Implosion is a purely instrumental, collaborative album of cinematic, dystopian sounds from dubstepper and extreme electronica experimentalist the Bug and his pal Ghost Dubs. However, rather than working on the same tracks together, as could be implied, they have each applied their production know-how to alternate tunes on the two discs that make up this recording.
That isn’t to say that the sounds on Implosion swing from one flavour to another and back again. This is an album with a singular vision that is consistently eerie and sinister and has much in common with early 1990s ambient techno heads Sun Electric and the Sabres of Paradise, as well as Kevin Richard Martin’s (the Bug’s given name) alternative film soundtrack Return to Solaris and his previous collaboration with ambient metallers Earth’s Dylan Carlson, Concrete Desert
It’s no exaggeration to suggest that this album of uneasy listening strays pretty much as far from the mainstream that it’s possible to travel. Nevertheless, while Implosion is hardly chart-friendly material, there’s still plenty of significant interest within its melting pot of reflective and woozy sonic tones and textures – from the Bug’s atmospheric opener, “Hooked” all the way through to Ghost Dubs’ unsettling “No Words”. In fact, the Bug’s claustrophobic “Burial Skank” and desolate “Alien Virus” and Ghost Dubs’ hypnotic “Into the Mystic” and glitchy “Waterhouse” are all particularly worthy of attention. That said, picking out individual tracks is something of a fool’s errand. Implosion is without doubt, best experienced in its entirety, soundtracking a single sitting – possibly with something suitably relaxing in a darkened room. However, that’s not to say that it’s an album of specialist listening that only works for our weed-smoking brothers and sisters. That is definitely the tone though.
For those who can’t get enough of this stuff, it’s also worth noting that there’s a further EP of even more minimalist remixes of “Militants” and “Into the Mystic” from this album, called Imploded Versions. Again, it’s very laidback, if not especially calming gear.
