T-Power TPower T.Power T Power - The Self-Evident Truth Of An Intuitive Mind; Classic or Dud?

Atomic Dog
Natural Born Killers
Mutant Jazz
Blood From a Stone / Lipsing Jamring
his remix of Shy FX's Gangster Kid
the old SoapBar ardkore tunes
etc.
etc.

The two matching singles that came out shortly after this were Police State pt 1 and 2.

T.Power deserves a revival more than Remarc.

That said, the sounds on it are very much stuck in 1994-5. It's impact has also been watered down as a result of the jazz + DnB (i.e. Roni Size) records that became far too common a couple of years later. Once everyone and their brother latched onto chillout DnB, stuff like T.Power must have seemed like old hat to anyone who hadn't heard him before.

I recall an interview with him c. 1997 in which is denounced his first two albums as crap and apologized to anyone who had paid good money for them.

The album didnt age very well but it was good when it came out, if not quite as good as the singles.

Um no, but he did release some of good stuff (although most of what I think of him for is Shy FX remixes and the Trace's far better "Mutant Remix).)

wheres boymerang by the way?

are these the same track?? if not i've only heard the first and it's KILLER. i have the 2nd t-power album and never ever ever listen to it because it's so empty of ideas. the nu-skool breaks stuff was awful (i say that as a breaks fan). i'd like to hear the first album, though.

i think i prefer his chocolate weasel material to the rest of the post 1st album output. search: his remix of "anger" by sakamoto, that's some good stuff that's not too similar to any other t-power tracks (or d+b or breaks or electro or...)

what are the good tracks from 'Waveform'?

The Self-Evident Truth... album and the Police State EP get a bit silly at times (though lots of fun for other stretches). You can see Royal aiming for that mixture of grandiosity and irreverence that typified Orbital of that era but the package never quite comes together as successfully.

However a top 10 or so of this guy's tunes (mostly predating that album, or otherwise under the “Atomic Dog” pseudonym) would be unfuckwithable. In roughly descending order of greatness:

Atomic Dog - Step Into Lite
T. Power – Blood from a Stone
Atomic Dog - Natural Born Killaz / N.B.K. Rebirth (two separate tunes but the second is a remix of the first)
T. Power – Lipsing Jam Ring
Atomic Dog – Future Now
T. Power - Elemental
Atomic Dog – Break It Down
T. Power – Chasin’ A Dream
T. Power & DJ Skie – Brave New World
T. Power – Liberation
T. Power & MK Ultra – Mutant Jazz

It's pretty easy to see how the tendencies that cause the album and related material to be slightly overblown (the melodramatic ambient melodies, the fiddly drum programming which verges on drill & bass look at moi flexing) are also the tendencies that make these marginally more dancefloor friendly tunes so distinctive and effective. Every time you think a tune has peaked it finds a way to go deeper/harder, and with super crisp, fluid and complex but focused programming that reminds me of FBD Project’s best tunes (“She’s So”, “Gesture Without Motion”). Typically the second half of the tune really pushes into incredible territory (on “Step Into Lite” and “Blood From A Stone” in particular).

But you can hear the pretension start to creep in on “Mutant Jazz” and “Liberation” (both just prior to the album), which is why they are at the bottom of my list despite still being excellent.

I’m way more forgiving of bloated overwrought pretentiousness when it’s in d&b for some reason, the framework sort of allows for all matter of melodramatic nonsense so long as it delivers the sweet sweet breaks

Yeah but the breaks on Self-Evident Truth typically aren't even his best work! Once you get past the top-layer of ratatat sped-up drum rolls you can tell he has already succumbing to post-"Pulp Fiction" simplicity, albeit not as dramatically as, i dunno, contemporaneous Omni Trio or something (this is even more evident on Police State).

Whereas the stretch of "Step Into Lite" from about the 4 minute mark is genuinely mindblowing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOwjP4BCeuY

That whole Waveform album is so good...