From Playa del Carmen in Mexico, Tor.ma’s Inside Universe is the piñata at the Purim party, Rafael Hernandez’ colourful sophomore release on Israeli label Beats & Pieces. Its smooth, cerebral trance and melodious, laidback electronica bursts with showers of candy-coated dub. In the liner notes, Hernandez says that when scanning the universe, his mind zooms in every direction at once, but once arranged on record, the sights it has absorbed have been arranged into an accessible but dazzling sixty-eight minutes. ‘Inside Universe’ is bright, shiny, refreshing and whimsical.
‘Changes’ is pure adventure, rocketing from planet to planet on thick waves of bass. ‘Where Are You?’ mixes light-pulsing Klaus Schulzian sequencer lines with heady funk. Throughout are featured plenty of space-related voice samples, including happy-go-lucky, as-seen-on-TV theoretical physicist Michio Kaku on ‘Silver String’.
Upful, playful and fun for the whole family. Seriously. I bet the kids would get a real kick out of it, starting with the little creature on the cover, who looks like a teletubby gone feral.
Stephen Fruitman
