Audiopile Review: Musical scenes and genres are at their best when they’re in the process of forming. At this stage, they’re vague, mutable, and open to input from all manner of individuals and outsiders. This is particularly true with 90s electronic music, if only because it was much harder to make electronic music back then, so scenes and genres couldn’t be so choosy about who they pulled into their orbit. While the reissue of Bedouin Ascent’s 1994 epic ‘Science, Art, and Ritual’ may be indicative of an ongoing enthusiasm for early ambient techno and IDM, the album itself is not remotely generic. Kingsuk Biswas, the fellow behind Bedouin Ascent, grew up in the London suburbs, listening to On-U Sound, ECM, and his parents’ Indian classical music albums. The rave scene, with its attendant chill-out rooms and ‘electronic listening music’ spin-offs, simply opened a door that people like him could sneak through. In retrospect, the complex, ambitious fourth-world electronica of ‘Science, Art, and Ritual’ is more evocative of that moment when The Wire magazine transformed itself from a jazz journal into the champion of a burgeoning, cross-genre experimental underground. It should be no surprise to learn that Bedouin Ascent had a track on the first volume of Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin’s legendary ‘Macro Dub Infection’ compilations. Or that parts of this album recall the more kinetic moments of early Aphex Twin. Still, all our context setting rather undersells the enduring magic of this album’s deeply psychedelic, bass-heavy odyssey.

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Science, Art And Ritual is a story of “process.” Growing up in Harrow (a then quiet suburb of London) in the ’70s and ’80s from the age of about ten, Kingsuk Biswas aka Bedouin Ascent’s ears opened up to sound as he scanned the airwaves. The undeniable righteousness of ’80s dub via David Rodigan’s Roots Rockers shows was the first prominent influence he received, and with punk roots — and his burgeoning record collection — became exposed to the breathless post punk experimentation that followed in the early ’80s sweeping up free jazz, noise, dub and much more. Throughout though, he maintained his fascination with Indian Classical music which was a mainstay in his parent’s house and spoke with the same infinite space as Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, and King Tubby’s Studio dispatches. Science, Art And Ritual was released in 1994 by Rising High Records and was presented as Bedouin Ascent’s debut album. Weaved in throughout the album are subconscious references to music that Kingsuk heard in the past that still remained within sight as companions. The opening track “Ancient Ocean III,” referencing the extinct ocean Tethis, unapologetically channels Tackhead, Colourbox, Mantronix, and Lee Perry. The style was also deliberately juxtaposed to the prevailing sound in techno at the time, which had locked onto a rigid form of symmetrical kicks and light snare drums. Elsewhere ’80s soul and funk are frozen and captured in fragile glass lattices. A duel between kick drums from three generations of Roland drum machines is a central theme in “Transition-R,” all in conversation, calling and responding. These were not just machines to Bedouin Ascent, but part of an extended family, with heart and soul. Three decades after seeing the light, Lapsus presents a special 30th anniversary reissue of this left-field techno gem in a repackaged and redesigned edition. All pressed on a deluxe 3LP marbled vinyl and including a limited lithographic insert print of the original album cover. All tracks have been restored and remastered directly from the original DAT tapes, and the album also features previously unreleased tracks such as “In the Clouds” and “Thru Water” — regularly performed live at that time and produced in the same period as the album sessions in 1993. Science, Art And Ritual may refer to esoteric traditions in Indian philosophy, but equally embodies the collision of the science, the art and the ritual that is at the core of being immersed in a deep musical journey.