Phoenicia – Brownout

By 2001,  Miami bass culture had reached the tail end of its pop culture moment, as acts like the L’Trimm, Quad City DJs, DJ Magic Mike and 2 Live Crew had hit the charts and reminded listeners of the wild, weird sounds coming out of South Florida. Phoenecia was instrumental bass culture on the rebound. As if those low-end sound waves had continued bouncing through alleyways long after the original beats resonated, they and the rest of the producers on their label Schematic concocted disconcerting, alien sounds that grooved busily, with odd rhythmic accents and an oblong funkiness. Phoenecia’s masterpiece is Brownout, a dynamic electronic record that, while aligned with ideas coming out of Warp Records and suggesting Aphex Twin’s chaotic experiments, cascades through ambient dub, minimal bass music, experimental techno and stuff that’s so singular it doesn’t really have a name. – Randall