from the NME January 1990

The KLF - Chill Out

"DON'T BE coy about it, call a house a bungalow, this is
spliffing-up music!" said the Ed, and there was no room for a
question mark. This was a fact. But for the coy among you - who
wouldn't know a spliff from a reefer - this is Ambient House music.
And to help you aquaint yourself with the newest genre off the
presses are the KLF, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty to their mummies
and daddies, with an album of the stuff.
	It's only fitting really that the popularity of all things ambient
should tie in with an upsurge of interest in "herbal" drugs with
their natural high on the club scene. If you're going all night
dancing these days you're more likely to be offered a capsule of
guarana or ginseng than a tab of E. It's a return to all things
natural: buzzing plants rather than rushing drugs, while the music
loses that promoted climax epitomised by the Groove Groove Melody
production stable of Italian House and is replaced by waves, streams
and tweety birds.
	Ambient house music is the answer to stop House Music burning its
candle at both ends, for although it is not dance music in terms of
the 'Pump Up The Jam' variety it has evolved directly from the House
scene where the message for the future was clear: chill out or burn
out.
	It was a problem nationwide. Ravers heading home at eight in the
morning still exhibiting the classic symptoms of frantic neck spasms
and 120 REMs a minute after dancing all night in a field and now
desperately wanting to come down, relax, chill out... yet all there
was at the end of the journey was a cup of tea and copious amounts
of dope.
	Armed with the anecdote were The KLF. Chaps with brothers and
sisters old enough to tell them about Brian Eno, Pink Floyd,
Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Fleetwood Mac - who knew exactly what
was missing from the PG Tips with several spliffs formula.
	The first warning of their exploits came with 'Madrigarda Eternal'
on the CD of 'Kylie Said To Jason' last July - when The Triffids'
guitarist started playing pedal steel guitar into a micophone at
Club Benio, the KLF HQ. This is fairly typical of the sound we know
and love as Ambient House.
	Next came The Orb - Jimmy Cauty and Dr Alexender Patterson - with
20 minutes of 'Loving You' which instills a deep longing for a bath
at every stress-laden point of the day, and to an extent the
relaxing preening motions of 808 State's 'Pacific State', firmly
whetting the appetite for more of this music that takes you on an
instant regression trip.
	Just the titles alone could ensure insomniacs eight hour sleep a
night though: 'Bronsville Turnaround On The Tex-Mex Border',
'Pulling Out Of Ricardo And The Dusk Is Falling Fast' and 'Dream
Time In Lake Jackson', are just the first three, there's another 11
in a pressing that neglects to separate one track from any other.
	There's no need. It's not operating on a singles versus filler
system. In fact, if you really felt the need, you could call it a
concept album.
	One things for sure: you'll never be able to get up for work if you
put this on in the mornings. It's not so much that it distracts you
as envelopes you, with music that samples from Jesus Loves You, 808
State, 'Albatross' and Elvis' 'In The Ghetto' and mixes it with
birds, trains, sheep, automobiles, Hawaiian guitars and those
pipe-things that Aborigines play until you're convinced you're
listening to the perfect soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's Mystery
Train.
	Be prepared to laugh though, when the last voice you hear belongs
to Tommy Vance, announcing most definitely not to the fans of the
Friday Rock Show "Into the '90s and beyond...". And remember, before
your head hits the pillows to blow out the candles. (8) 
                                                                  Helen Mead