by John Bush
The second Porter Ricks album, compiled from singles released after the duo left the Basic Channel fold, represents quite a change from their previous output. Unlike the sound of BioKinetics, Porter Ricks circa 1997 had virtually abandoned the scratchy, lo-fi take on ambient dub and techno championed by most Basic Channel groups. Instead, the album has a clean sound which enables the listener to hear the impeccable production which must have been included on previous releases but was simply unhearable. Whether listeners like their Porter Ricks with surface noise or not, the basic blueprint has remained the same -- impeccable.