Label: Power Voltage Records

Producer: Russ Mate

Release Date: 2004

Just Offshore is the album that audiophiles with particular affinities for progressive dreamscapes, soundscapes, and wavescapes have been waiting for. For the rest of the panet however, Just Offshore is simply a breath of fresh air for the ear weary and a dream come true for those who are looking for that rare and precious commodity... a brilliant album!

I actually received this album some time ago and now, having the luxury of being afforded the time to 'clear the backlog' I can now regain some sense of control over the current CD payload. With Just Offshore... it was a case of knowing the album would be good, I had in fact, reviewed a track by the very same some time ago. Now however, I could be blessed with the luxury of being able to sit back, listen intently, and write down some kind of descriptive that would give the readers an idea of just how astonishingly brilliant Just Offshore is!

Ocean storm is a great title for this incredibly accomplished piece of music. Very Tangerine Dream, very progressive, very new age, and very very good musicianship and even greater production. It's an amazingly co-ordinated piece at just over 8 minutes in length.. a statutory time limit for such a brilliant series of monolithic sequential electronica clips.. all strewn together meticulously and coherently. If you could decribe this track as merely mood uplifting it would be an understatement. It's heart and soul embracing... nothing more nothing less! The Possibility Exists however, is everything that it's predecessor is and more... an abundance of beatifully woven keyboard workings opens the track before being embraced by spectacular strings and some very very captivating classical note meanderings. You've just about managed a few breaths before being further entranced by a beautiful electronica cover of House of the Rising Sun. Actually... this may well be the most beautiful instrumental version ever created with a truly eye widening solo right where it should be. Russ should not only be proud of this accomplishment but for everything else he's commited to hard disc... wonderful music from a truly gifted artist to sum it all up mildly!

Meditation Medication is a little more Tangerine Dreamish with a hint of Jean Michel Jarre here and there but it's really Russ doing his thing exactly as we would have wished. I'm amazed when those little bouncy sequnces do things that are very often unpredictable... and unpredictable is what we really really want folks... of course Meditation Medication happily obliges and is in fact the one-of-a-kind prescription that cures all! While Meditation Medication leaves you spellbound for a few more moments after the fade out, Endless Journey has that resucitating effect... and I do mean resucitating! By now, your wishing you had a box set of Just Offshore material to move on to after this album ends. Another beautifully arranged and composed piece of dream/sound/wavescape, Endless Journey is the blue light in the depths of the ocean... the rainbow that really shouldn't be encircling the earth... and the product of a master musician's initial inspirations and imaginings evolving into absolute audio wonderment right before your ears! As if that wasn't enough to enchant your every sense of being, watch out for the incredible sitar and guitar duels... truly something to behold.. and to treasure!

Galactic Construction is, without doubt, a truly intriguing effort. We're leaning more towards the progressive innovative industrialized electronica this time but with a drive and seeming passion that is part of that rareness I spoke about earlier. I love the percussives and the sweeps... and the images that go with every single one of those notes that bounce and meander across the peaks... superb! The real treat to follow this comes in the form of a theme park of audio wonderment in From Here to There.. masterful keyboard wizardry that's a tad Jarre-esque at times but filled with some of the most amazing ideas and sequences I have heard since 1982... a truly brilliant track this is... and one that I know many many audio congregations will happily worship. Sadly... and I do mean SADLY... we end this album with 24/7.. a perfect ending to a perfect album... you did good Russ... you did very very good! The track is as ambient as they come but some of the touches that make it Just that bit more Offshore are truly magnificent! I've been saying this alot lately in quite a few reviews but I have to say it agin for Russ's sake and for the rest of you too... get this little collection on film or on stage and watch what happens... then I can sit back smugly in my second hand armchair and go yea... I coulda told YEZ this would happen!!!!

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