice.
Later on they managed to get Coil to do a remix for them - which not a lot of artists can boast - included here, as is their fabulous remix of Orbital's Lush - another minimal marathon, although I would be quite happy if it went on for another half an hour.
Tracklist
1. PWOG-Ov The Maenad
2. PWOG-The Beyond
3. PWOG-Kraak Rejammed (Coil remix)
4. Orbital-Lush 3-4 (Warrior Drift PWOG remix)

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