Audiopile Review: Double shot this week of two EPs of Terre Thaemlitz’s legendary work culled from her 1994 CD-only album Tranquilizer, both 12”s fitted with freshly unearthed mixes that were initially issued on the expanded 2xCD 30th anniversary reissue from earlier this year. Thaemlitz might be better known as a prominent DJ of NYC’s underground ballroom scene or under their DJ Sprinkles guise—2009’s Midtown 120 Blues was awarded Resident Advisor’s album of the year and is now considered a house classic. But sandwiched in the middle of these two iconic periods is her work during the mid 90s for Instinct Ambient, the short-lived but highly influential imprint probably best known for their ambient-techno classics from Human Mesh Dance and Deep Space Network. The entirety of Tranquilizer is actually a varied effort with several mood shifts, one that takes off from the exploratory ambient template set by The Orb and the KLF, imbuing it with her own emotional heft, colouring in the drifting vapours with bits of field recordings, classic breaks, heartbreaking piano solos, and bits of spacey ephemera. Rather than reissue the album in its entirety on vinyl, these two 12” EPs zero in on a couple of the album’s finer moments, offering them up alongside alternate takes and mixes. The squishy downtempo drift of “Hovering Glows” is cut into a half length version on the “Little Guy Mix”, driving straight to the emotive core, while the “Vinyl Mix” dials up the lushness of the track, letting the levitational chiming bells and tabla beats hang in the air just a little longer. The sublime album ender for Tranquilizer is “Fina • Departure”, which is extended here into two side-long pieces— “Fina” leaning further into the hypnotic narcotic percussion, and “Original Long Version” meditating deeper in the humid blend of wavering synths, hypnotizing cicadas and the sound of distant thunder. Utterly timeless music. Like all things on Thaemlitz’s Comatose Records, these are strictly limited (500 pressed), and our supplier is officially out of stock. You get one swing at these.

“Terre Thaemlitz’s precious 1994 debut album finally makes a vinyl appearance of sorts 30 years later, hailing its sublime downbeat highlight in three different versions that come with highest recommendations if you’re into classic Mo’ Wax, The KLF’s Chill Out, Urban Tribe, Blue Lines-era Massive Attack, DJ Sprinkles!

Tranquilizer’s mesmerising centrepiece ‘Hovering Glows’ is here deployed in 3 different versions totalling almost half an hour of amniotic bliss. The original 9 minute depiction of crepuscular Midwest ambience and dusted dub is beloved of anyone acquainted with the album over the years, finding Terre’s feel for electro-acoustic sound sensitivity flooded with a rarified sense of deep blue soul distilled to near-perfection. It mines a similar path to Future Sound of London productions of the same era, and in its moody abstraction foreshadows 4hero’s ‘The Paranormal In 4 Forms’ that would follow a couple of years later.

The OG is joined on by two alternative versions: a ‘Little Guy Mix’ that swerves the few minutes of sensuous atmospheric foreplay to slip right into the pendulous swing; and a longer ‘Vinyl Mix’ that duly opens out the intro with Terre’s unique grasp of subbass and tongue-tip atmospheric suss. Collected, they supply an extended session of beatdown ecstasy to discerning, romantic listeners who’ve awaited this release for decades, ‘cos as Comatonse fiends know, their releases always sound especially exquisite on vinyl.

please remember that we support Terre and Comatonse Recordings’ efforts to keep projects offline, minor, and acting queerly. When purchasing this item, we ask you to refrain from uploading and indiscriminate sharing in any form. <3”