Take Portishead's finest trip-hop beats. Add some mesmerizing modern classical piano and string pieces. Throw in some ethereal female vocals, brilliantly chosen and executed samples, and top the whole thing off with some IDM and a hint of breakbeat.
I really have nothing bad to say about this album, it is top notch from start to finish. The only possible filler is the 2.5 minute next to last track I'm On The Wrong Side, but as my history professor would say, that is simply the council of perfection to what is otherwise a stunning debut release. Once you hear the opening track, A Necessary End, you'll wonder how Matthews (Saltillo's real name) and any of his other 11 tracks will ever be able to come near it. It combines all of the ingredients listed in the first paragraph and brings them together to create an astoundingly good track, which may just be my favorite trip-hop track of all time. And yet the quality holds. A Hair On The Head Of John The Baptist is another absolutely chilling track, with the Shakespearean samples (I have no idea where they come from, but they are perfect) emboldening the bleakness of this track. Grafting features some frighteningly impassioned wailing-style vocals that go perfectly with the Middle-Eastern tinge the song possesses. Matthews' wife, Sarah, provides some hauntingly morose vocals on Giving In. No two tracks are really the same on this album, or anywhere close for that matter.
The final thing I need to mention about this album is the mood. I'm a sucker for albums that can create an atmosphere, and Ganglion is one of the best: it's downtempo trip-hop is a nice base, but for me it's the strings that put it over the top. They cement the melancholy, the despondency, the gloom that covers this album and its tracks. Very good album for late at night, for a rainy day, an excellent chill-out album. I cannot recommend this one enough.
I loved you not
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