by Nitsuh Abebe
The late '90s seemed to see electronica coming into its own, moving past simply appealing dance-floor workouts and into truly dramatic, composed areas. Fantastic Voyage is an excellent example of how electronica can go beyond trippy textures and into compelling forms -- its hypnotic grooves blend elements of dub, hip-hop, fusion and ambience with a dizzying array of samples and found sounds to create a stunningly dynamic sound that's sometimes dark, sometimes scary and frequently somewhat sexy. Rather than shooting for subdued, subliminal spaciness (the norm in much of contemporary electronica), Prince Charming manages to be forcibly trippy, revving up its constructions with as much power as a solid rock band -- not only is this sound consistently effective, it's backed up with enough intelligence and complexity to make it worthwhile.