Xeper

The Trance Europe Express compilation I wrote about yesterday has given me a track I have kept going back to over the last few days and may be developing a mild obsession with. Warp recording artists The Black Dog wrote and released under a variety of names, putting things out under the umbrella name Black Dog Productions. The track on Trance Europe Express is by Xeper (a pseudonym for one of The Black Dog trio, Ken Downie). It starts sounding like it could be the beginning of an episode of Star Trek (original 1960s version) and then brings in a rattling drum sample. Washes of synth and some Sheffield bleeps fill it out before some piano chords work their way in, that almost but never quite turn into a full-on piano house riff. That description really doesn't do it justice- there's much more going on here than I can hope to explain adequately. It unfolds beautifully over the ensuing eight minutes. Just listen to it.

Carceres Ex Novum (Remix)

In case you're wondering Xeper (or Kheper) is a word from Ancient Egypt meaning 'to come into being, to change, to occur, to happen, to exist, to bring about, to create', associated with the Ancient Egyptian God Khepri. And if you Google it there's a whole load of increasingly deep and dark stuff connected to it which I shall steer well clear of.