When Baby Ford landed on the British musical landscape
with Oochy Koochy in 1988, the acid house scene
had taken the country by storm and the Summer of Love
was just around the corner. A second single quickly
followed, with an album, Ford Trax, hot on
its heels. The album firmly affirmed Baby Ford as one
of the best musicians of his generation, not only achieving
dance floor credibility with his blend of Chicago and
Detroit-infused acid house, but also offering a more
accessible alternative to the hard-edged side of the
genre. Ford provided the perfect anthem of the Summer
of Love a year later with his cover of the T-Rex classic
Children Of The Revolution, which prefigured
the poppier edge of Ooo The World Of Baby Ford,
his second album, which also featured the classic Beach
Bump and a reworked version of Chikki Chikki
Ahh Ahh. By the time his next album, BFORD9
(1992), was released, the Summer of Love was only a
faint memory, the criminal justice bill was about to
crush illegal raves in the UK, and the first Gulf War
had changed the face of the world. Contrasting greatly
with the happy mood of its predecessor, BFORD9
was darker and more abrasive, with hard-hitting techno
tracks such as RU486 or Fetish creating
a threatening atmosphere all the way through. The album
hinted at a change of direction, completed with Headphoneasy
Rider, released in 1997 on Black Market Records.
Stripping down his music to the bone, retaining only
the vibe, Ford was getting closer to the minimal techno
pioneered by artists on German labels such as Chain
Reaction or Basic Channel.
Beside his main project, Ford has also released music
under a variety of monikers, collaborated with a wide
range of musicians, including Eon, Mark Broom, Thomas
Melchior, Tim Hutton, Klaus Korai or Jochem Bader and
set up three records label; Ifach, Trelik and PAL SL.
In 2002, Ford collected a few unreleased tracks recorded
with the Ifach roster and released Sacred
Machine on German label Klang Electronik. Basking
In The Brakelights is Ford’s long-awaited
fifth album.
Originally released toward the end of last year on Force
Inc. US, the album is finally getting distributed in
Europe thanks to Berlin-based Perlon Records. The album
marks a slight return to more elaborated ambiences and
more defined melodic lines, yet Ford firmly remains
on minimal grounds here. The soundscapes on All
Set and Not Too Bad, which open the album,
are desolate and distant, yet the mood changes with
Crease Release, as the beat is brought to life
by an infectious soulful bass line and linear beat,
reminiscent of early electro records. NYC Slippers,
probably the most instantly accessible track on offer
here, follows, drawing the listener into a Spartan funk
environment as Ford slowly builds up his melody around
guitar samples. Ford then plunges into more soulful
waters with 3AM Gargoyle Requiem and Glasshammer
Time as he carves more defined melodies and less
austere rhythmic patterns. The last two tracks reveal
the human side of this record with Ford injecting a
vocal sample to Satellite Stroll before winding
down in style with a sun-fuelled ethereal Parallel
Life as the party comes to a close.
Despite still remaining better known for his early work,
Baby Ford has, over the last ten years, developed a
more mature and demanding sound, and released some of
his best work to date. Basking In The Brakelights
offers more contrasted soundscapes and beat structures
than Ford’s last couple of albums while retaining
the overall nature of his ascetic techno. If this new
album might not be as widely appealing as Baby Ford’s
early records, it is certainly his most detailed and
beautiful.
4.8/5 |
